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.

Paraguay 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 Paraguay's cities.

Asuncion was named by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Ayolas. In August 1537, he used this bay of the Paraguay River to resupply his ships when passing. He built a fort here and named it Nuestra Senora Santa Maria de la Asuncion 'Our Lady Sain Mary of the Assumption' and, as the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption on the 15th August, we must assume this was close to the day the Spanish were here.

Ciudad del Este is Spanish for 'City of the East', although this has only been the official name since 1989. Founded in February 1957 as Puerto Flor de Lis and later known as Puerto Presidente Stroessner to honour the dictator Alfredo Stroessner, late settlement is very much down to the dense jungle in the area which took some clearing.

Luque is first mentioned in 1635 when a Spanish captain named Miguel Anton de Luque came here. However, it was another Miguel de Luque (a descendant) who donated a sum of money around 1750 to build a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary. It was later the name was applied, first recorded in 1781.

Lambare is an Spanish form of the local Guarani tongue where Ambare meant 'the land of shadows'.

Fernando de la Mora had formerly been known as Zavala Cur, later taking the name of a leading figure in getting independence from Spain.

Limpio was founded on February 2nd 1785 by Friar Luis de Bolanos as San Jose de los Campos Limpios de Tapua. Earlier it had been Campos Limpio de Tapu'a 'the clean fields of Tapu'a'.

Pedro Juan Caballero is named after the man who was a leading figure in gaining Paraguayan independence from Spain.

Villa Elisa migrants to this area in the late 19th century came under the leadership of the Dane Emilion Johansen. He named it Colonia Elisa to honour his wife, Ms Elisa Von Poleski.

Coronel Oviedo was founded as Nuestra Senora del Rosario de Ajos or 'Our Lady of the Rosary of Garlic' (for garlic was an important local cash crop). In 1931 the present name was adopted to honour Coronel Florentin Oviedo, a hero of the War of Triple Alliance.

Hernandarias was named to honour Hernando Arias de Saavedra, whose sole claim to fame is as the first governor in South America to be born in the Americas. Of much greater interest is the former name, for Tacuru Pucu translates as 'long ant place'.

Presidente Franco, or Manuel Franco, served as president of Uruguay from 15 August 1916 to 5 June 1919, with the place named in his honour in 1918.

Itaugua is one of the few place names to retain its indigenous original. It comes from the local river, the Ytay, and is from ita meaning 'stone' and the suffix gua 'belonging' and thus 'of the place of stone' describes the location. Itaugua is the name of the district in which the settlement of Ita can be found, the latter sharing an origin with the river name.

Pilar was founded in 1779 by Pedro Melo de Portugal. Originally known as Catedral Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar, in English 'the Basillica of Our Lady of the Pillar'.

Villa Hayes was named to honour Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States. Previously it was known as the City of the Five Names.

Minga Guaza comes from two local words, where Quechua minga 'co-operative work (for improvement)' and the Guarani guasu 'big' suggest a meaning of 'big work in the community'.

Ayolas was named after Juan de Ayolas, right hand man of the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza. Together they explored the region in 1534 with a view to settlement.

Villeta, literally 'the great villa', is a later name for a settlement named to honour King Felipe II when named San Felipe de Borbon del Valle del Bastan en los Compos del Guarnipitan or, if you really need the English version, Saint Philip of Bourbon of the Valley of Bastan in the Fields of Guarnipitan.

Aregua was named by the indigenous peoples, the Mbya Guarani, who spoke of this part of their region as Aregua 'those from above'.

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

Thirty

A little change this time and, to mark this the 30th birthday of my Jonathan, some facts about the number 30.

A polygon with thirty sides is a triacontagon. Adding all the internal angles, each of 168 degrees, totals 5040 degrees.

There are thirty major and minor keys in music.

It is a Harshad number, or a number divisible by the sum of its digits. Also known as a Niven number, the term Harshad was coined by D. R. Kaprekar and comes from the Sanskrit harsa 'joy' and give 'give and thus 'to give joy', while the alternative Niven Number remembers a paper delivered by Canadian-born mathematician Ivan M. Niven in 1977.

There are thirty upright stones forming the Sarsen Circle at Stonehenge.

Cats have just 30 teeth, 16 in the upper jaw and 14 in the lower.

In binary code 11110 is thirty, in French trente, Basque Hogeita hamar, Bosnian trideset, Catalan trenta, Croatian trideset, Danish tredive, Dutch dertig, Hungarian harminc, Irish triocha, Italian trenta, Norwegian tretti, Portuguese trinta, Romanian treizeci, Slovenian trideset, Spanish treinta, Swedish trettio, and Welsh deg ar hugain.

The 30th wedding anniversary is the Pearl Anniversary. Originally only silver and gold were marked, a tradition coming from Roman times, but over the years all manner of oddities have been added.

The atomic number of zinc is 30. It is the fourth most commonly used metal - after iron, aluminium and copper - over 50% of which is used as a rust-proof coating. It has been said to help prevent the common cold, although the side effects of bad breath and nausea may be worse than the cold itself.

The 30th November is Computer Security Day. Beginning in 1988 it is when computer vulnerabilities are highlighted.

The 30th president of the United States of America was Calvin Coolidge, the 30th UK prime minister was William Lamb serving his second term from 1835 to 1841.

A recent list of the world's richest people listed Elon Musk at number 30 with a net worth of $22.8 billion.

In area the 30th largest country in the world in Egypt, but by population that ranking goes to Spain.

The 30th person in space was Richard Gordon on Gemini 11, launched 12th September 1966. Like Michael Collins before him, he was the one left in orbit around the moon when the other two went for a walk on the Apollo 12 mission.

The 30th football club to win the English title were Liverpool, the 30th FA Cup Final Nottingham Forest, and the 30th League Cup Final Nottingham Forest.