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 Firth of Forth, the estuary of the River Forth, bounds Edinburgh to the north; the city's port of Leith sits on its southern shore.

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

'Auld Reekie' means 'Old Smoky': the nickname came from the pall of coal smoke that hung over the Old Town, visible from across the Forth in Fife.

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

Edinburgh is the 'Athens of the North': Calton Hill's unfinished National Monument, begun in 1826, directly copies the Parthenon, and the Enlightenmen...

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

Eidyn is Cumbric, the Brittonic language of the Gododdin who held Lothian; Old English 'burh' later replaced the Brittonic 'din' (fort), and Gaelic ke...

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

David I, who reigned 1124–53, made Edinburgh a royal burgh; his charter of about 1124–27 grants land in 'burgo meo de Edenesburg' to Dunfermline Prior...