[Billthedrill]

Actually, the pronunciation "Istanbul" is nothing but a Turkish corruption of the Greek "Constantinople" - they didn't think they were even changing the name when they took the town. And for good reason - it was, at the time, the most impressive city in the world. (Lest we get too amused by this, the way we pronounce "Constantinople" in English isn't right either).

[denydenydeny]

Actually, the pronunciation "Istanbul" is nothing but a Turkish corruption of the Greek "Constantinople" - they didn't think they were even changing the name when they took the town.

It was my understanding that the name came from the road signs pointing out the way to the city: ES TEM POLU (literally "to the city") became Istanbul.