Vanuatu 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 Vanuatu cities.

Lorevilko gets its name from the East Santo language and means 'wild kava'.

Port Vila is self-explanatory and means exactly what it seems.

Ambrym was allegedly named 'ham rim' by Captain Cook, although there is no evidence he ever landed here.

Erromango is said to have been named when Captain Cook came here and was given a yam to eat. In the Sorung language he was told armai n'go meaning 'this food is good' but he thought it was the name of the island.

Shepherd Islands were named by Captain Cook after his friend Anthony Shepherd, a British astronomer.

Vot Tande means 'the rock of frigatebirds'.

Merelava in the Mota language means 'the big boy', compare this with the nearby island of Meryriyi 'the small boy'.

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

Uzbekistan 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 Uzbekistan cities.

Tashkent is thought to mean either 'stone tower' or 'stone city', a tower said to mark the midpoint between Europe and China.

Lake Charvak comes from the Persian char bagh meaning 'four gardens'

Samarkand comes from the Sogdian samar kand 'stone fort / town'.

Namangan comes from Persian namak kan 'a salt mine'.

Nukus comes from an old tribal name of the Karakalpaks.

Bukhara is thought to come from the Sogdian buxarak meaning 'place of good fortune'.

Qarshi means simply 'fort'.

Margilan is said to have been named by Alexander the great and named when he was given lunch of chicken murgh and bread nan.

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

Uruguay 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 Uruguayan cities.

Montevideo has several explanations, all agreeing the monte or 'hill' refers to that seen across the bay which shares the Montevideo name. Here opinions divide and we find everything from monte vide eu 'I saw a mount' to monte Ovidio 'the hill of Santo Vidio'. Saint Ovidius was a former Portuguese Bishop of Braga.

Florida in Uruguay has the same origin and meaning as its more famous namesake in the USA, it's the Spanish for 'flowers'.

Barros Blancos tanslates as 'white mud' and was the original name until 1976 when renamed Juan Antonio Artigas, grandfather of a national hero, but the original name was reinstated in 2007.

Ciudad del Plata translates as 'silver city'.

Treinta y Tres is a name translating as 'thirty-three', a reference to the 33 Orientales who were responsible for Uruguay's independence.

Fray Bentos translates as 'Friar Benedict', a reclusive priest.

Trinidad is the Spanish for 'trinity'.

La Paz is the Spanish for 'peace'.

Canelones derives its name from a kind of cinnamon which grows locally.

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

United Arab Emirates 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 United Arab Emirates cities.

Dubai has a number of explanations: an Arabic proverb daba dubai or 'they came with a lot of money'; or Arabic yadub meaning 'to creep' and a reference to the slow flow of the Dubai Creek; or yadub used to mean 'baby locust', as these insects dominated the area before settlement.

Abu Dhabi comes from Arabic, where abu means 'father' and dhabi 'gazelle'. Aside from the number of gazelles in this area, the 'father of the gazelle' may also be a reference to folklore and a story involving Shakhbut bin Dhiyab Al Nahyan.

Sharjah is said to be the name of an idol worshipped in ancient times or, alternatively, from the Arabic sharq or 'east'.

Al Ain is Arabic for 'the spring'.

Umm Al Quwain has had a couple of suggestions: either from umm al quwatain 'mother of the two powers' or quwain 'iron'.

Khor Fakkan is Arabic meaning 'creek of two jaws'.

Jebel Ali uses the Arabic for 'mountain'.

Madinat Zayed is Arabic for 'city of Zayed', the town established by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1968.

Ar-Ruwais, most often given as simply Ruwais, is Arabic and describes 'the small head'.

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

Ukraine 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 Ukraine cities.

Kyiv is the official version of what we would most often see as Kiev, and thought to come from the name of the legendary founder of the city.

Kharkiv is another supposedly named after its legendary founder, Kharko.

Odessa was named after the Greek city of Odessos, at the suggestion of either Catherine the Great or, as his memoirs claim, her secretary of state Adrian Gribovsky.

Dnipro takes its name from the Dnieper River, the origin of which depends upon whether this comes from Sarmatian and 'the river on the far side' or Scythian for 'deep river'.

Zaporizhia took the name in 1921, it means 'beyond the rapids' but as the river has now been dammed and the river valley flooded, the rapids are no more.

Lviv was named to honour Leo (1228 - 1301), the eldest son of Daniel, King of Ruthenia.

Kryvyi Rih transaltes as 'the crooked horn' or 'the curved cape', either way describing the local topography.

Mykolaiv was named after Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of seafarers.

Sevastopol has Greek origins in sebastos polis meaning 'the venerable city'.

Vinnytsia has been in use since the 14th century andis thought to come from the Old Slavic word vino meaning 'bride price'. When captured by Duke Algirdas of Lithuania in the 14th century, he gave these lands to his nephews.

Simferopol is another Ukranian name coming from the Greek. Here the name of Sympheropoli means 'city of common good'.

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