Alternate Names of Places: A Worldwide Dictionary

265 Pages·2009·1.74 MB·English

by  Adrian Room

Alternate Names
of Places
ALSO BY ADRIAN ROOM
AND FROM MCFARLAND
African Placenames: Origins and Meanings of the Names
for Natural Features, Towns, Cities, Provinces and Countries, 2d ed. (2008)
The Pronunciation of Placenames: A Worldwide Dictionary (2007)
Nicknames of Places: Origins and Meanings of the Alternate and Secondary Names,
Sobriquets, Titles, Epithets and Slogans for 4600 Places Worldwide (2006)
Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries,
Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites, 2d ed. (2006)
Dictionary of Pseudonyms: ¡¡,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 4th ed. (2004)
Placenames of France: Over 4,000 Towns, Villages,
Natural Features, Regions and Departments (2004; paperback 2009)
Encyclopedia of Corporate Names Worldwide (2002; paperback 2008)
A Dictionary of Art Titles: The Origins of the
Names and Titles of 3,000 Works of Art (2000; paperback 2008)
A Dictionary of Music Titles: The Origins of the
Names and Titles of 3,500 Musical Compositions (2000; paperback 2008)
Literally Entitled: A Dictionary of the Origins of
the Titles of Over ¡,300 Major Literary Works
of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries(¡996; paperback 2009)
Placenames of Russia and the Former Soviet Union:
Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 2,000
Natural Features, Towns, Regions and Countries (¡996)
The Naming of Animals: An Appellative Reference to Domestic,
Work and Show Animals Real and Fictional (¡993)
Corporate Eponymy: A Biographical Dictionary of the
Persons Behind the Names of Major American,
British, European and Asian Businesses (¡992)
Alternate Names
of Places
A Worldwide Dictionary
A R
DRIAN OOM
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Room, Adrian.
Alternate names of places : a worldwide dictionary / Adrian Room.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3712-2
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Gazetteers. I. Title.
G105.R648 2009 910.3—dc22 2009017992
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 Adrian Room. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Green hills near Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand;
globe; both ©2009 Shutterstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Contents
Introduction
1
The Placenames
7
Appendix I:
Names of Places in Non-English Languages
235
Appendix II:
Fictional Names of Places
246
Select Bibliography
255
v
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Introduction
This new type of geographical diction- not even associated with the place in question.
ary lists the alternate names, current and his- Many Soviet places were simply given a gen-
torical, by which over 7,000 places in the erally Communist name, typically with the el-
world are or have been known. (The actual ement Krasno-, “red,” to reflect the new
number of alternate names is nearer 9,000, regime, while others were renamed for Lenin
since many places have or had more than one or Stalin without any local connection with
such name.) these leaders. Some such renamings remain on
For the purposes of this record, an alter- the map today, almost 20 years after the demise
nate name is one that bears or bore an official of the Soviet state.
or at least a semiofficial status, rather than Ideological renaming of this kind was not
being simply a nickname or a colloquial abbre- confined to the USSR, and some towns else-
viation. where in the Socialist bloc took on new names,
An alternate name may be a respelling, as such as Hungary’s Dunaújváros, which for a
when a name is restored to a correct form from decade was Sztálinváros, or the former East
a corrupt original, or it may even be in a com- Germany’s Chemnitz, which for almost forty
pletely different language, as when one coun- years was on the map as Karl-Marx-Stadt.
try is occupied or conquered by another, a fate There were few such renamings in Poland, a
that historically befell many European states. country recast with German placenames dur-
Not all name changes are the result of ing World War II, but from 1946 to 1992 the
hostilities. Sometimes settlers in virgin terri- city of Podgorica in the former Yugoslavia hon-
tory find it hard to decide on a suitable name ored the republic’s first president as Titograd.
for their place of settlement. There are thus In countries of central and eastern Eu-
places in the United States that have under- rope such as these, a new name was often
gone more than one change of name, such as based on a previous name, which was either
Glen Ellyn, Illinois, which finally arrived at its adapted to the succeeding new language or
present name after a run of six successive ear- where possible translated into it. Thus the Slo-
lier names. vakian town of Nové Mesto nad Váhom, with
The choice of a new name for a place a name meaning “new town on the Váh,” for
may be politically motivated, as the hundreds the river on which it lies, was earlier known
of towns and villages renamed in the former by the Hungarian name Vágújhely and Ger-
Soviet Union. Here two birds were often killed man name Waag-Neustadt, with “new town”
with one stone, since an undesirable or polit- translated into the superseding language and
ically incorrect name could be abolished and the form of the river name accommodated to
replaced with a new politically correct one, it.
which often as not bore no relationship to the Many places around the world have roots
earlier name. In some cases, a new name was that go deep into history, with an original
1
Introduction 2
name in a now extinct language. Names of exist in tandem, but with English usually
biblical origin are often of this type, as are the being the official form. (Irish equivalents for
numerous places in the Roman Empire with names in Northern Ireland exist but are gen-
Latin names. Such names, marked “Roman” in erally not official. They are included in the
the present book rather than “Latin,” in turn dictionary, however. In this respect, care is
are often of earlier origin, dating back several needed in differentiating between “northern
centuries BCto a defunct language such as an- Ireland,” in the Irish Republic, and “Northern
cient Greek or Phoenician. The Roman names Ireland,” as part of the United Kingdom.) In
of places in France are thus often Gallo- Wales, English still mostly predominates, but
Roman, and based on Gaulish, a Celtic lan- the Welsh names are invariably used in Welsh-
guage. language texts, as in the media and official leg-
In countries with a colonial heritage there islation. Most places in Scotland have equiv-
can be a complete change of language, with a alent Gaelic names (listed in Edward Dwelly’s
native name replaced by a European one, itself Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary) but in
in more recent times either reverting to its in- regular use retain the English forms of their
digenous original or assuming a new native names. An exception is the Gaelic-speaking
form. Not many European names remain Western Isles, where the town of Stornoway
today on the map of Africa, although English now officially appears on maps in its Gaelic
names are still a significant presence in coun- guise of Steornabagh, as do most villages and
tries such as Australia and New Zealand, de- natural features, including the islands them-
spite the prevalence of native names, here re- selves. (Many of these names are not actually
spectively Aboriginal and Maori. An Gaelic in origin but Scandinavian, so that the
analogous situation exists in the United States Gaelic form is simply a respelling. Stornoway
and Canada, where names of European origin itself is one such.)
in languages such as English, French, and In the Basque Country of northern Spain
Spanish remain widespread on the map and southwestern France, places are now often
amongst the numerous Indian names. In known by their Basque names in addition to,
South America, and especially Latin America, or instead of, their respective Spanish or
Spanish and Portuguese names are visibly in French names. A similar situation applies in
evidence today as replacements for historical Brittany, northwestern France, where Breton
Indian names. It goes without saying, of names are often bracketed with their French
course, that not all European placenames in equivalents, while in Catalonia, northeastern
countries with a colonial past are substitutions Spain, Catalan names are now regularly given
for native names, as a good number of such pride of place on the map, in acknowledgment
names are those of newly-founded settle- of the region’s status as an autonomous com-
ments. munity. In Switzerland some places have as
In many countries today more than one many as four different forms of name in each
language is spoken, so that places officially of the country’s official languages, French,
bear two names. Thus, places in Belgium often German, Italian, and Romansh, this last being
bear both French and Flemish names, while the local language.
places in Ireland are known by an English For the purposes of this dictionary, alter-
name and an Irish and places in Wales by an nate current names are often not simply vari-
English name and a Welsh. In Belgium, the ant spellings but distinctively different. Thus,
official form of the name is usually French in the name of La Guajira, a department of
the south and Flemish in the north and east, northeastern Colombia, is also spelled La Goa-
while in Ireland the Irish and English names jiraand La Goagira, but these are basically one
3 Introduction
and the same name, not significant alternates. uation is created in which alternate names be-
The same goes for names that are essentially a come current, sometimes for years, and cer-
shorter version of an original much longer tainly long enough to feature on maps and in
name. In such cases the present name is ex- gazetteers, even if the old name is regarded as
actly the same as the main part of the histor- secondary and is printed in parenthesis. Some
ical name, so is not a true alternate. Many co- atlases retain the old name for the physical or
lonial Spanish and Portuguese names in the geographic map of a region, giving the new
Americas began life as an impressive religious name in the political map. Thus, Philip’s Great
dedication, incorporating a saint’s name, but World Atlas (see Select Bibliography, p. 255)
today only the basic name or word remains. shows the location of the New Hebridesin its
Such are Argentina’s San Pedro de Jujuy, now physical map of Australia and Oceania, but
usually San Pedro, Uruguay’s Santo Domingo de names the island republic Vanuatuin the cor-
Soriano, now Soriano, and Brazil’s São Miguel responding political map.
de Jucurutu, now normally Jucurutu. Names The traditional English spelling of well-
of this type are generally absent from the dic- known names also persists in general use, even
tionary. But where an earlier lengthy name has in the media and works of reference. Thus,
now been superseded by a different shorter The Times Style and Usage Guide, published in
one, they duly feature. Brazil’s Santo Antônio 2003, recommends such spellings as Dunkirk,
de Leverger has a name previously shortened Gothenburg, and Lyons, as well as the conven-
to Levergerand before that Santo Antônio, but tionally accepted Brussels, Cologne, and Venice,
it originated as Santo Antônio do Rio Abaixo. Its while the 11th edition of The Chambers Dic-
name has thus changed and is therefore in- tionary, published as recently as 2008, de-
cluded. Where a well-known name in one of scribed the World War I Western Front as a
these two languages has an interesting origin, belt of land running from the Belgian coast
however, it is generally included. A famous “through Rheims to Verdun.” Not surpris-
example is California’s Los Angeles, which ingly, the anomalous situation forms a recur-
began life as El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los An- ring topic of discussion in the press.
geleson a river that the Spanish christened Por- Entries in the dictionary give the current
ciúnculain honor of Nuestra Señora la Reyna de name, location, and description of the place
los Angeles de Porciúncula, “Our Lady the followed by its one or more present or past al-
Queen of Angels of the Little Portion.” Today ternate names, preceded by qualifying words
the city’s name has reduced even further to a such as “formerly,” “conventional,” “origi-
colloquial LA. nally,” and in the case of former names by a
A broad range of places have abandoned date, where known, of the relevant name
a colonial name in favor of an indigenous one, change. Names beginning with a numeral are
from towns and cities in Africa, such as located alphabetically as if the numeral were
Harare, formerly Salisbury, and Lubumbashi, spelled out in the language concerned. Thus,
formerly Élisabethville, to South Pacific islands 26 Bakinskikh Kommunarov, imeni is located
such as Fatu Hiva, formerly Magdalena Island, between Duzkendand Dvigatel’stroysince the
and Nanumanga, formerly Hudson Island. In numeral represents Russian dvadtsat’ shest’,
such cases, however official and publicly pro- “twenty-six.” The same applied to names con-
moted the name change, the old name often taining a numeral other than as the first word.
continues in general use alongside the new. If Thus, Pio IXis located between Pionerskyand
the inhabitants of a place, or those familiar Piotrków Trybunalski, since the (Roman) nu-
with it, have long known it by a particular meral represents Portuguese nono, “ninth.”
name which is then replaced by another, a sit- The geographical location of a place is