<P> East and South Slavic languages referred to the city as Tsarigrad or Carigrad,' City of the Tsar (King)', from the Slavonic words tsar (' Caesar' or' King') and grad (' city'). Cyrillic: Царьград, Цариград . This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις (Vasileos Polis),' the city of the emperor (king)' . The term is still occasionally used in Bulgarian, whereas it has become archaic in Russian, and Macedonian . In Croatian, Serbian and Slovene, Carigrad is a living alternative name for the modern city, as well as being used when referring to the historic capital of the medieval Roman Empire or the Ottoman Empire . In Czech (a West Slavic language) this Slavic name is used in the form Cařihrad (used in the 19th century, now only occasionally). It was also borrowed from the Slavic languages into Romanian in the form Țarigrad, though Constantinopole remained the far more widely preferred term . </P> <P> Besides Kustantiniyyah, Persian, Arabic and other languages of the Islamic world used names based on the title Cesar (' Emperor'), as in Persian and Urdu Kayser - i Zemin, or on the ethnic name Rum (' Romans'), as in Arabic Rūmiyyat al - kubra (' Great City of the Romans') or Persian Takht - e Rum (' Throne of the Romans'). </P> <P> The city is referred as Kostandina or Kostantina (an alteration of Kostantiniyye) and more often as its short form Kosta (קושטה) or Kostán in most Judaeo - Spanish publications during the Ottoman period . Kosta was the name for the entire province of Istanbul, while the word Estambol was used for the area of the old city and Pera . Today the word Kosta is restricted only for historical purposes and is no more in common use . </P> <P> The word Estambol has widened in meaning to include exclusively the entire European side of Istanbul . The Asian side is usually not considered as Estambol, however the expression la civdad de Estambol would encompass the boundaries of the present - day city . There are few expression denoting the Asian side . Anatol, from Anatolia and Asya, meaning Asia are common words to denote the Asian side of Istanbul . Moreover, el otro lado (literally the other side) is a quite simplistic and descriptory expression for the Asian side of Istanbul, especially for those living in the European side . Those living in the Asian side however do not use this expression to denote the European side, but simply call it Estambol . The inhabitants are called Estambulí or Estambullí . </P>

What was istanbul called before it was constantinople