New atlas comes to the Great Land of the Tattooed (Cities renamed for etymological origins)

The Telegraph (U.K.) / Various ^ | December 4, 2008 | Oliver Smith

[Stoat]

A fascinating new atlas, featuring cities that are renamed to reflect their etymological origins, is now on sale.

Etymologists and wordsmiths will take particular interest in a new set of maps going on sale in time for Christmas.

The traditional names for the world's cities, countries, rivers and mountains have been altered on an atlas to reflect their origins and literal meaning.

Chicago, for example, is renamed Stink Onion and Cameroon is called the Land of Shrimps.

The logic behind each place name is explained on the back of the maps. Cameroon comes from the Portuguese word camaroes, meaning shrimps or prawns – an allusion to the abundance of these crustaceans in the Sanaga River. Chicago is derived from a Algonquian (a subfamily of native American languages) word: checagou, meaning wild onions or skunk – a reference to the smell of sodden marshland, which is what Chicago was built on.

Other bizarre names include Dominate the East! (Vladivostock), Realm of the God of the Underworld (Madras) and Great Land of the Tattooed, which, rather unhappily, belongs to Great Britain.

"The maps are not definitive works on the etymological roots of geographical names but more of a stimulus, and a very amusing one at that, to make us think about why places are called as they are," explains Sean Quigley of Outstanding Map Distributors, the firm which has brought the maps to Britain from Germany, where they were originally published.

 

 

[Stoat]

 

The Atlas of True Names replaces the traditional names of the world's cities, countries, rivers and mountains with new ones to reflect their origins and literal meaning.

The Great Land of the Tattooed (Great Britain), now features such cities as Hillfort (London), Bear Guard Home (Birmingham), Choked Pool (Liverpool) and Slopecastle (Edinburgh).

 

 

Gothenberg is now Manly Fort, the Norwegian port of Kristiansund is referred to as Sound of the Anointed One's Devotee...

 

 

The logic behind each place name is explained on the back of the maps.

 

 

As well as a detailed European map, a World Map is also available.

Most people will recognise Sibling Love as Philadelphia on this North American sample...

 

 

Bangkok becomes City of Olive Trees, Hanoi is renamed Between the Rivers while Darwin is given the charming title of Dear Friend.

 

 

The Caribbean provides more bizarre examples, including The Bearded Ones (Barbados), Trinity and Tobacco (Trinidad and Tobago)...

 

 

The marvellous name for Vladivostock is Dominate the East! – derived from the Russian wladet ("to dominate, possess") and vostok ("East").

 

 

How 'Britain' got its name from 'Great Land of the Tattooed' The astonishing map that reveals the origins of place names Mail Online

(edit)

The atlas reveals the origins of each place names. Gdansk, in Poland, for example, is Goth Entrenchment

(edit)

The Orkneys has one of the most fascinating origins. Labelled Isles of the Sea Monsters in the atlas, the word 'orc' means whale, or sea monster in Celtic.

(edit)

Less romantic: Chicago is renamed 'Stink Onion'

***********************************

A few comments from Daily Mail readers:

Might argue with Fuerteventura as "great adventure". If you've ever been there the place is plagued with high winds, and is a surfer's paradise. "Fuerte" does mean strong, but "Ventura" is more likely to come from "viento" , Spanish for wind.

 

- Stuart, Palma Mallorca, 6/12/2008 5:52

       

Prettanoi is wrong and has nothing to do with Britain. Britannia, from which Britain actually derives, is a Latin not a Greek name; Pictoi means 'the painted people' and referred to one particular tribe in what is now Scotland. As far as I know the Greeks actually referred to the British Isles as the Hyperborean Isles, 'the lands behind the West Wind'. No-one knows what Londinium meant.

 

- Gladiatrix, London, England, 6/12/2008 6:23

       

I suspect the whole thing is a jest - as it is more likely the name Britain descends from the Old French Bretaigne, which in turn was taken from the Latin for Britannia or Land of the Britons. We were known as Greater Britain as opposed to Lesser Britain (now Britanny in France). Before that Britain was known as Albion; in fact the Greeks from Aristotle onwards knew us as Bretannic or Britanniae, rather than the Prettanoi - which referred more to the northern islands up to and including Thule (possibly Iceland).

 

- robert, milton keynes, 6/12/2008 6:24

       

Hmm..... interesting! My schooldays taught me that place names ending in don were generally of Saxon in origin. Still, it was Celtic prior to Roman occupation and I've heard it was Londonium? If so, it's not such a stretch. BTW The town I live in, was named after a Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Not the Admiral of the column. So, it would be logical that some place names come from a different meaning to what it seems? As Shakespeare puts it, "A rose by any other would smell so sweet".

- Jamie, Nelson, B.C. Canada, 6/12/2008 8:13

***********************************************

Atlas of True Names

 

[Stoat]

[pillut48]

Cameroon comes from the Portuguese word camaroes, meaning..." 'really cool cars'. ;-)

[Stoat]

ROTFLMAO

[pillut48]

C’mon, that didn’t pop into your mind when you read that word? ;-)

[Stoat]

I was apparently applying improper syllabic stresses to the word and so I didn’t initially make the true connection, which brings it all into the proper light and perspective ;-)

[Salamander]

That is so freakin’ cool!

[we of the Appalachians are “The People On The Other Side”?...heh heh...I like it]....;D

[Slings and Arrows]

A ping from the Southern Land of Christmas Songs.

[pillut48]

Well, now that you’ve seen the error of your ways...
;-)

[Stoat]

That is so freakin’ cool!

[we of the Appalachians are “The People On The Other Side”?...heh heh...I like it]....;D

I'm delighted that you've found it to be worthwhile  :-)

That is so freakin’ cool!

[we of the Appalachians are “The People On The Other Side”?...heh heh...I like it]....;D

[Stoat]

Well, now that you’ve seen the error of your ways...
;-)

Only one though....there are so very many (or so I am told....)

"sigh"

[Salamander]

I’m ordering it!

I love etymology to the point that people think I’m nutty because I’ll keep digging until I find the answers.

A spare room upstairs is full of old books on this sort of stuff.

I *am* curious about how they arrived at London’s origin.

I’ve always read that it came from “Lugdunum” or “Fortress of Lug”, the Celtic deity.

Hmmm....

[lefty-lie-spy]

Very interesting concept. I know it must be one hell of a job to correctly identify the etymology of every place on the globe, especially in Roman languages, but it looks like they did make a valiant effort, even though there are some obvious mistakes. In languages such as Japanese and Chinese, the characters can be literally translated to their actual meaning, so there should be few to none mistakes for the maps of those areas though. Here's an example:

Sacramento - http://books.google.com/books?id=Kqwt5RlMVBoC&pg=PA325&lpg=PA325&dq=sacramento+etymology&source=web&ots=3soikd8YmW&sig=5F5tHHoLcFVIf1lTVmSIznU7Cuc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA325,M1

The entry for Broderick is particulary interesting too.

Some names are named for the founding families of the area, which etymology could be even more difficult to determine, and not knowing if it was a family name originally, the meaning could tend to make no sense at all, and an etymological transcription would be totally inaccurate for such places.

Chofu City、
調布市　- 　調う　 [調:CHOU] to be prepared, to be in order, to be put in order to be arranged
布　　 [ふ:FU] cloth

hence, "Cloth Preparation City". There is very little room for doubt about the meaning of most place names here. It will be fun to see how many revisions make it into the next set of those maps to be published.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Hmmm. The explanation for Yucatan listed there particularly dodgy and sophomoric. I can’t believe they reference urban legends and jokes when putting together something as serious as an atlas. I wonder what they put in as a copyright trap. lol.

[gridlock]

I was puttering around on Google Earth the other day, and noticed that the Egyptians are calling Alexandria by the phonically equivalent Al Iskandariyah, which is a meaningless word, as far as I can tell.

This strikes me as a little bit silly.

[Sherman Logan]

the Egyptians are calling Alexandria by the phonically equivalent Al Iskandariyah

Iskandar (and variants) is the general Eastern way of spelling Alexander. Al = The in Arabic. Al Iskandariyah probably means the city of Alexander.

[Tax-chick]

What a cool idea!

[6SJ7]

That’s a neat atlas. Names take on a sort of “Lord of the Rings” tone.

[dangus]

I have some credibility issues.

“Boston” comes from St. Botolph’s Town, in England. No “stone” involved. That’s just an etymological coincidence.

Really curious: America as “Home Ruler”?

[Stoat]

I’m ordering it!

I'm considering it as well...I've always been intrigued by word origins and these two atlases aren't very expensive.

I love etymology to the point that people think I’m nutty because I’ll keep digging until I find the answers.

A spare room upstairs is full of old books on this sort of stuff.

Etymology tells us a great deal about who we are and who and where we come from....having a passionate interest in etymology is much like having a passionate interest in history....nothing wrong with that, and it's quite a useful body of knowledge to have. 

I *am* curious about how they arrived at London’s origin.

I’ve always read that it came from “Lugdunum” or “Fortress of Lug”, the Celtic deity.

Hmmm....

Apparently this question is still a matter of fierce scholarly debate.

I’m ordering it!

I'm considering it as well...I've always been intrigued by word origins and these two atlases aren't very expensive.

I love etymology to the point that people think I’m nutty because I’ll keep digging until I find the answers.

A spare room upstairs is full of old books on this sort of stuff.

Etymology tells us a great deal about who we are and who and where we come from....having a passionate interest in etymology is much like having a passionate interest in history....nothing wrong with that, and it's quite a useful body of knowledge to have. 

I *am* curious about how they arrived at London’s origin.

I’ve always read that it came from “Lugdunum” or “Fortress of Lug”, the Celtic deity.

Hmmm....