Cloud Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘water’ and now look at ‘cloud’. The original word in Old English referred to a hill – a cloud was called a skie - and look at hills in the distance and you’ll see why the two were confused. Having made that point, it is obvious any ‘cloud’ references have to come after the change from ‘hill’.

Under a cloud is first seen at the end of the 15th century.

In the clouds, fanciful or unreal, is seen from the 1640s.

Cloud nine is recorded by 1950, although the term’s origin is disputed. In the 1950s we also find ‘cloud seven’ with the same inference.

Cloud bursts did not happen until 1817.

Rainclouds were unknown until around 1800 – one has to wonder what they thought came from them before this.

Oort cloud was named in 1949 after Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrick Oort, who proposed the idea that comets came from a mass of bodies orbiting outside that of Pluto. Oort was right.

Cloud cuckoo land is an imaginary city in the air first seen in 1830 after the translation of Aristophanes’ Nephelokkygia (The Birds) from 414BCE. Within a decade of the translation ther term had entered the English language for any dreamland region.

Cloudlet, predictably a small cloud, is seen since 1788 – and yet I have never heard the term used.

Cloudscape, another I have never heard of, is found from 1852.

Cloudless has been used since 1590 – this I have heard and it has always struck me as odd. It’s the same as describing the night sky as ‘sunless’.

Clouds have only had a silver lining since 1843. It comes from John Milton’s work Comus.

Becloud is seen since 1590s, but with two decades it had taken on the figurative sense of ‘to obscure’.

Similarly ‘overcloud’ had the obvious meaning before the figurative ‘to cover with gloom’ from the 1590s.

Uganda 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 Ugandan cities.

Kampala began as the name of a nearby hill. Originally it was known as kasozi impala or 'hill of the impala' but that description became shortened.

Entebbe comes from the Lugunda langaugae and means 'seat, chair'.

Kabale comes from the local Rujiga language and means 'small stone'.

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

Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan cities.

Ashgabat translates from the Persian as 'city of love' or 'city of devotion'.

Turkmenabat, which clearly refers to the people, was formerly known known Chharjvy, the Persian for 'four canals'.

Dasoguz is the Tyrkmen for 'stone spring'.

Balkanabat adds abad to the name of Balkan mountains. It was founded as Neftedag in 1933, this from the Russian neft dag or 'oil mountain'.

Yoloten translates as 'the way passes over'.

Marghab is a river which takes its name from the Murghab District.

Anua comes from the Persian and means 'new water'.

Geok Tepe comes from Turkmen and means 'blue hill or summit'.

Murgap comes from the Turkmen roots mur gap and describes 'the land with the place of water'.

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

Thailand 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 of Thailand's cities.

Bangkok's origins are unclear, although most often said to be bang 'village on a stream' and ko 'island'. Alternatively this could be bank makok, where the latter refers to Elaeocarpus hygrophilus a plant which produces fruit similar to the olive.

Pak Kret refers to its location as 'the village at the lesser bypass', not a road but a rerouting of the Chao Phraya River..

Surat Thani was named by King Vajravudh in 1915 as 'the city of good people'.

Chiang Mai simply means 'new city', although the city was founded in 1296.

Nakhon Ratchasima comes from several sources: Nakhon is the Sanskrit for 'city', raj from Sanskrit for 'sovereign', and Thai suma 'temple'.

Nakhon Si Thammarat is 'the city of the righteous ruler', a reference to the religious concept of Dharma.

Nakhon Sawan describes itself as the 'heavnely city'.

Phuket is possibly from the Malay for 'hill', which would fit with its previous name of Thalang derived from 'cape'.

Ubon Ratchathani describes itself as the 'royal lotus city'.

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

Somalia 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 Somalian cities.

Bur Salah, formerly known as Burar, is named after Saalax Jaamac, owner of a water pool in the town's centre.

Burtinle is named after the hill which largely surrounds it. This hill, known as Buurta Ninle, has a name meaning 'hairy hill' and named for the desert scrub growing here.

Damala comes from the Somali word meaning 'acacia woodland'.

Galinsoor combines two Somali words: gelin is 'half of the day' and therefore either morning or afternoon, or day or night, depending on context. However, here the addition of the element soor or 'hosting', enables us to see this was known as a stopover, where travellers would be accommodated for the night.

Hargeisa is thought to be derived from its use as a watering stop for nomadic herders en route to Harar. If indeed harar as-sagir is the origin and meaning as 'little Harar', itself named for its early occupation by the Harari people - the calling it Gey or 'the city' and which also gave them their alternative name of Geyusu 'people of the city'.

Hingalol comes from the Somali tongue where hin 'densely', combines with Galol, the local name for the acacia tree'.

Laag is a Germanic name, probably from loga meaning 'field'.

Luuq is from the Somali language and means 'alley', a reference to the location almost surrounded by a river and just the 'alley' as a land bridge.

Mogadishu is the capital city, probably taking its name from the Somali Muuq Disho 'sight killer'.

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

Philippines 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 the Philippines' cities.

Quezon City takes its name from its founder, Manuel L. Quezon, 2nd President of the Philippines. It became the nation's capital in 1948, replacing Manila which returned the compliment in 1976 but Quezon City remains the largest in terms of population.

Manila comes from the Filipino may nila meaning 'where indigo is found'. Several plant species can be used to produce this colour dye, and undoubtedly one or more were once found here.

Davao City comes from the indigenous Bagobo language and named from the Davao River, itself having three slightly different names depending upon which dialect is spoken. Despite the differences the meaning largely remains the same in 'a place beyond the high grounds'.

Caloocan is from the Tagolog language where kalook lookan means 'innermost area'.

Cebu City comes from the Cebuano word sibu 'trade' and has clearly also given the people their name. Previously the area was known as Sugbu, itself describing the region as 'scorched earth' or perhaps 'great fire'.

Zamboanga City is the Spanish pronunciation of the earlier Somboangan itself meaning 'mooring place'.

Taguig comes from the Tagalog mga taga gilk and means 'rice thresher'.

Antipolo was named after the tipolo or 'breadfruit tree' which grows in great numbers hereabouts.

Cagayan de Oro is from the Spanish and speaks of 'the river of gold'.

Paranaque has several suggested origins. Most popularly said to be from a local feature used to locate the mouth of the river and thus from palayag or 'point of navigation'.

Dasmarinas was named after the 7th Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Gomez Perez Dasmarinas. He served from 1590 to 1593when his son Luis Perez Dasmarinas took over until 1596. The surname means 'of the shore'.

Valenzuela took the name of Pio Valenzuela, a physician and leading member of the Katipunan, a secret society who fought against colonial Spain.

Bacoor is said to remember when the Spanish first arrived and they asked the name of the place. The man they spoke to, who was constructing a bamboo fence, misunderstood and answered bakood 'bamboo fence'.

General Santos took the name of the former commander of the Philippine Army, General Paulino Santos.

Las Pinas is named for - well it depends whether you think it means 'pineapples' or 'the rocks'.

Makati is the Tagalog makati or 'ebbing' as in the tide.

Bacolod comes from bakolod, the Old Ilongg for 'hill, rise'.

Muntinlupa is the smallest of the cities with a population in excess of half a million at the last census. Three possible origins here: either referring to 'topsoil', the card game played by locals when the Spanish arrived, or a reference to the mountainous country.

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