TOPONYMY AP Human Geography 2014 What is

TOPONYMY AP Human Geography 2014

What is Toponymy? Toponymy is the scientific study of place-names, along with their origins and meanings, based on etymological, historical, and geographical information

Toponym The name given to a particular place

Toponym Each place is • A unique location • A reflection of people’s ideas, and tangible creations • Giving a place a name, gives the place certain character, e. g. “Mount Prospect” and “Mount Misery” • People make places; they do not exist in a vacuum • A toponym can give us a quick glimpse into the history of a place

Toponym Classification Toponymist George R. Stewart developed a classification system based on 10 basic categories of place-names: Descriptive Names (Rocky Mts) Associate Names (Mill Valley, CA) Incident Names (Battle Creek, MI) Possessive Names (Johnston City, TX) Commemorative Names (San Francisco, CA) Commendatory Names (Paradise Valley, AZ) Folk-Etymology Names (Plains, GA) Manufactured Names (Truth or Consequence, NM) Shift Names (Lancaster, PA; Alpine Mountain) Mistake names, involving historic errors in identification or translation (Lasker, North Carolina); named after Alaska Each category is directly associated with cultural geography.

Largest U. S. Cities Named After a Food Orange, CA Citrus Height, CA Appleton, WI Walnut Creek, CA Sugar Land, TX Apple Valley, CA Port Orange, FL Coconut Creek, FL Pearland, TX

Some Strange U. S. Toponyms Accident, Maryland Between, Georgia Bingo, Maine Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania Blowout, Texas Blue Ball, Pennsylvania Boring, Oregon Ding Dong, Texas Cocked Hat, Delaware Intercourse, Pennsylvania No Name, Ohio Poverty, Kentucky

Strange Toponyms (U. S. ): Bodies of Water Big Bone Lick, Kentucky Frying Pan Creek, Washington Idiot Creek, Oregon Marijuana Tank, New Mexico Pee Creek, Ohio Molasses River, Michigan

Strange Toponyms (U. S. ): Mountains & Hills Bad Marriage Mountain, Montana Big Butt, North Carolina Bitch Mountain, New York Hateful Hill, Vermont Killer Mountain, Oklahoma

Toponyms have their roots in Migration Movement Interaction among people

Migrant Andover

Toponym and cartography v. Some toponyms on maps depend on who produced the map v. Some contested places have more than one name at the same time v. Example: the Malvinas (Argentineans); Falkland Islands (British) v. U. S. place names are governed by the United States Board of Geographic Names, established in 1890 by President Benjamin Harrison v. Decides what toponyms appear on government produced maps

Toponym and cartography

Politics Toponymy can also reveal the political parties and politicians in charge at the time or those who had influence in the past. This trend of naming cities, streets, and monuments after those in charge was particularly present in totalitarian and/or dictatorial states. In the former Soviet Union, at least 27 cities were named after Vladimir Lenin, in particular Leningrad, Russia’s 2 nd largest city. In addition, at least 12 cities were named after his successor Joseph Stalin. The majority of these cities were renamed after the fall of the Soviet Union and communism itself.

Toponymy Most place names in any culture contains two parts: the generic and the specific. The generic (classifying) and specific (modifying or particular) is used to signify what entity is being described. In English, the specific comes first, e. g. , Missouri River, Wall Street, Hudson River, Bunker Hill, Long Island, etc. In the U. S. , River Rouge or Isle Royale- evidence of French settlement - French reverse naming order Specific dialectical regions of the U. S. also have their own unique toponyms. In the North, there is a trend to add directional adjectives to placenames (East Lansing, North Chicago, West Chester, etc. ). This pattern is largely due to the planning of Northern towns and cities in accordance with the compass.

Some Arabic Toponyms In Africa Cairo- “victorious” Sudan- “land of the blacks” Sahara- “wasteland” or “wilderness”

Swedish Toponymy in the US The Geography of Swedish names reflects the immigration patterns of the 19 th century. Swedish toponyms in Minnesota: Kalmar Township, Karlstad, Malmo Township, Mora, New Sweden Township, Ronneby, Scandia, Stockholm Township

What are some English toponyms in the United States?

Country Name Etymology Australia – From Latin “terra australis incognita”, meaning Unknown Southern Land Brazil – Named after the Portuguese name for the Brazilwood tree, “pau-brasil” Greenland – An English name given by Eric the Red to attract settlers. Not very accurate. Netherlands – Greek for Low Lands. Palestine – Named for the ancient Philistines. Peru – Unknown, most common theory is that it was derived from “biru”, a native word for river. Liberia- from Latin“Liber”(freedom)

Places named after People Bolivia – Simon Bolivar Colombia – Christopher Columbus El Salvador – Jesus America – Amerigo Vespucci (Former) Rhodesia – Cecil Rhodes Philippines – King Philip II of Spain Washington, D. C. – George Washington Georgia (US) – King George of England Baltimore – Lord Baltimore Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City- Self Explanatory

U. S. STATE NICKNAMES Connecticut: • Georgia: Peach State Constitution State • Florida: Sunshine State • North Carolina: Tar Heel State

What is the nickname of Massachusetts?

Places Named After Peace La Paz, Bolivia

Places Named After Peace Jerusalem, Israel

Places Named After Peace Xi’an, China

Say What? There a large amount of what Americans would deem as “unusual” toponyms, including: Turdy (Tajikistan) Kilkenny (Ireland) Condom (France) Shitagoo Lake (Quebec, Canada) Horni Police (Czech Republic) Dildo (Newfoundland, Canada) Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udom Ratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanu Kamprasit (Thailand) These seemingly humorous place-names are due to language barriers as well as lack of cultural understanding.

Longest place (town) name Given to a town in Wales To preserve the Welsh language and diminish the influence of the English language Can you pronounce this name? Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysil iogogogoch The name means: “The Church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel near the rapid whirlpool by the church of St. Tysilio of the red cave. ”

Post-Colonial Toponyms Upper Volta: Burkina Faso Gold Coast: Ghana Nyasaland: Malawi Northern Rhodesia: Zambia Southern Rhodesia: Zimbabwe Southwest Africa: Namibia East Pakistan: Bangladesh Netherlands East Indies: Indonesia Ceylon: Sri Lanka Bombay: Mumbai

Some places with Native American Names “Mesconsing”(“the long river”)- recorded as “Quisconsing” by Lewis and Clark- later distorted into “Wisconsin” Milwaukee Winnipeg Massachusetts Potomac Niagara Adirondacks Chesapeake Shenandoah Yukon

Post-revolution Toponyms Belgian Congo to Zaire and back to the Congo Democratic Republic Leningrad to St. Petersburg Stalingrad to Volgograd

Memorial Toponyms Chosen to memorialize important historical figures Example of street names in many parts of the U. S. particularly the South memorializing Martin Luther King, Jr. Places named after George Washington, JFK, Abraham Lincoln, etc.

Commodification of Toponyms Refers to the practice of buying, trading, and selling of place toponyms to promote popular culture Some examples: Tokyo Disneyland, Paris Disneyland, and Disneyworld in the U. S. In the area of sports, many arenas are named after corporations, e. g. Gillette Stadium, Fed. Ex Field, MCI Center, Coors Field, Bank. North Garden, Staples Center, etc.

Sequent occupance (Derwent Whittlesey-1929) The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape, e. g. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

European languages in Africa