Gotham

English

Etymology

When originally used in England, the meaning of the place name Gotham was literally “homestead where goats are kept”, from Old English gāt (“goat”) +‎ hām (“home”).[1]

As nickname for New York City first used 1807 by Washington Irving in his Salmagundi Papers.[2] As “Gotham City”, name of the fictional home of Batman, first mentioned in Batman issue 4, 1940.[3]

Pronunciation

(nickname of New York, setting of the Batman franchise) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒθəm/
(English village): IPA^(key): /ˈɡəʊtəm/

Proper noun

Gotham

Nickname for New York City.
- 2010, Jared Koch, Alex Van Buren, Clean Plates Manhattan 2011: A Guide to the Healthiest, Tastiest, and Most Sustainable Restaurants for Vegetarians and Carnivores, p. 99:
  Naturally sweetened desserts—delicious ones—have several hiding places in Gotham, and the Upper East Side's Candle Café is among the best.
A village in Nottinghamshire, England, associated in folklore with insanity.

References

Harper, Douglas (2001), “Gotham”, in Online Etymology Dictionary‎, retrieved 17 December 2009
Washington Irving (April 18, 1807), “To Correspondents”, in Salmagundi‎, G. P. Putnam's sons, New York, page 183-184:
This passage of the erudite Linkum was applied to the city of Gotham, of which he was once Lord Mayor, as appears by his picture hung up in the hall of that ancient city ; but his observation fits this best of all possible cities “to a hair.” It is a melancholy truth that this same New York, though the most charming, pleasant, polished, and praiseworthy city under the sun, and in a word the bonne bouche of the universe, is most shockingly ill-natured and sarcastic, and wickedly given to all manner of backslidings ; for which we are very sorry, indeed.
Carmen Nigro (Januar 25, 2011), “So, Why Do We Call It Gotham, Anyway?”, in New York Public Library‎.