Q 01/05

Edinburgh is bounded on its seaward side by which body of water?

A) The Firth of Forth

B) The Firth of Clyde

C) The Moray Firth

D) The Solway Firth

Answer · why

A) The Firth of Forth

The Pentland Hills close it off to the south; with about 506,000 people it is Scotland's second city after Glasgow.

Q 02/05

Edinburgh's nickname 'Auld Reekie' is Scots for what?

A) Old Rocky

B) Old Smoky

C) Old Rainy

D) Old Royal

Answer · why

B) Old Smoky

Country people named it for the cloud of coal smoke over the Old Town; a Fife laird reputedly sent his children to bed when he saw it 'putting on her ...

Q 03/05

For its neoclassical New Town and reputation for learning, Edinburgh has been called the 'Athens of' where?

A) The West

B) Britain

C) The North

D) The Isles

Answer · why

C) The North

Calton Hill's unfinished National Monument directly copies the Parthenon; Tom Stoppard's Archie suggested 'Reykjavík of the South' would fit better.

Q 04/05

The 'Edin' in Edinburgh derives from Eidyn, a name from which ancient language?

A) Old Norse

B) Latin

C) Pictish

D) Cumbric

Answer · why

D) Cumbric

The Brittonic 'din' (hillfort) was later replaced by the Old English 'burh'; in Gaelic the city is Dùn Èideann.

Q 05/05

Which king founded the royal burgh of Edinburgh in the early 12th century?

A) Malcolm III

B) Robert the Bruce

C) David I

D) James IV

Answer · why

C) David I

The first written evidence is a charter of about 1124–27 granting land in 'burgo meo de Edenesburg' to Dunfermline Priory.