Names of Durrës

In antiquity, the city was named Epidamnos (Ἐπίδαμνος) and Dyrrhachion (Δυρράχιον) in Greek, corresponding to Latin Epidamnus and Dyrrachium. The name Dyrrhachion is usually explained as a Greek compound from δυσ- 'bad' and ῥαχία'rocky shore, flood, roaring waves', an explanation already hinted at in antiquity by Cassius Dio, who writes it referred to the difficulties of the rocky coastline, while also reporting that other Roman authors linked it to the name of an eponymous hero Dyrrachius. The modern names of the city in Albanian (Durrës) and Italian (Durazzo) are derived from Dyrrachium through the Medieval Slavic form Дърачь (Dŭračĭ) (modern Serbian: Драч/Drač (Dratch)), from the era when the city was held by the Bulgarian and Serbian empires. This is also the root of the Ottoman Turkish name Dıraç.

In English usage, the Italian form Durazzo used to be widespread, but the local Albanian name Durrës has gradually replaced it in recent decades.