Posted on 09/06/2023 11:55:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
I noticed a town named "Maesteg" on my trip to Wales. That corresponds to maes(field), teg(fair). Fairfield. A fairly common name for town in English.
On the way into Wales from England, you pass through Bridgend. Literally end of the of the bridge. The Welsh place name is Penybont-->Pen(end), bont(bridge). The first letter of "pont" is mutated from "p" to "b" where it follows the vowel "y".
> they should recompose their national anthem
And require their citizens not just to sing it but to do a big Bollywood dance to it
“Remember you’re fighting for this woman’s honor. Which is more than she ever did!’’.
Sounds like Cleveland.
When the word ‘slavery’ disappears from our language(s), we will ALL BE SLAVES...................
OK that’s one I find fascinating. Mostly because of Tommy Tedesco of the wrecking crew. I wonder how they got a family name that was their country’s name for another country. Probably some great great grandfather came in over the mountain and the people where he settled just started calling him “the German”.
LOL! As good a guess as any! Until maybe sometime in the Middle Ages, people didn't roam far from their home village, and didn't have last names until some bureaucrat decided to make everyone take one. Creative names resulted!
All the very old civilizations and clans had a variety of naming customs, like Smith and Wright families in England named after the kind of work the father did, or Waters, Hillsborough, etc. after the land features where they lived. Same in Germany, most of Europe—I imagine it's the same everywhere.
"Esposito" in Italian came from the custom of leaving unwanted infants "exposed" to fate on the doorstep of a church or convent, in hopes the baby would be cared for. A birth document for the state would say "Esposito" where the names of the parents should have been.
Italian-Americans' nick-names often are literal translation for humorous effect. For instance, Giuseppe Vongole would be called "Joey Clams" by his friends!
Lots of those translation nicknames show up in mob movies, like Frank Pentangeli from The Godfather II — "Frankie Five Angels." Which is a shame that the incredibly wonderful, colorful, sensual, affectionate, artistic and hard-working Italian-American culture seems only known to outsiders through violent films.
The evolution of last names is always interesting. I always wonder about the era when the son postfix transformed from rotating to permanent. Because it would change, if you were Tom and named your kid James he’d be James Tomson, His kill William would be William Jameson, but then eventually we stopped moving through it, all of our -son -sen -sin last names come from that and I wonder when and how, and did it coincide with the rise of Jr.
Then of course there’s the “professional” last names. Like Smith, he was Smith because he was a smith.
It’s neat stuff.
English is in there among a few hundred languages we’ve never even heard of, and a few we have. Asia is too complicated linguistically to ever sort out. English just makes it manageable.
“Modi’s government says the name changes are an effort to reclaim India’s Hindu past.”
Will Sati be back in?
This is better than what happened to Burma in 1989, when the ruling junta changed the country’s name to Myanmar, and just about every place in it (except for Mandalay) got a new, Burmese-language name.
Given what the regime has done, Burma’s probably happy it isn’t the name any longer and hopes everyone forgets it ever was. :^)
India, which included Pakistan and Bangladesh wasn’t ruled by Britain for 200 years. Those losers were ruled by a bunch of English and Scottish pirates called the East India Company.
The British government only ruled for about 90 years.
Warszawa would be a great name for a metal band.
Because Bharmouse was too long........
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