Po redaktohet Skopje (paragraf)

== Name ==
{{see also|Names of European cities in different languages: Q-T#S|l1=Other names of Skopje}}
[[File:Skoplje 1912.jpg|thumb|Serbian troops overseeing the city's renaming from "Üsküb" to "Skoplje" following Serbia's annexation of [[Vardar Macedonia]] in 1912]]
The name of the city comes from [[Scupi]], which was the name of an early [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonian]]<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=King |editor-first=Carol J. |title=Ancient Macedonia |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |page=20}}</ref> settlement (later the capital of [[Kingdom of Dardania|Dardania]] and subsequently a [[Roman colony]]) nearby. The meaning of that name is unknown,<ref>{{cite book |author=Adrian Room |title=Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 5000 Natural Features, Countries, Capitals, Territories, Cities, and Historic Sites |publisher=McFarland |year=2003 |isbn=9780786418145 |page=335}}</ref><ref>John Everett-Heath, The Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Edition 3, Oxford University Press, 2017, {{ISBN|0192556460}}, Skopje.</ref> but there is a hypothesis that it derives from the Greek {{lang|el|ἐπίσκοπος}}, (lit. "watcher, observer"), referring to its position on a high place, from which the whole place could be observed.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Wilson |editor1-first=Nigel |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415973342 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan0000unse_a6l6/page/663 663] |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan0000unse_a6l6/page/663}}</ref>

After [[Classical antiquity|Antiquity]], Scupi was occupied by various people and consequently its name was translated several times in several languages. Thus Scupi became "Skopje",<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=http://www.skopje.gov.mk/EN/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=46 |title=History |year=2009 |publisher=City of Skopje |access-date=26 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512232543/http://www.skopje.gov.mk/EN/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=46 |archive-date=12 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and later "Üsküb" ({{lang-ota|اسكوب}}) for the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]]. This name was adapted in Western languages in "Uskub" or "Uskup", and these two appellations were used in the Western world until 1912. Some Western sources also cite "Scopia" and "Skopia".<ref name="britannica">{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Usküb |volume=27 |page=811 |quote=USKÜB, Uscup, or Skopia (anc. Scupi, Turk. Üshküb, Slav. Skoplye), the capital of the vilayet of Kossovo}}</ref> {{lang|rup|Scopia}} is in fact the name of the city in [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://repository.ukim.mk/bitstream/20.500.12188/6782/1/The_war_of_numbers_and_its_first_victim.pdf |title=The War of Numbers and its First Victim: The Aromanians in Macedonia (End of 19th – Beginning of 20th century)}}</ref> Nowadays, the local Albanian population call the city "Shkup" and "Shkupi", the latter being the definite form.{{sfn|Herold|Langer|Lechler|2010|p=29}} This name has evolved from the ancient name ''Scupi'' in agreement with the Albanian phonetic system, the basis of evidence of an earlier Albanian settlement in the area.<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Curtis|first=Matthew Cowan|title=Slavic-Albanian Language Contact, Convergence, and Coexistence |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1338406907|publisher=The Ohio State University |year=2012 |page=45|quote=Again the evidence of an earlier Albanian settlement in Macedonian territories relies on the phonological development of particular locations. In Macedonia the names of Ohrid (Alb ''Ohër'') < ''Lychnidus'', Skopje (Mk ''Skopje'', Sr ''Skoplje'', Alb ''Shkup'') < ''Skupi'', and ''Štip'' < ''Astibos'' are best explained by the phonological developments of Albanian (Stanišić 1995: 10–11 and references therein).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Demiraj|first=Shaban|author-link=Shaban Demiraj|publisher=[[Academy of Sciences of Albania]]|title=The origin of the Albanians: linguistically investigated|isbn=9789994381715|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXIbAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120114336/https://books.google.com/books?id=aXIbAQAAIAAJ|archive-date=20 November 2020|page=139|quote=The place-name ''Shkup'' is evidenced as ''Scupi-'' in ancient records, as for ex. in ''Itineraria Romana'' 1916 (of the III-IV centuries A.D.)77. ln the Balkan Slavic languages this place-name sounds with initial /''Sko-''/: ''Skopie'', whereas in Albanian the initial /''Shku-''/ in ''Shkup-i'' is a direct reflection of the ancient /''Scu-''/, and this excludes a Slavic intermediation. The regular evolution of ''Scupi'' > ''Shkup'' has also been admitted by Barić ( 1955, p. 49) and Skok78 (before him).}}</ref>

When [[Vardar Macedonia]] was annexed by the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] in 1912, the city officially became "Skoplje" ({{Lang-sr-Cyrl|Скопље}}) and this name was adopted by many languages. To reflect local pronunciation, the city's name was eventually spelled as "Skopje" ({{lang-mk|Скопје}}) after the [[Second World War]], when standard [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] became the official language of the new [[Socialist Republic of Macedonia]].