Pilinut Press, Inc.^TM

Toponyms

The word toponym has two meanings. It is either a place name or a word coined in association with the name of a place. The adjective forms are: toponymic and toponymous. The study of such place names is known as toponymics or toponymy--a branch of onomastics.

Interestingly, there are names for different types of toponym including agronym (the name of a field or pasture), dromonym (the name of a transportation route), drymonym (the name of a forest or grove), econym (the name of a village or town), limnonym (the name of a lake or pond), hydronym (the name of a body of water), oronym (the name of a mountain or hill), and necronym (the name of a cemetery or burial ground).

Place names often reveal something about the history or topography of a place. Sometimes the names are simple descriptions of how a place looks but possibly in a language spoken in the area before the present group of inhabitants. In the United States many place names are Native American words. Examples include state names like Mississippi (meaning either "the Father of Waters" or "great river"), city names like Chicago (which is thought to be a French version of the Miami-Illinois word with two meanings: a "striped skunk" or "wild leek" which grew along the river banks where the city is now located), or names of features like lakes, mountains, and rivers (Chautauqua Lake is named for its shape the "bag with a rope tied around the middle".)

Other place names give clues about who settled in that area either because their name is used or because the founders wanted to honor someone (like Warrenton, Virginia named after General Joseph Warren who established a local school or Stockton, New York named after Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence) or the name is in a particular language (i.e. Sierra Vista). By the way, "ton" is Anglo-Saxon for "settlement".

Here is a list of toponyms where place names have taken on new meaning.

• Alberta clipper - a weather phenomenon named after the Canadian province of Alberta, where it originates
• Angora goat, Angora rabbit, Angora wool (obtained from the goat or the rabbit), Angora cat - named after Angora, variant or former name of Ankara, Turkey their place of origin
• antimacassar - a small cover for the back or arms of a chair after Makassar, Indonesia, which was the source of hair oil
• Armageddon - a great, decisive battle after "mount of Megiddo", where the last battle between good and evil will be fought according to the Bible
• badminton - a game similar to lawn tennis but played with a shuttlecock and smaller rackets after Badminton in Gloucestershire, England
• Balkanization - to break up into small, mutually hostile political units after the Balkans, a region in southeastern Europe divided into small nations in the twentieth century
• bangalored - used often in the US when jobs are lost because of outsourcing; first time use by the magazine "The Economist"; usage: "He is sulking today because he got bangalored." after Bangalore, India the country to where many of the outsourced jobs go
• Bedford cord - a heavy fabric with a ribbed weave similar to corduroy named after either Bedford, England or possibly New Bedford, Massachusetts
• bedlam - a madhouse, any scene of pandemonium after the popular name/pronunciation of St. Mary of Bethlehem, London's first psychiatric hospital
• Bedlington Terrier - a breed of dog after Bedlington, UK
• bikini - two-piece bathing suit for women after Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where atomic bombs were tested in 1946; supposedly analogous to the "explosive" effect on the male libido
• blarney - smooth, deceitful talk, flattery; a skill one could get by kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle in Ireland
• Boeotian - an ancient Greek term for a fool after the Boeotian people who lived in the Boeotia region of ancient Greece
• bohemian - term referring to artists, writers, and other people who wished to live an unconventional, vagabond, or "gypsy" lifestyle; from Bohemia, where "gypsies" were erroneously thought to originate; see also gypsy, below
• Brabançonne - the national anthem of Belgium from Brabant a province of Belgium
• Bronx cheer - a noise made by the mouth to signify derision after The Bronx, a borough of New York City
• brummagem - goods of shoddy quality from a local pronunciation of Birmingham, city in the United Kingdom
• bungalow - a low building or house from a Gujarati word meaning "Bengalese", used elliptically to mean a house built in the style of Bengal
• Byzantine - used to describe any work, law, or organization that is excessively complex or difficult to understand named after Byzantine Empire. Its capital city was Istanbul previously known as Constantinople and originally known as Byzantium.
• calico - a type of cloth named after Calicut, India where Europeans first obtained it; Calico cat and calico horse are derived from the appearance of their mottled coat suggesting calico cloth
• canary - a small yellow bird, originating on and named after the Canary Islands, specifically the largest island, Gran Canaria, called in Latin Insula Canaria, "island of dogs", after the wild native dogs found there
• Caucasian - name for the "white race", coined by anthropologist Johann Blumenbach after Caucasus Mountains, their supposed ancestral homeland
• chautauqua - an assembly lasting several days featuring lectures, concerts, and discussions named after Chautauqua, New York, where the first one was held in 1874
• Chicago Typewriter - a nickname for the Thompson submachine gun after Chicago, Illinois which was famous for its gang wars of the Prohibition Era
• chihuahua - small dog from Chihuahua, a state of Mexico
• china - originally chinaware, as in "wares from China"
• Chinese wall - artificial organizational barrier, derived from Great Wall of China
• coach - a type of carriage, ultimately from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) or "carriage of Kocs", where this vehicle was first made
• Coldstream Guards - regiment founded at Coldstream in Scotland
• Coventry (in the construction "Send to Coventry") - shunned by friends and family, after the treatment of Royalist prisoners during the English Civil War
• damask - material, from Damascus, a city in Syria
• denim - a coarse cotton fabric, from French "serge de Nîmes" meaning "serge of Nîmes", where the cloth originated
• dollar - a unit of currency, originally from the German "taler", an abbreviation of Joachimstaler ("gulden of Joachimstal"), a coin minted (1519) from silver mined near Joachimsthal, Bohemia
• donnybrook - colloquial term for a brawl or fracas, derived from Donnybrook Fair, an annual horse fair in the Dublin, Ireland suburb notorious for fighting and drunkenness
• doolally or dolally - an adjective meaning "mad" or "eccentric" (e.g. "to go dolally"), ultimately named after Deolali, a hill station near Nashik in colonial India, referring to the apparent madness of men waiting to return to Britain after their tour of duty
• duffel or duffle - heavy woolen cloth, hence duffel coat and duffel bag; after Duffel, a town in Belgium where it was first made
• Dunkirk spirit - after the evacuation of Dunkirk, France in World War II
• fez - (also called tarboosh), a hat named after Fez, a city in Morocco
• Finlandization - the influence a large country can have on a smaller one, coined by political scientist Richard Lowenthal in 1961 to warn about the Soviet Union's heavy handed efforts to gain influence in Europe in the wake of the Berlin Crisis using their oppression in Finland as an example
• geyser - a hot water spring after Geysir in Iceland
• Glasgow kiss - a slang term meaning headbutt after Glasgow, Scotland
• Greek - not understandable ("all Greek to me")after the Greek language of Greece
• gypsies - nomadic peoples in Europe and United States after Egypt from whence they were thought to have come
• habanera - a slow musical style similar to the tango named after Havana, Cuba
• Hackney carriage - name for the London taxicab, probably after Hackney in London, England
• Havana - cigar; after the capital of Cuba
• holland - cotton or linen fabric sometimes glazed after Holland the country where it originated
• Honiton - a form of lace, after the town in Devon, England where it is produced
• Iliad - a long narrative poem, or a series of woes, trials, etc.; both derive from the Homeric epic Iliad, literally meaning "of Ilium" (or Troy)
• Indian - the aboriginal peoples of the New World, after India
• japanning - application of lacquer after Japan
• jeans - denim trousers after Genoa, Italy where a coarse cloth for work clothes was woven and used by sailors to cover and protect their goods. The French word for Genoa is "Genes" which is the probable root of the contemporary word.
• Jersey cattle - (also tomato, milk, cream, jumper) after Jersey, one of the Channel Islands
• labyrinth - maze after a legendary structure on Crete
• Left Bank - style of life, fashion, or "look" after the "Left Bank" an area on the left bank of the Seine (facing downstream) in Paris, France
• Leghorn chicken - after Leghorn, historical name for Livorno, Italy
• lesbian - female homosexual after Lesbos, island in Greece
• Lipizzaner - a breed of horse after Lipica a town in Slovenia
• Lyceum - a hall where public lectures, concerts, and similar programs are held after a gymnasium near Athens where Aristotle taught
• magenta - a color named after the battle in 1859 at Magenta, Lombardy, Italy which drenched the local fields in blood.
• marathon - long race from the battle of Marathon, Greece
• madras - lightweight cotton fabric from Madras, old name for Chennai, coastal city in southeastern India
• manila - envelopes and Manila fiber after Manila, city in Philippines
• Marseillaise - the national anthem of France after Marseille, city in France
• masada - a mass suicide when conditions are hopeless after Masada, Israel
• mausoleum - a large and impressive tomb after Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in Turkey
• meander - a bend in a river after Meander, a river in Turkey
• mecca - ultimate destination or activity center after the holy city in Saudi Arabia in which case the word is capitalized
• Mongoloid race - after Mongolia, country in central Asia
• muslin - a lightweight fabric after Mosul, Iraq
• Neanderthal man - known by his fossils after Neanderthal, Germany, a valley where the fossils were found
• Olympics - worldwide games after Mount Olympus the tallest mountain in Greece
• ottoman (furniture) - a type of stool after the Ottoman Empire
• paisley - a design used in shawls after Paisley, Scotland
• Panama hat - after Panama in Central America, where it was first sold
• Portland cement - named after the Isle of Portland, England
• rubicon - the point of no return; to commit oneself irrevocably to some course of action after Rubicon (or Rubico), a small former river in northern Italy which in ancient times formed the boundary between Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. In 49 BC, Julius Caesar committed himself to civil war by breaking the law stating no general would lead an army out of the province to which he was posted by leading his army across it and marching on Rome.
• Rhode Island Red - a breed of chicken named after Rhode Island
• rugby - a game played with an oblong ball named after Rugby School, in Rugby, Warwickshire, central England
• sardines - small fish after the island of Sardinia
• shanghaied - drugged and forced into service aboard a ship, from Shanghai, China
• Siamese twins - conjoined twins after Siam, old name for Thailand
• Siberia - a remote undesirable location after Siberia, in eastern Russia
• Skid Row - originally Skid Road of Seattle, now the rundown area of any U.S. city
• sodomy - forbidden sexual acts after Sodom, Biblical town on the plain of the Dead Sea
• solecism - incorrect or ungrammatical usage of language after Soli an ancient city in Cilicia, where a dialect of Greek regarded as substandard was spoken
• spa - place having water with health-giving properties after Spa, a town in Belgium
• Spartan - having the characteristics of the culture of Sparta in ancient Greece; warlike, brave, severe, frugal, and highly disciplined
• suede - a durable fabric after the French name for Sweden
• surrey - horse-drawn carriage after Surrey, a county in southern England
• Timbuktu - metaphor for an exotic, distant land after Timbuktu a city on the Niger River in Mali, West Africa
• Trojan horse - malicious computer virus or an infiltration of troops or agents into enemy territory for the purpose of disrupting or weakening its defenses after the legend of the Trojan Horse of Troy from the Iliad
• turkey - a term originally applied to Guinea Fowl, sometimes imported through Turkey, and for a time identified with the American bird
• tuxedo - a suit of clothing appropriate for evening wear after Tuxedo Park, New York
• volcano - a vent in the earth's crust through which rocks, dust, ash, and molten lava flow after the Italian island of Vulcano which in turn is named for the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.
• Waterloo - any disasterous or decisive defeat after Waterloo, Belgium the site of Napoleon's final defeat
• Xanadu - a symbol of opulence after Xanadu (or Shangdu) the summer capital of Kublai Khan's empire