North Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘south’ and now, somewhat predictably, look at ‘north’.

North Pole can refer either to the geographical north pole, this the normal idea of the region and the northernmost point around which the planet turns on its axis – it’s the only point on the planet where you can only travel south, north, east, and west are not available – or there is the magnetic north pole, which is where the compass always points and moves all the time, not in any regularity or overly predictable way.

Not until 1766 was anyone referred to as a North American.

North Sea has been known as either the German Sea or German Ocean for most of British recorded history, and only disappeared for good in 1830. Earlier the North Sea was what we would know as the Bristol Channel (ie it north of the Celtic Sea or English Channel). It was the Dutch who first referred to the body of water as the North Sea, from around the 13th century and to distinguish from the South Sea or Zuider Zee. Note the Danes referred to the North Sea as the West Sea, while in the late 14th century the North Sea was the northernmost portion of the ocean which surrounded the entire globe.

Nothing was described as northbound until 1870.

The North Star, also known as Polaris or Pole Star, has been known as such since the late 14th century. Note the Pole Star, the one point of light around which the heavens appear to rotate in the northern hemisphere, has only been seen as such for about 1500 years, around 5,000 years ago it was Thuban in the constellation of Draco, 13,000 years ago it was Vega, 10,000 years ago it was Iota Herculis, and in 5,000 years it will be Alderamin in Cepheus.

Northeasters, or nor’easter at times, is a strong wind coming from that point of the compass and first recorded in 1794.

The Northwest Passage, that hypothetical sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific around the north of the continent of North America, is first described around 1600.

Northumbria, named because it was north of the Humber, is one of the kingdoms which once comprised England and is first mentioned around 720.

Several place names have been named as being ‘north’, these include Norway, Norfolk, Pohjoinen (is in Finland), Beijing,

Origins of Place Names: Finnish 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 of the places in Finland.

Helsinki is by far the largest and most populous of Finnish cities. Founded as recently as 1550 as Helsingfors, the Swedish name for the place, it takes the name of the tribe, the Helsingi with Swedish fors or 'waterfall' - this a reference to the rapids on the River Wanda and at the original site of this settlement.

Espoo takes the name of the River Espoo, itself from the Swedish Espaa which connects a or 'river' with aspe or 'aspen'. This is understood as referring to 'the river marked by a border of aspen'.

Tampere is of undertain etymology. Possibly this is of Swedish origins where damber means 'mill dam'. Alternatively, should this be of Scandinavian beginnings, this could represent pambr or pambion meaning 'thick bellied' and 'swollen belly' respectively. Should the latter be the correct definition, the swelling referred to the river and specifcally the rapids, a warning by and/or to roaming hunters these could be treacherous places to try and cross.

Vantaa has only been in offical use for the place since 1974. However the River Vantaa is recorded as such as early as 1351, itself simply meaning 'river'.

Oulu is yet another place named after a river. Here the river is the Oulujoki, itself taken from the lake Oulujarvi. Some believe Oulu to be from the Sumi for 'flood water', in which case it would be related to other words such as aulo 'melted snow'; aulot 'thaw', and oalli 'river channel'. It should be noted there are several other suggestions.

Turku is from turgu, an Old East Slavic word meaning 'market place'.

Jyvaskyla has two possible origins. Most often this is said to be jyvas and associated with an Old Prussian word juwis in which case this refers to 'yew trees'. Others argue there is also the possibility of this element referring to the sun's reflection on the waters here, yet this would not be a common source for a place name in any language or culture. In either case the suffix is kyla or 'village'.

Kuopio is another with more than one potential origin. Traditionally this is said to be the from the 16th century when an influential character named Kauhanen changed his name to Skopa, which became pronounced locally as Skopa, Coopia, and eventually Cuopio. However this does not explain the reason for the name, so perhaps this represents kuopia meaning 'paw' in the sense of a horse pawing the ground and understood to refer to the depression created by such. The most popular is a man's name, one Prokopij being a Karelian name recorded in the Middle Ages.

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