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“BIG RIVER MOUTH” AND OTHER PLACE NAMES

“BIG RIVER MOUTH” AND OTHER PLACE NAMES. A Lecture by Tim Nau Mississauga Lifelong Learning October 9, 2018. Outline of Today’s Talk. I: Definitions II: Different Kinds of Toponyms III: Names and Languages IV: Place Names That Became Ordinary Words V: The Politics of Place Names.

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“BIG RIVER MOUTH” AND OTHER PLACE NAMES

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  1. “BIG RIVER MOUTH” AND OTHER PLACE NAMES A Lecture by Tim Nau Mississauga Lifelong Learning October 9, 2018

  2. Outline of Today’s Talk • I: Definitions • II: Different Kinds of Toponyms • III: Names and Languages • IV: Place Names That Became Ordinary Words • V: The Politics of Place Names

  3. What Does “Meaning” Mean? • Obvious (Three Rivers) • Historical (Quebec = River Narrows) • Connotational (The Kremlin, Rome, Rosedale) • Personal (Your Neighbourhood, Where You Grew Up or Got Married, etc.) • Double (See Next Slide)

  4. Some Real Places in England • Scratchy Bottom • North Piddle • Crapstone • Ugley • Upper Thong • Twatt • Shitterton

  5. “Toponyms” • Populated Places (Cities, Towns, Villages, Counties, Nations, Neighbourhoods, etc.) • Other Kinds of Places: Rivers, Seas, Mountains, Deserts, Streets, Houses et al.

  6. Part II: Different Kinds of Names

  7. Four Categories

  8. Oxford Isn’t the Only Place Name Ending in –ford • In Ontario: Brantford, Carlingford, Dunsford, Orford, Saltford, Milford • In England: Guildford, Telford, Seaford, Watford, Stamford, Romford, Chingford, Hereford, Bedford, Bradford, Hertford, Thetford

  9. Examples of European “Bridge” Cities • In the UK: Cambridge, Bridgwater, Pontefract (pronounced ‘pomfret’) • In the Netherlands: Zeebrugge • In Germany: Osnabrück, Zweibrücken • In France: Brive, Pons • In Bosnia-Herzegovina: Mostar • In Italy: Pontremoli

  10. River Names that Mean Water or Big Water

  11. Elements in English Place Names

  12. Other Examples of Town Names Transferred from Great Britain • (New) Westminster, B.C. • Richmond, B.C. • Calgary, Alta • London, Ont. • Cambridge, Ont. • Cornwall, Ont. • Whitby, Ont. • Yarmouth, N.S.

  13. Other Names for Toronto • York • Muddy York • The Queen City • The Sanctimonious Icebox • T.O. • The 416 • The 6ix

  14. Other Hopeful Names • Cape of Good Hope • Greenland • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Hope, B.C.?

  15. Part III: Names and Languages

  16. Some Canadian Places Namesand the Languages They Come from

  17. French Names of English-speaking Places in Ontario

  18. Traditional English Town Name Pronunciations • Beauchamp (BEECHum), Beaulieu (BEWlee), Cholmondely (CHUMly), Cirencester SEERinster, Daventry DANEtree, Featherstonhaugh (FANshaw), Shrewsbury (SHROWSbry) Woolfardisworthy (WULzery)

  19. Some Canadian Town Name Pronunciations • Baied’Espoir (BAYD-SPEER) • Delhi (DELL-HIGH) • Sault-Ste-Marie (SOO-SAINT-maREE) • Stouffville (STOHvul) • Tsawwassen, B.C. (ta-WASS-un) • Etobicoke (ee-TOW-bee-KO)

  20. Part IV:Place Names That Became Ordinary Words

  21. Words Derived from Place Names • bedlam, balaclava, baloney, clink, currant, calico, canary, coach, china, debunk, denim, damask, dollar, frieze, jeans, meander, milliner, peach, parchment, worsted, shanghai, solecism, spruce, sybarite

  22. Place Names and Cloth • Buckram (Bukhara, Uzbekistan?) • Calico (Calicut, India) • Damask (Damascus, Syria) • Duffel (Duffel, Belgium) • Madras (Madras, India) • Muslin (Mosul, Iraq) • Worsted (Worstead, England)

  23. Part V: The Politics of Place Names

  24. Who Decides on Place Names? • The People Who Live in the Place • Various Geographical Name Boards • Google Maps (East Cut, San Francisco)

  25. Nationalist Name Changes • Istanbul, Turkey (Constantinople) • Bratislava, Slovenia (Pozsony, Pressburg) • Oslo, Norway (Christiania) • Myanmar (Burma) • Heraklion, Crete (Candia) • Tel Aviv, Israel (Jaffa) • Dun Laoghaire, Ireland (Kingstown)

  26. Ideological Name Changes • Chelmnitz (Karl-Marx-Stadt) • Saint Petersburg (Petrograd, Leningrad) • Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) • Ciudad Trujillo (Santo Domingo) • Volgograd (Stalingrad) • Katowice (Stalinogrod)

  27. Other Royal Places Names • Alberta • Charlottetown, P.E.I. • Cobourg, Ont. • New Brunswick • Prince Albert, Sask. • Victoria, B.C • Victoriaville, Que. • Windsor, N.S.

  28. ‘Twas a Famous Victory • Alma, Que. (Crimean War) • Balaclava, Ont. (Crimean War) • Corunna, Ont. (Napoleonic Wars) • Inkerman, Ont. (Crimean War) • Waterloo, Ont. (Napoleonic Wars) • Ladysmith, B.C. (Boer War) • Mafeking, Man. (Boer War) • Trafalgar (Napoleonic Wars)

  29. What Do These Names Have in Common? • Bathurst, Bloor, Castle Frank, Christie, Coxwell, Davisville, Dundas, Dufferin, Finch, Lawrence, Sheppard, Steeles, Wellesley

  30. Good Books on Place Names • W. Addison, Understanding English Place-Names (1978) • B. Boley, Wandering Through Europe: The Story of European Geographical Names (2008) • C. M. Matthews, Place Names of the English-Speaking World (1972) • M. Monmonier, From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim and Inflame (2006) • A. Rayburn, Naming Canada (1994)

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