What on Earth (or Neptune)?

Or not on Earth as the case may be. I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

So I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and finally the planet Neptune

As this is one of the planets discovered in the age of astronomy and thus unknown to the ancients (it is not visible to the naked eye), many languages simply use the name 'Neptune' - these have been omitted.

Greek - Poseidon - the Greek personification of Neptune, the god of the sea.

Korean - Haewangseong - 'Star of the king of the sea'.

Mandarin Chinese - 'the ocean-king planet' and borrowed from Japanese.

Mongolia - dailain van - the same meaning and origin as Mandarin Chinese.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

What on Earth (or Uranus)?

Or not on Earth as the case may be. I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and this time the planet Uranus.

As this is one of the planets discovered in the age of astronomy and thus unknown to the ancients (it is not visible to the naked eye), many languages simply use the name 'Uranus' - these have been omitted.

Korean - Cheonwangseong - 'Star of the king of heaven'.

Mandarin Chinese - 'the heavenly king planet'

Mongolia - Tengerijn van - in Hungarian this means 'there is a sea', which is a little confusing as it is Neptune who is the Roman god of the sea.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing to missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

Turkey 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 Turkey cities.

Istanbul is thought to be named from the personal name Byzas, the legendary founder of the city. Previously known known as Constaninople 'the city of Constantine'.

Ankara was known as Ankyra or 'anchor' to the Greeks.

Izmir is the Turkish rendering of the original Greek Smyrna, known to be a personal name but no knowlegde of who the person may have been.

Bursa was known as Prusa to the Greeks, this named after the King of Bithynia Prusias I, who was given the kingdom by Philip V of Macedon. The city was once known as Hudavendigar, the Persian for 'God's gift'.

Gaziantep has several suggested origins: from the Hittite khantap or 'king's land'; from Arabic ain and Aramaic tan giving 'praise the spring'; from Arabic ain tayyib 'good spring'; or Aramiac ayin debo 'spring of the wolf'.

Konya is recorded in history as Ikonion, which has been said to come from the Greek eikon or 'image'. In turn this has been said to refer to the gorgon Medusa, Perseus using her head to defeat the population before founding a new city.

Antalya was founded as Attaleia from its founder Attalos II, King of Pergamon and who died in 138BC at the reported age of 82.

Kayseri was originally known as Mazaka, named after its founder Mishak. The modern name comes from Caesar Augustus, it named at his death in AD14.

Eskisehir comes from the Turkish eski sehit or 'old city'. Not a bad name for a city which has evidence of being occupied by the Phrygians some three thousand years ago and may well be a thousand or more years older.

Diyarbakir is Arabic for 'the land of Bakir', the name of the tribe who settled here in the 7th century. The Romans and Byzantines called it Amida.

Denizli is thought to refer to this 'having an abundance of water sources'.

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

Trinidad and Tobago 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 Trinidad and Tobago places.

Chaguanas was named for the Chaguanes tribe who are indigenous to this region.

Port of Spain's origins are clearly a reference to the colonial era. It was founded near the indigenous people's settlement of Cumucurapo or 'place of the silk cotton trees'.

Princes Town was named to mark the visit, in 1880, by two of Queen Victoria's grandsons - Prince Albert and Prince George (the latter the future George V).

Diego Martin was named to honour the Spanish explorer Don Diego Martin.

Valencia is a transferred name, the Spanish version is hardly relevant here but comes from the Latin name and means 'strength, valour'.

Scarborough is another transferred name, the English version derived from 'Skarthi's fortified place'.

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.

Saint Kitts and Nevis 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 St Kitts and Nevis' cities.

Saint Thomas Lowland is a parish named after the dedication of the first church built here.

Gingerland is named after the most valuable crop grown here.

Charlestown took its name from Fort Charles, itself named to honour King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland (1630 to 1685).

Newcastle is clearly a transferred name and an early remnant of British colonialism.

Basseterre served as the capital of the French colony here, the name translating as 'low land' in English.

Dieppe Bay Town takes its name from the French place, also a coastal area named from the Dutch diep and related to the Old Scandinavian djupr and Old English deop all meaning 'deep' and all telling this is a deep water harbour.

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

Panama 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 Panama's cities.

Panama City gave its name to the country and, as explained in detail in my post Countries of the Americas, means 'many butterflies' or 'abundance of fish'.

David is named after the biblical King David.

La Chorrera has always been thought to refer to the large number of waterfalls, although the name does not mean waterfall and does not translate at all.

Santiago de Veraguas has a Spanish prefix, meaning Saint James, and the name of the province, itself from an indigenous language where Veracua or Viragua was probably a proper name, although there are many (unproven) theories.

Penonome comes from peno Nome, where Nome was the local chieftain put to death by Spanish conquistadores when he dared to resist their rule. Peno Nome literally means 'Nome was punished'. Legend speaks of his love for a local woman named Zarati. However, the tribe didn't approve of their love and told him she had drowned. He is said to have thrown himself into the same river and perished, thus giving names to the Zarati River and a slightly different meaning for the place name of 'Nome mourned'.

Puerto Armuelles was named to honour Colonel Tomas Armuelles, a hero of the Coto War between Panama and Costa Rica and fought over a period of thirteen days in February and March 1921. Port Armuelles was named shortly after his death in a train accident on 18 March 1921, it had previously been known as Rabo de Puerco or 'pigtail'.

Chitre takes its name from the local tribe, the Chitra.

Almirante is the Spanish word for 'admiral'.

Last Tablas takes its name, according to folklore, from planks of wood salvaged from a Spanish ship which ran aground after fleeing from the pirate Sir Henry Morgan. The only evidence to support this is the literal translation of las tablas as 'the boards'.

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

Nepal 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 Nepalese cities.

Kathmandu is a Pahari name from the Kasthamandap Temple which once stood in Durbar Square. Sanskrit kastha means 'wood' and mandapa 'pavilion', an obvious explanation of what the former place of worship was made from.

Lalitpur has several explanations for its name, these more legend than etymology. Most often these speak of the god Rato Machhindranath, brought to the valley by three people from Assam in India. One of these three was named Lalit, a farmer who had carried the god here to alleviate the appalling drought conditions. The name is said to come from Lalit and his pur or 'township'.

Birgunj was named after the 11th prime minister, Commanding General Shree Shree Shree Maharaja Sir Bir Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (10 December 1852 to 5 March 1901).

Janakpur is named after the ancient Indian king of Videha, King Janaka reigned around 2,800 years ago.

Tilottama is named after the local river, itself named after an aspara, a celestial nymph in Hindu mythology. Furthermore the word is a portmanteau of two Sanskrit terms, Tila 'sesame seed', or something of similar size, and uttama 'better, higher'. The understanding is of something very small which is still comprised of the finest and most superior qualities.

Tokha is derived from two Newari words, tu 'sugarcane' and khya 'field' and an indication of local delicacy of chaku made from raw sugercane.

Madhyapur Thimi has a number of legends told of how it got its name. We can be sure this area, along with Bhaktapur and Patan, were often battling for superiority for generations. Beginning with Thimi, this is held to be from the term chhemi 'capable people', a reference to their resilience in continuing to live there despite the constant warring. Eventually the name acquired the addition from madhya 'centre' and pu 'city', thus 'the central city of the capable people'.

Chandrapur was named after the prime minister Field-Marshal Maharaja Sri Teen Chandra Shamsher Junga Bahadur Rana, who held office from June 1901 until his death in 1929.

Rajbiraj is named after Rajdevi Temple, with raj meaning 'state' and biraj 'to reside, live'.

Belbari comes from two Nepali names, Bel 'wood apple' (also known as elephant apple or monkey apple) and Bari a tree native to Nepal.

Kirtipur is from the Sanskrit kirti 'glory' and pur 'city'.

Siddharthanagar is from the Buddha's given name of Siddartha, earlier the place was known as Bhairahawa from the deity Bhairava, a manifestation of Shiva.

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