Mozambique 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 Mozambique settlements.

Maputo, the capital and largest city of Mozambique, was known as Lourenco Marques until 1976, this the name of the Portuguese navigator who explored this area in 1544. Maputo shares its name with the Maputo River, itself formerly known as the Suthu River, itself from suthu and either refers to the Basotho people or the colour of the muddy waters of the river. The present names of both were derived from the link to the Mozambique Liberation Front or FRELIMO and, from the etymologist's point of view, of little interest.

Angoche, like the capital, had been known by a different name prior to independence in 1976. Earlier the name of Antonio Enes referred to the 19th century Portuguese journalist and colonial administrator Antion Jose Enes.

Beira was named to honour the Portuguese Crown Prince Dom Luis Filipe, prior to that it was known as Chiveve after the local river. Beira is also the name of a rare antelope, it is not clear if this is why the name was chosen and the origin of the river name is unknown.

Catandica took its name from the son of a local chief who served in the army.

Chimoio is taken from one of the sons of Ganda, a chief of the Moyo clan. Chimoio was a great hunter, he once killed an elephant while on land held by a neighbouring tribe. This was considered a crime punishable by death. His father agreed to the execution but requested his family be allowed to settle close to the grave to watch over the remains. This gave the name of Chimoio or 'little heart' to the region.

Chinde shares a name with the Chinde River on which it stands, the meaning of the name is unknown.

Cuamba was originally named Nova Freixo, this taken from the name of Freixo de Espada a Cinta in Portugal, this the birthplace of Sarmento Rodrigues, the governor general of Mozambique. Cuamba is the original name of the place and of uncertain origin.

Gurue had earlier been named Vila Junqueiro, this taken from the name of a company producing tea Plantacoes Manuel Saraiva Junquiero. This is only slightly more unusual than the name Gurue, this a local tribal dialect either the name of a local tribal chief or their name for the peccary, a pig-like animal.

Inhambane had been known as Terra de Boa Gente by the Portuguese, this meaning 'the Land of the Good People'.

Lichinga was known as Villa Cabal to the Portuguese, this translates as 'full house' as it was designed to become a fast growth urban centre.

Manica takes its name from the Kingdom of Manica, its origins are unknown.

Matola is from the name of the kingdom here when colonists arrived, it continues to be a common surname locally.

Maxixe is named after an African chief.

Nampula is held to be from the word whampula, the name of a legendary tribal chief in this area.

Pemba was founded as Porto Amelia by the Niassa Company in 1904, named after the Queen of Portugal.

Ponto da Ouro translates as 'tip of gold', referring to the beach at the tip of the cape.

Quelimane has two explanations, neither of which are particularly convincing. Some suggest the Portuguese found an Arab here when they arrived, he acted as interpreter and the place named from the Swahili for 'interpreter'. An alternative explanation speaks of a visit from Vasco da Gama who, on reaching here in 1498, asked "Who are you?" and heard the reply kuliamani. Unfortunately the people misunderstood the question and thought he had asked "what are you doing?" to which they responded "we are cultivating", which is exactly what kuliamani means.

Tete comes from the local Nyungwe word mitete meaning 'reed'.

Vilankulo is named after tribal chief Gamela Vilankulo Mukoke, with some of the districts here named after his sons.

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

Laos 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 Laos cities.

Vientiane has a rather uncertain origin. Some maintain this comes from the Pali language of Theravada Buddhism, pictographs showing the original name meant 'city of sandalwood'. However others point to 'city of the moon' as the true origin. The disagreement is to be expected for it is unclear whether this comes from Sanskrit chandra 'sandalwood' or Sanskrit chandana 'moon', for both are pronounced and written phonetically as 'chan' in modern Lao.

Pakse comes from the Laotian describing its location at 'the mouth of the river', actually at the confluence of the Xe DOn and Mekong rivers.

Kaysone Phomvihane has only been known as such since 2005, it named after the man born here and later became the first leader of Laos independence. Earlier it had been known as Savannakhet, itself from the province of Savanh Nakhone and meaning 'heavenly district' or 'fertile land of agriculture'.

Luang Prabang literally translates as 'royal Buddha image', an appropriate name for there are numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries here.

Xam Neua, like all good place names, describes its location and translates as 'the northern swamp'.

Muang Xay apparently owes its name to an event from the year 1323. The inhabitants of Takka Sila, as it was known at the time, were in the forest cutting bamboo when they came upon a monk named Paxay. He asked them what they were doing cutting down bamboo to make a fishing basket. He offered them food and refreshment and they changed the name to Muang Xay in his honour.

Xiangkhouang is the name of a province with a name translating as 'horizontal city', this whole area a plateau.

Bokeo is the name of a province meaning 'gem mine', the area known for its sapphire mines.

Mekong is an Anglicised river name from the Lao Mae Nam Khong where mae nam refers to 'the mother of waters' and is used to describe virtually every major river hereabouts, while Khong is its proper name. However khong is an archaic word meaning 'river' or 'the river' and showing both effectively mean the same thing.

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

Eritrea 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 to cast my net a little wider. This time Eritrea and a look at some of its largest settlements and most interesting names and starting with the capital.

Asmara is known locally as Asmera meaning 'the four made them unite'. These four are feminine and refer to the women from four clans who, tired of the fighting, forced the Gheza Gurtom, Gheza Shelele, the Gheza Serenser and Gheze Asmae to unite. The modern westernised version came from European colonial times.

Keren is something of a mystery, it possibly shares a root with Semetic tongues and thus could mean 'shine' or 'ray of light' and thus describe a place being notably brighter than its surroundings and Keren is on high ground.

Teseney or Tessenei originally came from Tigre meaning 'let it be nice to dwell'. During the era of Italian colonization it was known as the Village of Gasperini, taking the name of the Italian governor of Eritrea.

Mendefera is almost my favourite Eritrean place name. It is named after the hill in the centre which dominates the area and has a name meaning 'no one dared'. During colonial days this proved to be the stronghold for those fighting for independence from the Italians.

Assab is so close to the Ethiopic Azab it seems unlikely to mean anything other than 'south'.

Massawa beats Mendefera as my favourite name here. With the delightful meaning of 'to shout loudly' the most popular explanation for this tells how a fisherman became stranded on a nearby inhabited island when caught in a storm. He discovered by shouting loudly he could be heard on the other side of the island and was thus rescued, this then became known as Massawa or 'to shout loudly'.

Senafe was formerly known as Hakir. Traditionally this was changed when one Abdullah arrived here from Sana'a in Yemen. When he married he is held to have said Sana-fen, the Arabic for 'where is Sana'a' and the name was born.

Adi Keyh is an Arabic name meaning simply 'red village'.

Irafayle is a tiny fishing village with the strange origin of 'place of elephants', although there is little chance of spotting a pachyderm here today.

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