Morocco Place Names Explained

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. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Moroccan cities.

Casablanca was from the 15th century Portuguese Casa Branca or 'white house', previously the place had been known as Anfa in the Berber tongue since as least the seventh century BC and is still the name of a region of the city.

Fez is thought to have earlier been known as Fas and related to the region known as Faza, all ultimately from the Berber tribe that settled here, the Bany Fazaz.

Tangier, recorded during the classic Greek and Roman eras as Tinga, Tenga and Titga, was known to the earlier Berber people as Tingi, this from tingis or 'marsh'. Note the Greeks claimed this to have been named after Tingis, daughter of the titan Atlas, he who supported the heavens on his shoulders.

Marrakesh is perhaps the Berber amur n akush 'the land of God', although earlier it had been documented as Qarawiyyin 'country of the sons of Kush'.

Meknes is named after the Berber tribe, the Miknasa.

Rabat is recorded as Ribatu I-Fath in 1170, a name meaning 'stronghold of victory'.

Kenitra is derived from the Arabic al-Qonaytera 'the little bridge'.

Agadir is a Berber word, used in several contexts to mean 'wall, enclosure, fortified building, citadel', all of obvious oriins where a place name is concerned.

Tetouan is another of Berber origin, this with the literal meaning 'the eyes' but understood as 'the water springs'.

Safi is pronounced locally as Asfi, coming from the Berber root meaning 'to flood, spill, pour' and a reference to its watery location.

Nador has at least three suggested origins, with meanings as diverse as small village by a lagoo', 'lighthouse' or 'sight'.

Settat is derived from the term Ait Settat, the name of a Senhaja-Berber tribe.

Berkane is quite simply the Berber word for 'black'.

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

Montenegro Place Names Explained

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. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Montenegro cities.

Podgorica has a simple name describing the area. Here the 'region below Gorica', a hill name meaning 'little hill', refers to the small hills overlooking the city marked by cypress trees.

Herceg Novi is the Montenegrin version of the Italian Castelnuovo and the Greek Neokastron, all meaning 'the new castle'.

Bar is a shortened form of Antivari, itself owing to its location across the Adriatic from Bari in Italy, itself an Arabic personal name where Al-Bari means 'the creator'.

Cetinje takes its name from the River Cetina on which it stands. The river name is possibly from a Phrygian word zetna meaning 'carries' and a reference to the silt it moves.

Kotor can be traced back to its Greek beginnings when the city was known as Dekatera, from the Greek deka thira, meaning 'ten gates' and can only refer to the number of access points to the fortification.

Ulcinj has two possible origins. Some suggest this is from the Albanian ukas meaning 'wolf', however more likely is the Greek name of Colchinium or 'founded by settlers from Colchis'. This was the name given to an area of Georgia known to the inhabitants as Egris, Colchis coming from the Uratian Qulha and likely a proper noun.

Tivat is ultimately from the Greek Thiodhos or 'way of God'.

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

Mongolia Place Names Explained

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. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Mongolian cities.

Ulaanbaatar translates as 'red hero' from the classical Mongolian Ulaganbagatur, although the majority wanted to call it Baatar Khot 'hero city', they folded to pressure from Turar Ryskulov, a Soviet activist of the Communist International. This name has only existed for under a century, prior to 1924 the name had been Niislei Khuree 'the capital camp' since 1911. Previously there had been several names, including Ikh Khuree 'great settlement', Bogdin Khuree 'great holy Khan's monastery', Da Khuree 'great settlement', and Urga 'palace'.

Erdenet may be the second most populous city in the country but still has less than 100,000 inhabitants in a place meaning 'with treasure' and a reference to this being home to one of the world's largest copper mines.

Darkhan was founded as a city as recently as 1961. Founded as a manufacturing site, it was given a most appropriate name meaning 'blacksmith'.

Choibalsan was named as such in 1941. It honours the communist leader Khorloogiin Choibalsan, who also commanded the Mongolian armed forces from the 1930s until his death in 1952. Perhaps something of his reputation can be seen when we see how he is sometimes referred to as 'the Stalin of Mongolia'.

Moron is the Mongolian word for 'river'. The settlement began as the Morongiin Khuree monastery on the banks of the Delgemoron River, literally 'wide river river'.

Bayankhongor has a name which translates as 'little darling'.

Olgii comes from the Mongolian for 'cradle'.

Arvaikheer is the Mongolian for 'barley steppe', as we learned at school the steppes are the temperate grasslands, notably lacking trees away from water sources, which dominate the easterly areas of the central Eurasian landmass.

Ulanngom is Mongolian for 'red valley'.

Baganuur means 'little lake' in Mongolian.

Tsetserleg translates as 'garden'.

Zuunmod is from the Mongolian for 'a hundred trees'.

Zamyn-Uud is from the Mongolian for 'road's gate', and is a transferred name from the former Dzamiin Uude settlement 63 miles northwest of here.

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

Moldova Place Names Explained

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. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Moldovan cities.

Chisinau, also known as Kishinev, is of uncertain origin but most often said to be from an early Romanian chisla 'spring, water source' and noua 'new'. This suggests a settlement built around a water source, a comon enough beginning. Another source suggests the name came from the west and has some Hungarian influence, for in Hungarian the name is Kisjeno or 'small Jeno', this the name of one of the seven tribes who migrated east into Romania. The main support for this second theory is down to the sheer number of places named aftyer this tribe.

Balti is the plural of the Romanian balta meaning 'puddle'. This is understood as a reference to the city's location on a hill overlooking the wetlands.

Tiraspol is from two ancient Greek words: Tyras is the anient name for the Dneister River, and polis 'a city state'. The river names Tyras and Dneister mean 'rapid' and 'the close river' respectively.

Ribnita was founded in 1628 as Rybnytsia, a name describing its earliest purpose as a 'fishery'.

Cahul was renamed after the Battle of Kagul fought nearby in August 1770 and named after the Kagul River. Earlier names for the city include Frumoasa and Scheia, both of Romanian origin and meaning 'beautiful' and 'Bulgarian', respectively.

Orhei takes its name from the medieval city of Old Orhei some ten miles downriver. It is thought the name comes from the Hungarian orhely 'lookout post', a reminder of the 13th century Hungarian defences erected here.

Dubasari is a plural form of the archaic Romanian dubasar 'boatman'.

Straseni is from the Romanian strasnic, this meaning either 'scary' or 'terrible' and thought to refer to the fearsome forest which once covered this region.

Drochia takes its name from a bird known locally as the dropie and in English as the great bustard.

Calarasi translates as 'horsemen' and recalls a legend telling of how Stephen III of Moldavia fought the Ottomans and ordered his horsemen to line up and defend the city. They did so and, although every single one died in the process, gave the advantage enabling them to be victorious.

Floresti is derived from the Romanian word floare or 'flower'.

Cimislia has no known origins although the first written account comes from 1620 when Vladimir Nico explained this as meaning 'wealth'. There is no known word meaning 'wealth' but this may come from cimis, a name given to workers and bricklayers and used by Romanians and Tatar.

Slobozia comes from the Romanian slobozie meaning 'tax free place'.

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