Why do people call Amsterdam ‘Mokum’?

A’dam, Dam City, Venice of the North: these are all nicknames for the beloved Dutch capital. But as you stroll the canal-lined streets of Amsterdam, you may come across another sign calling Amsterdam ‘Mokum’.

You can get your hair cut at Mokum Barbers, join a canal cruise on a Mokumboot, grab a pint at Mokum Bar, or encounter some Ajax fans proudly sporting scarves that state “Pride of Mokum”.

But what does Mokum even mean? What’s the history behind it? Let’s check it out. 👇

The place Amsterdam

As Historiek.net writes, the name Mokum is a bit of a meaningless nickname for Amsterdam. Why? Well, because the Yiddish word Mokum (מקום) simply means “place” or “city”.

In the 18th century, Jewish people in the Netherlands and Germany called every city Mokum. To distinguish between the different Mokums, they added the first letter of the city in question behind it (in the Hebrew alphabet).

And so, Amsterdam became Mokum Allef (city A) or Groot Mokum (big city), while Rotterdam was known as Mokum Reisj (city R) or Klein Mokum (small city).

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Cities outside of the Netherlands were also dubbed Mokums, with Berlin as Mokum Beisz, Hamburg as Mokum Godel Haj, Cologne as Mokum Baddik and Basel (Switzerland) as Glockmokum.

The last remaining Mokum

Nowadays, the nickname only sticks with Amsterdam, and over time, Mokum Allef simply became Mokum.

The reason why Mokum only stuck with Amsterdam is that Jewish people were more accepted there than in other (European) cities.

But even in Amsterdam, the nickname was first viewed somewhat negatively, and it wasn’t until the 20th century that it lost its negative connotation. Now, Mokum is widely used by Amsterdammers as a loving nickname for their city.

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Besides Mokum, Amsterdam’s lower social classes took over a variety of Yiddish expressions and words — and many of them are still used in colloquial Dutch today.

Some examples would be tof (cool/good, from Yiddish ‘tov’), mesjogge (crazy, from Yiddish ‘mesjuge’), and gabber (friend, from Yiddish ‘chaver’).

Did you know about this Amsterdam nickname? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Feature image: Hugo van Gelderen/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain