Sunday 25 January 2015

Origins of Place Names: Belgian Cities

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. This time we continue the tour of Western Europe and a look at the largest Belgian cities.

Antwerp is Belgium's most populous settlement, the origin of the name being the subject of some debate. Currently the most common explanation is the Germanic an der werp or 'by the wharf', this port being on the River Scheldt. However this would mean the place would have been named after the wharf had been put to use and thus there would have been an earlier name for the place and no record has survived. Yet there is an alternative origin of Germanic anda werpum meaning 'at the alluvium' (silt deposited by annual flooding) and, in my experience, this makes a much more likely origin for a place name of this age. What is certain is is nothing to do with the legendary explanation of the mythical giant Antigoon. He demanded a toll from those wishing to cross the river, those refusing to pay had a hand severed and tossed into the river. Eventually he was beaten by the hero Brabo, who cut off Antigoon's hand and tossed that into the river. Hence the name is said to come from Dutch hand werpen and related to Old English hand wearpan not 'weapon' but meaning 'to throw'.

Ghent was once known as Ganda, this likely shows these names came from a Celtic ganda meaning 'confluence' and this is where the Scheldt joins the Lys. The idea this comes from a the deity Guntia has virtually no evidence to support it, although it cannot be written off entirely.

Charleroi was only officially founded in 1666, as fort built by the Spanish governor of the Netherlands and named Charles-Roy to honour the Spanish king Charles II.

Liege is either from a Germanic word liudiz meaning 'people' and seen as '(the place) of the people'. The same word can be seen throughout the Germanic tongues of Europe: Dutch luiden, German Leute, Old English leod, and Icelandic lythur. The Old English version also explains the record from 770 as Leodicum, which virtually rules out the explanation this is the personal name Leudi.

Brussels was originally situated on dry land in the marshes of the River Senne. Then it was known as Bruoc-sella 'the settlement in the marshes'.

Bruges is not difficult to see as coming from the Dutch brug meaning 'bridge', the original bridge being over the Rei and constructed by the Romans. Later the term has been seen as plural for this is indeed a town of many bridges and, as a place, one of my personal favourites.

Mons is not difficult to see as related to the French for 'mountain' and in documents dating from before the seventh century this place is recorded as Montes. To the Romans it was Castrilocus, from the castrum or 'military encampment' they built here.

Molenbeek is from two Dutch words, molen beek speaking of 'the mill brook'. Originally this was the name of the brook, by 985 the name of the village, and today the name of one of the nineteen municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Hasselt is from Hasaluth meaning 'hazel wood', the earliest known record of this form of the name comes from a document dated 1165.

Ostend is from Dutch oost einde or 'the east end'. The modern location of Ostend is not the original but a planned 'New Ostend' behind dykes to protect the area, the unstable coastline of the North Sea a reminder this arm of the ocean is only 10,000 years old, not even yesterday in a geological sense. The original was on the 'east end' of the island of Testerep, now joined to the mainland.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Sunday 18 January 2015

Origins of Place Names: Portugal

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues I thought it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. This time we continue the tour of Western Europe and a look at the largest Portuguese cities.

Lisbon was, according to legend, founded by the Greek hero Odysseus but this is certainly not the origin of the name. The Greeks knew the place as Olisippo, perhaps traceable to the Phoenician ippo meaning 'fence'. However most sources point to this as from the Phoenician alis ubbo, literally 'the joyful bay' but understood as a reference to a safe harbour.

Oporto is from the Portuguese o porto 'the port'. Note this is not the direct origin of the name of the country, Portugal came from the Roman name Portus cale or 'the warm harbour' (ie never freezes).

Braga was known as Bracara Augusta, the name of the Roman emperor following that of the Bracari people who lived here during the Iron Age.

Amadora was originally named Porcalhota, being the place of a woman named Porcalhota. In Italian Amadora means 'gift of love'.

Vila Nova de Gaia is 'the new place of Gaia', with the place name coming, from the Celtic peoples who inhabited the area previously, they referring to themselves as 'Gall', also seen in Gaul.

Queluz is disputed but most often said to come from the Arabic ca Llus and speaking of 'the valley where almonds grow'.

Funchal is a Portuguese city with a Portuguese name. This comes from funcho al and refers to 'the fennel plantation', the area being known for where the plant grew wild in profusion.

Coimbra was known as Conimbriga to the Romans, this unites an early Indo-European reference to a 'rocky height, an outcrop' with Celtic briga a defensive feature.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Sunday 11 January 2015

Origins of Place Names: Spain

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. This time we continue the tour of Western Europe and a look at the largest Spanish cities.

Madrid is associated with Magerit, the name of the Moorish fort which once stood here. This name is said to refer to 'the place of water', it standing on the Manzanares River. This would then be related to Celtic roots such as ritu, Old Welsh rit, Welsh rhyd, Old Breton rit, and Old French roy all meaning 'ford', together with the Celtic root magos, and Old Irish mag, meaning 'field, plain'. There is also the possibility of Breton ma meaning 'bear', which would fit with the legendary explanation for this name as 'the place of bears' and the Latin name of Ursalia. We should also consider the Roman Empire's record of the name as Matrice and subsequesnt control by the Vandals, then the Visigoths, and thereafter the eighth-century Islamic influence. Thus the name would mean 'tree' or perhaps better seen as 'giver of life' and evolved to the present name from Matrit, the earlier Mozarabic form. Mozarabic being the Romance dialect spoken in the areas of the Iberian Peninsula dominated by Arab cultures.

Barcelona is seen as Barkeno on a coin found here. Greek sources speak of Barkinon, in Latin Barcilonum, and later Barcenona. Note the latter form, which explains the abbreviated form of the name as 'Barna', only the famous football club should ever be referred to as 'Barca'. The name is gnerally held to be derived from the Carthaginian founder of this place in 230 BC, Hamilcar Barca, although this has yet to be proven conclusively.

Valencia was founded by the Romans in 137 BC as Valentia Edetanorum. The latter element refers to the Edenti, the peoples who were here before the Romans arrived. The Latin walentia means 'strength, valour', either used to refer to this 'stronghold' or, if this is used more as 'valour' refers to the Roman soldiers who fought the battles here.

Seville is first recorded by the Phoenicians as Spal where it is thought to mean 'lowland'. Later this was Latinicised as Hispalis, then Arabic Ishbiliyya, and Greek Sebille. These changes are purely down to phonetic spelling and pronunciation, thus the original meaning of 'lowland' remains.

Zaragoza has a name evolving, as with that of Seville, purely through phonetic spellings and pronunciations. To the Romans it was Caesaraugusta, clearly named after the emperor Caesar Augustus.

Malaga another Spanish city with a likely Phoenician base. Here it is from malahah or 'salt', understood as where the catch of fish was salted prior to transportation. Later the Roman influence as Malaca brought about the evolution to the present form.

Murcia is certainly Roman in origin, although whether this represents Murtia and a personal name ot Myrtea meaning the plant 'myrtle' is uncertain. It would make more sense to be the plant as it had culinary, medicinal, and ritualistic uses.

Palma is still easily seen as meaning 'palm trees' and was named as such by the Romans, although this was their translation of the earlier Phoenician name of Tamar .

Bilbao's origins are disputed, with almost as many explanations as there are historical listings. Perhaps this is Basque bil-ibaia-bao giving the location of 'river and cove'; or Spanish bello vado 'beautiful ford'; or the two settlements of billa meaning 'stacking' and what is now Bilbao La Vieja from vaho 'mist' or 'stream'. However all of these have one thing in common - water.

Alicante is of Phocaean origin, this a Greek city on the western shores of Anatolia. In 325 BC they knew this place as Acra-Leuca 'the white summit'. The Romans knew the place for the same feature but called it Lucentum 'shining', this later becoming al-Akant by the Arabs and giving the present name.

Cordoba was known as Kartuba when the Carthaginians were here, this meaning 'the City of Juba', thus honouring the Numidian commander killed in a nearby battle. Under Islamic rule it became Qurtubah, itself possibly a misunderstanding of the previous name as from the Arabic karta-tuba 'big town'. Early as these records are, the place must have had earlier names as it was settled before 3,000 years ago when the district was known as Tartessos by the Greeks who were exploiting the mineral resources here. Yet even this pales into insignificance when compared to the dominance by Homo neanderthalensis from around 42,000 years ago. Neanderthal Man had a spoken language, we can only wonder what they knew their home as.

Valladolid has a number of explanations, all agreeing the first element refers to its position in a valley. Perhaps this originated as a Celtic 'valley of waters'; or Arabic Ballad Al-Walid where the named individual was Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik, an Umayyad caliph; or even Vallisoletano 'one of the sunny valley'.

Vigo is almost certainly from Latin vicus 'a small village'.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Sunday 4 January 2015

Origins of Place Names: Italy

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. After France and Germany, this time a look at the largest Italian cities.

Rome stands on the River Tiber, a name coined by the Romans and from a Celtic meaning of 'water'. The city itself was named from the River Ruma, an earlier name for the same river and one of Etruscan origin thought to mean simply 'to flow'.

Milan is seen in a document from 222 BC as Mediolanum, from the Gaulish medio 'middle' lan 'plain'. That plain being where the River Olona flows.

Naples comes from its Greek name of Neapolis or 'new town', a seemingly oxymoronic name for one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greeks were here four thousand years ago. Any place named as 'new', irrespective of the language, should be seen as a comparison with an earlier settlement - in the case of Naples this was the town of Cumae.

Turin is in an area once inhabited by the Ligurian tribe called the Taurini, their name thought to be related to the Celtic tur meaning 'water' and a reference to the River Po. The Romans knew the place as Augusta Taurinorum, this place having connections with the Emperor Augustus.

Palermo another Italian city having Greek origins, they referring to this place as Panormos from the Greek pan 'all, every' and hormos 'harbour'. This is understood as speaking of a harbour where anything could be traded and one of seventeen of this name around the Mediterranean Sea at one point, hence it perhaps should not be considered a 'name' in the modern sense.

Genoa is thought to originate in the Latin genua meaning 'knees' and used to describe the arch formed by the coastline around the Ligurian Sea.

Bologna was known as Bononia 2,500 years ago, a name from Boii. This Germanic tribe get their name from the early Indo-European buoi 'hunters'.

Florence was known to the Romans as Colonia Florentia or 'flowering colony'. This should probably not be taken literally but seen as 'flourishing'. Earlier the Etruscan name was Fluentia or 'flowing', it being between two rivers.

Bari is another water name, this from Larin baris meaning 'boat, barge' and speaking of the harbour.

Catania may be connected to the Phoenician katon 'small', a comparison to Syracuse. However it is difficult to see how this could have given the Latin name of Catinus, which would be understood as 'gulf, bowl, basin, bay' and a reference to the distinctive topography. During the tenth century Arabic influence gave the area two names: Medinat-Al-Fil or 'the city of the elephant' and Balad-Al-Fil 'the country of the elephant', a pointer to the lava sculpture of the elephant of Piazza Duomo's Fountain.

Venice is named after the Illyrian tribe known as the Veneti, their name is probably from Indo-European but could either be a word meaning 'friend' or perhaps simply 'water'.

Verona is uncertain but may come from an Indo-European root related to Sanskrit var meaning 'water', an apt description of a place nestled in a bend of the River Adige.

Note the spellings of these places are English, as the piece was written in English.