看看倫敦地鐵名字的起源無異于挖掘其各個地名的來歷。一邊乘著地鐵逛，會有不少和語言相關的事實供你消磨時間。如下是語言學上最為有趣的一些站名。

Oxford Circus

牛津馬戲團站

　　The oldest sense of circus is ‘a large building, surrounded with rising tiers of seats, for the exhibition of public spectacles’but, in this instance, it is simply a ‘circular open space at a street junction’.

　　circus最古老的意思是“一幢大樓，由層層座椅圍繞著，可以作展覽和公開表演之用”。但這里就是“十字路口圓形空地”的意思。

King’s Cross St Pancras

國王的十字圣潘克洛斯站

　　This tube station services King’s Cross and St Pancras National Rail stations. The former is now perhaps best known for being Harry Potter’s entrance to Hogwarts, but the king in question is King George IV (who reigned 1820-1830), and the cross, a monument that was demolished in 1845. St Pancras was born around 289, and beheaded for his Christian faith when he was 14 years old.

　　這個地鐵站監管國王的十字和圣潘克洛斯國家火車站。前者即哈利波特通往霍格沃茨的車站，廣為人知；但引人熱議的國王是指喬治四世（1820-1830執政）；而十字毀于1845年。圣潘克洛斯出生于約莫289年，14歲時因其基督信仰而被斬首。

Angel

天使站

　　It’s named after a former coaching inn on the Great North Road called the Angel, dating from the 17th century.

　　這個站名來源于大北方之路過去一家名為“天使”驛站，可以追溯到17世紀。

Baker Street

貝克街站

　　The most famous resident of Baker Street is, of course, Sherlock Holmes. You might think that it was named after a maker of cakes of pastries, but its namesake is actually William Baker, a builder who laid out the street in the second half of the 18th century.

　　貝克街最著名的居民自然是夏洛克·福爾摩斯。或許你覺得這名字是根據蛋糕點心師傅取的，但事實上，街名來自建筑師威廉·貝克，18世紀下半葉，貝克對這條街做了布局規劃。

Bank

班克站

　　Bank is named after the Bank of England. Incidentally, it was voted the most disliked tube station in 2013.

　　班克（英語中”銀行“的音譯為”班克“）取自英格蘭銀行。順便一提，2013年班克被投票選為最受人討厭的地鐵站。

Canary Wharf

金絲雀碼頭站

　　Canary Wharf takes its name from a warehouse, built for the Mediterranean and Canary Islands fruit trade.

　　金絲雀碼頭的名字取自一間倉庫，倉庫是為地中海和金絲雀島嶼水果貿易而建的。

Hainault

海諾特站

　　This unusual name comes from the old English ‘Hyneholt or ‘Henehout’ and means ‘wood belonging to a religious community’.

　　這個不同一般的名字來自古英語的Hyneholt或者Henehout，意為“宗教社區的樹木”。

Hanger Lane

漢格巷站

　　The lane is named after Hanger Hill. hanger comes from the old English hangra, ‘a wood on a slope’.

　　這條巷子根據漢格山命名，"漢格"來自古英語hangra，意為“斜坡上的樹林”。

Swiss Cottage

瑞士小屋站

　　This area owes its unusual name to a local inn. The Swiss Tavern, built in 1803-4, was in the style of a Swiss chalet – later renamed to the humbler Swiss Cottage.

　　這塊地區名字獨特是因為當地的一家小旅館。“瑞士酒店”建于1803至1804年間，是瑞士小木屋風格，“瑞士小屋”這個名字要低調很多，是后來重新命名的。

Turnpike Lane

登碧里站

　　It’s a historical term for a toll gate, though was originally a spiked barrier – thus a sense of pikemeaning ‘a spiked staff or stick’.

　　收費站史稱"登碧里"，盡管最初指帶刺的障礙物，因而pike有“帶刺拐杖或棍子”之意。

　　（來源：滬江英語）