We pronounce the names of countries, cities, rivers, mountains, without thinking about what they mean. And, meanwhile, the study of toponymy - the science of various geographical names, sometimes more fascinating than the most interesting adventure novels …
City of Angels in Thailand
The most amazing gift to humanity is the ability to express certain thoughts in words. According to historical standards, the ability to speak among people appeared quite recently, scientists began to study the laws of speech only a couple of centuries ago, but there are already many mysteries in linguistics. Most of the mysterious or funny stories are associated with place names. People from different countries and continents once named the rivers, cities, mountains surrounding them by one name or another, and researchers are now racking their brains - where does a village called Paris come from in the Russian wilderness, or why in England one of the rivers bears the name of Mersey …
Studying toponymy, one can unravel many secrets related to history, geography, politics … It is known, for example, that archaeologists very often rely on geographical names in their research. For example, in 2001, Jason's palace was found in Greece, which was once considered mythical. It was found because archaeologists decided to conduct excavations near Mount Pelion - what if it was named so not by chance, but in honor of Pelias, who once took his kingdom away from Jason? And the excavations were crowned with success - the palace really once stood at the foot of the mountain …
Geographic names can also help geologists. In Bashkiria, for example, there is the Kurgashly river, which means "Lead". When the researchers decided to check whether its name corresponds to the truth, it turned out that there are indeed rich deposits of lead in the vicinity!
Some place names are sometimes surprising. There are, for example, names that are so long that no one has yet been able to pronounce them correctly. In the United States, there is a lake whose name was inherited from the Indians. This name consists of 42 letters and looks like this - "Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg", which means: "I will fish on this side, you will fish on the other side, and no one catches anything in the middle." By the way, this is not just a name, but an agreement between the two tribes on the division of the territory for fishing!
Promotional video:
England also has long names, which are a gift from the old days. There is a station in Wales called Llanfirepulguiguillgogericutridrobullaantisyogogogo.
From the Welsh language, it is poetically translated as "a church in a lowland overgrown with white hazel, near a river with a whirlpool near the cave of St. Tisilio."
The Maiori tribe inherited the name Taumatawhakatangihangakkoautomateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokayvhenuakitanatahu to the inhabitants of New Zealand. If you translate it, you get a whole beautiful legend: "Tamatea, a man with long legs, a famous city-eater who moved mountains, climbed them and swallowed them, played the flute for his beloved."
And the longest geographical name is the local name of the capital of Thailand. Bangkok here is referred to as Krungtep Maha Nakorn Amon Rattanakosin Mahanindra Ayutthaya Mahadilok Pop Noprarat Ratchatani Burir Udomratnivet Mahasatan Amonpiman Avatansatip Sapkakatiya Visanukkampasi, which in translation means: " a magnificent and wonderful capital of nine precious stones, a place where the greatest rulers live and a large palace is located, the abode of gods who can transform into spirits."
In contrast to these complex names, there are many tiny names in the world. For example, river A in Germany, town I in France or village Yu in Sweden …
Space Syria
Some names of countries and cities, if translated from their native language, say a lot about the geographical location of the object. For example, Norway is a country of the northern route, Australia is a country of the south, Japan is an eastern country. Ecuador, located on the equator, is translated as "equator".
The word "Netherlands" is translated as "low country". Interestingly, the word Iraq has exactly the same translation. But Haiti, on the contrary, means a mountainous country …
Some names tell about the peculiarities of the flora and fauna of this or that country. The word Brazil comes from the name of the paubrasil tree widespread here. African Mali means "country of hippos".
It's funny that the name of the country Spain also owes its origin to animals. "I-shpanim" - this is the name of this land by the Phoenicians who came here in the II millennium BC. Translated, it meant "the coast of rabbits" - and indeed, in those days there were many of these rodents.
But Venezuela got its name from the Italians. Sailors who sailed to South America saw an Indian village on the water, in which houses stood on stilts. The village was named Venezuela, that is, "Little Venice". Later they began to call the whole country …
Some place names carry travel warnings, so it's a good idea to know exactly what they mean. Nouakchott is the capital of the African country Mauritania. Translated from Berber - a place where the wind whistles …
The cities of Baku in Azerbaijan and Windhoek in Namibia also owe their names to the wind. Translated, their names mean - wind blow. Indeed, the winds in these cities are local attractions …
The city of Oymyakon in Yakutia, located at the pole of cold, is translated from Yakut - "mad cold".
Some names directly indicate the danger that lies in wait for the traveler, especially the navigator, in one place or another. Australia has Eyvod Bay (a bay to avoid) as well as Aykshish Bay (a restless bay) and Cape Catastrophes (Cape Catastrophes).
There is a Cape Dangerous on Novaya Zemlya. Near Sakhalin - the Stone of Danger, in the Kuril Islands - small Trap islands, near which many ships have crashed …
True, sometimes warnings are fake, designed to mislead. On the Somali Peninsula, located in northeastern Africa, there is Cape Guardafui, which means "watch out!" Once it was named so by Arab merchants, trying to get rid of competitors. They spread a rumor that there is a magnetic mountain on this peninsula, which attracts all the iron from ships sailing by - nails, parts of the hull, as a result of which the ship goes to the bottom. Later these rumors were refuted, but the name remained …
Paradise Island
Some names sometimes cause a smile and bewilderment - where did they come from, who invented them? There is a small island in Indonesia called Tarakan. That is exactly what it is called - not otherwise it could not have done without some Russian traveler. In Vietnam there is an island called Paradise. In New Guinea there is Mount Dom, and in India the rivers Son and Barak flow.
The city of Tumba is located in Sweden, and in Hungary there is a town with the cozy name of Pech. But there are cities called Salo in Finland and Italy right away! Doha is the capital of the Qatar principality on the Persian Gulf coast, Kucha is located in China. In Pakistan there is the village of Tank, in Turkey there are the towns of Chay and Chan, and in Guatemala - Lemon.
In France there are the villages of God, Vershok and Utro, in Spain the town of Sleep, and in England - Ston. The original names are for the cities of Lyubimets in Germany and Bogach in Hungary.
The names on the maps of Russia and the former Soviet republics are often also original. In Siberia, there is the city of Zima and the village of Penek, in the Saratov region - the towns of Baklushi and Turki, in Ryazan - Sapozhok, Gryazi - in Lipetsk. In the Grodno region there is a town under the strange name of Zheludok.
The Barysh River flows through the Ulyanovsk region, but not far from Odessa there is the village of Vygoda. Wise heads live in the town of the same name in the Khmelnytsky region, and the polite ones live in the village of Good day near Chernigov. But in the Luhansk region there is a city with the good name Happiness …
Some names indicate that people who once gave names to this or that sect are not alien to astronomy. In Belarus, there are the villages of Venus and Capricorn. But the planet Mars is extremely popular - there are villages with this name in very many regions of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus …
Such unexpected and funny things can be learned by becoming interested in the amazing science of toponymy …
Natalia Trubinovskaya