| Description: | The name Cluj derives from Castrum Clus, first used in the 12th century to designate the city's medieval citadel. The word Clus means "closed" in Latin, and is related to the hills that surround the city. Another probable theory derives the name from German, either from the name Klaus, or from the word Klause (meaning mountain pass, or weir - from clusa).
The city is also known by its Hungarian name Kolozsvár, as well as by its German name Klausenburg. Klausenburg was one of the seven medieval fortified Saxon cities of Siebenbürgen (meaning seven fortresses) Transylvania). The first Romanian name of the city was Cluş, also written as Klus. The city became known by the Romanian variant name Cluj after becoming part of the Kingdom of Romania in 1918. The city's name was changed to Cluj-Napoca in 1974 by the Romanian communist authorities. |
