Moscow is the only capital in Europe whose name is unknown.
Cow River
According to one of the hypotheses, the oikonyms Moscow is of Finno-Ugric origin. From the Komi language “mosk”, “moska” is translated into Russian as “cow, heifer”, and “va” is translated as “water”, “river”.
Moscow in this case is translated as "cow river". The popularity of this hypothesis was brought about by its support by Klyuchevsky.
Bear
The Russian historian of the 19th-20th centuries Stefan Kuznetsov also believed that the word "Moscow" was of Finno-Ugric origin, but assumed that it comes from the Meryan words "mask" (bear) and "ava" (mother, female). According to this version, the word "Moscow" is translated as "bear".
Promotional video:
Today, however, these versions are refuted, since they do not take into account the most ancient form of the oikonym "Moskv". Stefan Kuznetsov used the data of the Erzya and Mari languages, in the Mari language the word "mask" appeared only in the XIV-XV centuries.
