Mauritania 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 Mauritania settlements.

Nouakchott is the administrative and economic centre of Mauritania, its name is a corrupted form of the original Berber Nawasksut or 'place of the winds'.

Akjoujt has a long history of mining, archaeologists dating the earliest workings here as at least three thousand years old. The name does not reflect the history of metals but does mean 'wells'.

Hodh Ech Chargui is an Arabic name and refers to its location as the 'eastern basin region'.

Senegal River has three common explanations, most often said to be the name of a Wolof chieftain, or alternatively from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal or 'our canoe'. Despite these being the most common explanations, neither stand up to scrutiny. Most agree it is more likely to come from a Portuguese term, Azenegue referring to the Berber Zenaga people residing here when they arrived.

Adrar is a region and plateau both named from the Berber word for 'mountain'.

Hodh El Gharbi is named from the Arabic and means 'western basin region'.

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

Dinosaurs

When someone recently referred to me as a 'dinosaur', they were suggesting I am reluctant to take on new technologies and changes. As 'dinosaur' is first used in this context in 1952, thus isn't it about time they found a new one?

Used in its better-known context it was coined in 1841 and coined by Sir Richard Owen from the Greek deinos sauros 'terrible lizard'. Something of a misnomer as dinosaurs are not lizards but are reptiles which could be said to be another translation. The term saurus is common to many of the names, its origins are unclear but may be related to saulos 'twisting, wavering'.

Scientists have identified more than one thousand non-avian species. Clearly that is far too many to define etymologically but here follows a selection of the better-known types.

Allosaurus were first identified in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh who, rather unimaginatively, named it from the Greek allos saurus 'different lizard'.

Ankylosaurus was first named in 1907. This armoured creature is named from the Greek ankylos saurus or 'curved lizard' and a reference to the shape of the ribs, the first part of the creature to be discovered.

Brachiosaurus is another from the Greek, where brakhion saurus literally means 'arm lizard' and a reference to its front limbs being much more evident than the rear.

Brontosaurus were first named in 1879, where the Greek bronte saurus referred to this as the 'thunder lizard'. While Brontes was the name of a Cyclops in Greek mythology, both share a root in Proto-Indo-European bhrem meaning 'growl'.

Hadrosaurs were named as such in 1865, where Greek hadro saurus describes the 'stout lizard'.

Iguanodon dates from 1825, a composite noun taking 'iguana', itself the local Arawakan name for the creature, and the Greek odonys 'tooth'.

Megalosaurus almost speaks for itself, the Greek megas saurus meaning 'great lizard'.

Mosasaurus is the marine dinosaur seen in Jurassic World and named from the Latin Mosa and Greek saurus describe 'the lizard found near the river Meuse' near Maastricht.

Stegosaurus is first identified in 1892 and named from the Greek stegos saurus, literally 'rood lizard'. This refers to the armour plates which instantly identify the creature, the first element having changed little since Proto-Indo-European steg 'having a roof'.

Diplodocus is from the Greek diplos dokus, quite literally 'double beam' and a reference to the doubling of the bones beneath the long tail.

Tricertops, first identified in 1890, is named from the Greek tirkeratos ops meaning 'three-horned face'.

Tyrannosaurus, first named in 1905, comes from the Greek tyrannos saurus 'tyrant lizard'.

Velociraptors were named in 1924, with the Latin velox raptor 'speedy, swift robber'.

Archaeology

When giving talks on the origins of place names, I am often asked to name my favourite place name or names. I have no particular favourite any more than any piece of music or song has remained my number one choice for both change with time. In defining place names I do have a particular favourite theme, that is a name which very specifically describes the place so as to give a mental picture.

For example Stinchcombe in Gloucestershire tells us it was a ‘valley frequented by sandpipers or dunlin’; or East Stockwith in Lincolnshire and West Stockwith across the border in Nottinghamshire share an origin in ’the landing place made of logs or tree-stumps’; and Wilby in Norfolk is ‘the farmstead at the circle of willow trees’. While we know a fair amount of life in Saxon England, these names enable us to picture the place very much as it would have looked in the time when the name was coined – and these are images no painter would commit to canvas and no camera could record.

Often the questioner comments how archaeology could also tell us the same thing and yet while the value of archaeology is unquestioned, in the three examples given archaeology would concentrate on the location of the buildings, artifacts, clothing, etc., to build up a picture of life. In the place name we have a picture of the place as the inhabitants would have seen it.

There is also an example of a place name showing an archaeological find which was known before the terms antiquarian or archaeologist was even coined. In Hampshire is a place called Hordle, a name coined before the Domesday survey and described ‘the hill where treasure (or hoard) was discovered’. Note the place could not have been known as such until the hoard was unearthed, we have no notion of the name of the place prior to this, hence it is a little pointless looking for other buried treasure.

Archaeology, at least as a science, is relatively new. Certainly the person who found the treasure at Hordle would never have seen him or herself as an archaeologist. Modern archaeology can be traced to the middle of the nineteenth century when finds were analysed with other sciences now showing the earth was billions and not thousands of years old. Until the finds were examined with a view to understanding what could not be seen, this cannot be said to be scientific archaeology.

Doubtless uncovering artifacts had happened for almost as long as people have been living on the same site for several generations, for human habitation does tend to remain in a certain area as long as climate and conditions do not change dramatically. There is some indication of research being conducted in Egyptian history by the Chinese from the ninth century. However these were undertaken to discover rituals and/or technologies. Relics would then bring parts of the Egyptian culture to China, reverse engineering would enable the Chinese to re-invent lost discoveries, always assuming they were ever discovered in the first place.

Yet perhaps the first true archaeologists who sought information on the lives of early peoples can be found in Italy and the Age of Enlightenment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Two men in particular could be said to be instrumental in making archaeology a study, if not a science. Flavio Biondo is most often referred to as the founder of archaeology after he documented the ruins and topography of ancient Rome in the first part of the fifteenth century. A contemporary of his, Ciriaco de Pizzicolli, travelled through Greece doing much the same on the ancient buildings and relics of Greece, before heading off for the eastern Mediterranean and eventually produced six volumes on his discoveries leading to him being known as the father of archaeology.

With their chosen field a comparatively modern science, archaeologists have the advantage of realising just how quickly advancements in techniques and technologies can happen. Hence wherever possible the finds are recorded and left for future generations to analyse when improvements in equipment, greater knowledge and experience will enable the story of a site to be better understood. This makes perfect sense for while there are undoubtedly many, many more sites to be dug, there is a finite number and that number will never change until man journeys to other planets and finds other long-dead civilizations – and they will have to be long-dead otherwise the present occupants will defend their rights and never allow us to dig their own archaeological sites.

When it comes to understanding history, the value of understanding a name will help the archaeologist and, as I can vouch from personal experience, the reverse is also the case with toponymy benefiting from evidence at a dig.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.