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==מקור השם==
מקור שם השכונה אינו ברור. המילה "גורוד" משמעה ברוסית "עיר", והמילה "קיטאי" משמעה "[[סין]]". יחד עם זאת המלומדים מסכימים כי אין כל קשר בין שם השכונה לסין.
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The etymology of the name is unclear. ''Gorod'' is the [[Russian language|Russian]] for ''town,'' whereas ''Kitai'' is the Russian for [[China]] (cf. [[Cathay]]). Accordingly, the popular translation might be ''[[Chinatown]]'' -- however, it is universally agreed by scholars that the name originally had nothing to do with ''Kitai'' as in "China."
ישנן סברות שונות בדבר מקור השם. לפי אחת הסברות מקורו במילה "קיטה" שמשמעה "[[צמה]]", או "מקלעת" ומשמעות השם "עיר מקלעות קש" - בהתייחס למבני העץ שהיו בה והיו בנויים מקלעות של ענפים.
''Kita'' (pl. ''kity'') is a somewhat obsolete word for "plait" or "thing made by braiding" -- for example, a 17th-century Russian source informed readers that ''U shapok janychary imeli '''kity''','' meaning "The [[Janissary|Janissaries]] had braids hanging from their caps." On the basis of this, Robert Wallace asserts in ''The Rise of Russia'' (New York: Time-Life, 1967) that the term relates to a rough-hewn defensive bulwark made from '''woven''' wicker baskets filled with earth or rock -- and thus ''Kitai-Gorod'' aims at something like "Basketville". On the other hand, some scholars tend to derive ''Kitai'' from an old word for the wooden stakes used in construction of the quarter's walls{{Fact|date=June 2007}}: if we liberally interpret "stakes" as "wythes" or "wickets," this agrees quite closely with Wallace's signification.
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==חומות השכונה==
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