Antwerp

The name Antwerpen came from a medieval legend that told how the Roman soldier Silvius Brabo saved the city from the terror of the giant Antigoon, who demanded a toll from people who wanted to pass the river Scheldt. When someone couldn’t pay, the giant cut off their hand and threw it into the river. When Brabo defeated the giant, he chopped off Antigoon’s hand and threw it into the river. ‘Throwing a hand’ in Dutch is hand werpen, which became Antwerpen in the local dialect, where the H at the start of a word is silent. Or so the legend goes.