Many towns in Central Europe have a similar etymology including Trnovo in Slovakia as well as Tarnów (Poland), Tarnow (Germany), Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria), Trnava and Trnavac (Serbia); and Tyrnavos (Greece) among others.

[4] The varieties of the name in different languages include German: Tyrnau; Hungarian: Nagyszombat (from the 14th century onward)[4] and Latin: Tyrnavia.

By the early 13th century, the king of Hungary had invited numerous Germans to settle in Trnava; this settlement increased after the Tatar invasion in 1242.

The temporary German majority in Trnava's population yielded in favour of the Slovaks during the campaigns undertaken by the Czech Hussites in the 15th century.

Many ethnic Hungarians fleeing from the Turks moved to the town after 1541 also from present-day Hungary, which mainly remained under Ottoman rule until being gradually reconquered and the last enemy troops were defeated in 1699.

The Archbishop Nicolaus Olahus invited the Jesuits to Trnava in 1561 in order to develop the municipal school system.

Subsequently, he had a seminary opened in 1566 and in 1577 Trnava's priest Nicolas Telegdi founded a book-printing house in the town.

The first Catholic Bible translation into Hungarian (based on the Latin Vulgate) was also completed in the town by the Jesuit György Káldi who was born there in 1573.

The 17th century was also characterized by many anti-Habsburg uprisings in the country – these revolts of Stephen Bocskay, Gabriel Bethlen, George I Rákóczi, and Imre Thököly negatively affected Trnava's life.

[11] As contemporary scholar Matthias Bel had overstated: "You could say it is a town which is appearing as Rome on a small scale, and this, as to temples and also sacred institutions which were infused within it.

[citation needed] From the late 18th century Trnava became a center of the literary and artistic Slovak National Revival.

In 1820 the seat of archbishopric had been transferred back to Osztrihom and Trnava ceased to be religious center of historic Kingdom of Hungary.

[21][22] Slovak national foundations, like Matica slovenská were suppressed or banned in Kingdom of Hungary as a result of the Magyarization policy.

Initially being tasked with publishing of catholic literature, the association with its headquarters in Trnava had been working as foremost Slovak language institution until Dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918.

Trnava lies at an altitude of 146 metres (479 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 71.535 square kilometres (27.6 sq mi).

The rise of Trnava is closely related to the "Latin Guests", newcomers speaking a Romance language, probably arriving from present-day Belgium (Walloons).

[30] The decline of the German population and a permanent change of the ethnic composition dates back to the occupation of the town by the Hussite army (1432-1435).

The Hungarians were made equal to the Slovaks and the Germans by Ferdinand I, who also ordered parity representation of all three nationalities in the administration (4 April 1551).

At the end of the Middle Ages, the town was inhabited by cca 5,000 people including those living in suburbs behind the city walls.

[32] A 1503 account of the 1494 ritual murder trial introduces for the first time in history the notion that Jews as a collectivity were of feminine gender and had monthly bleedings, a libel which would become part of the repertoire of Christian antisemitism from then on.

Its height was in the 1970s, when it annexed villages of Modranka, Biely Kostol and Hrnčiarovce nad Parnou, reaching an area of almost 90 km2.

Péter Bornemisza and Huszár Gál [hu], the leading personalities of the Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary, were active in Trnava for a short time.

The erection of the St. John the Baptist Church and of the university campus launched a building rush that continued with the reconstruction of the Franciscan and Clarist's complexes.

Whereas, advocates argue that it reflects respect and nostalgia for Jews in addition to providing a vehicle for at least some preservation of the heritage site.

[44] Humanist scholar János Zsámboky dedicated to his birthplace Latin language poem Tirnaviae patriae meae arma, published in his 1564's Emblemata.

Stellantis Trnava Plant[73] is a core industrial site in region and country as well, being third largest mechanical engineering company in Slovakia.

[74] Important mechanical engineering plant at Trnava suburbs is subsidiary of ZF Friedrichshafen[75] supplying systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology.

[76] Formerly division of ZF, Boge Rubber & Plastics Group [de] plant in Trnava is producer of vibration control technology and lightweight components for the automotive industry.

It also manufactures new freight wagons, carries out repairs, modernisation and upgrading of rolling stock [79] Trnava is also home for glass fiber producing plant.