However, Szeged might instead have originated (or been influenced by) an old Hungarian word for "corner" (szeg), pointing to the turn of the river Tisza that flows through the city.

Others still contend that szeg means "dark blond" (sötétszőkés) – a reference to the color of the water where the rivers Tisza and Maros merge.

These are usually formed by the addition of a suffix -in to the Hungarian name: Romanian: Seghedin; German: Szegedin or Segedin; Serbo-Croatian: Segedin/Сегедин; Italian: Seghedino; Latvian: Segeda; Lithuanian: Segedas; Polish: Segedyn; Slovak and Czech: Segedín; Turkish: Segedin.

Ptolemy mentions the oldest known name of the city: Partiscum (Ancient Greek: Πάρτισκον[6]).

In the second century AD there was a Roman trading post established on an island in the Tisza, and the foundations of the Szeged castle suggest that the structure may have been built over an even earlier fort.

The witch trials were instigated by the authorities, who decided on this measure to remove the problem of the public complaints about the drought and its consequences of famine and epidemics by laying the responsibility on people among them, which had fraternized with the Devil.

[9] Szeged is known as the home of paprika, a spice made from dried, powdered capsicum fruits.

This is mainly due to the great flood of 1879, which wiped away the whole town (only 265 of the 5723 houses remained and 165 people died).

He kept his promise, and during the next years a new, modern city emerged from the ruins, with palaces and wide streets.

It also became a center for right-wing forces which would install Miklós Horthy as the country's new leader after the overthrow of the Hungarian Soviet Republic.

Whole new districts were built, and many nearby villages (e.g. Tápé, Szőreg, Kiskundorozsma, Szentmihálytelek, Gyálarét) were annexed to the city in 1973 (as was a tendency during the Communist era).

Due to the high hours of sunlight reported annually, Szeged is often called City of Sunshine (Napfény városa).

Szeged is the higher education centre of the Southern Great Plain and has built quite a reputation for itself.

In 2018 the new scientific institution, the ELI Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI-ALPS) opened in Szeged establishing a unique facility which provides light sources within an extremely broad frequency range in the form of ultrashort pulses with high repetition rate which is needed for different kinds of physical experiments especially in the field of attosecond physics.

[19] It is also one of the main options for medical students who come from all around Europe to study Medicine in their recognized international campus.

[32] Others, like ContiTech,[33] Duna-Dráva Cement, Szatmári Malom[34] and Europe Match,[35] are not based in the city, but have production facilities there.

Through the M5 Motorway Szeged is connected to Kecskemét, Kiskunfélegyháza and Budapest to the north and to Subotica, Novi Sad and Belgrade in Serbia to the south.

[39] A tram-train system was constructed and inaugurated in November 2021, connecting Szeged with the neighbouring Hódmezővásárhely, thus creating the second most populous urban agglomeration in the country, after the capital.

[citation needed] The city has one well-known club the 2013–14 EHF Cup-winner SC Pick Szeged playing in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I.

Szeged had several clubs playing in the top level Hungarian league, the Nemzeti Bajnokság I.

From 1978, the Volán speedway club moved to a new track built on Napos út at Béke telepi.

[44] The track closed, partly because of noise issues in a residential area, resulting in the speedway moving out of the city, 25 kilometres west, near to Mórahalom (46°10′14″N 19°54′49″E / 46.17056°N 19.91361°E / 46.17056; 19.91361).

The local Municipal Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 33 members (1 Mayor, 23 Individual constituencies MEPs and 9 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:[45] List of City Mayors from 1990:[46] The city offers a wide range of media – television and radio stations, and print and online newspapers.