Sarajevo has had many nicknames. The earliest is , the term Isa-Beg Ishaković used to describe the town he was going to build—which is Turkish for "city" (), in turn coming from the Persian  (, meaning "city"). As Sarajevo developed, numerous nicknames came from comparisons to other cities in the Islamic world, i.e. "Damascus of the North" and "European Jerusalem"; the latter being the most popular.