Senegal 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 Senegalese cities.

Dakar is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The name hass been corrupted by the Europeans from the Wolof Ndakaarou which has been suggested to come from deuk raw meaning 'whoever settles here will be in peace' - nice sentiment despite the poor grammar.

Touba is from the Arabic Tuba meaning 'felicity' or 'bliss'. It is not only a reference to life in the hereafter but also the name of the tree of paradise.

Rufisque probably comes from the Portuguese Rio Fresco 'freshwater river'.

Ziguinchor is another misquoted Portuguese name, here Cheguei e choram meaning 'I came and they cry', a reference to the sight of the Europeans making the people think they were about to be taken as slaves.

Saint-Louis is named after 13th-century king of France, Louis IX who had been canonised, and also mentions the then French king of Louis XIV. The local name of Ndar comes from the Wolof tongue and means 'pasture'.

Richard Toll was named for the park of the Chateau de Baron Roger, this designed and laid out by the botanist Jean Michel Claude Richard, the French colony's chief gardener.

Linguere is the French version of the Wolof lingeer, meaning 'queen, princess' depending on the context.

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

Libya 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 Libya cities.

Tripoli is a Greek name meaning 'three cities'. It was founded by the Phoenicians some 2,700 years ago, they named it Oea.

Benghazi was founded around 525BC and named Euesperides, a name referring to the great fertility of this area and to the garden of Hesperides. Two hundred years later the place had become Berenice and not until the Genoese merchants began trading with the tribes of the hinterland do we first see the present name, then recorded as Marsa ibn Ghazi.

Misurata gets its name from the Mirata tribe, a Berber people who inhabited this area for many years.

Zliten takes its name from the Isliten tribe, another Berber people in residence here.

Bayda is the Arabic word for 'white', although originally this was az-Zawiyat al_Bayda 'the white monastery', this the white painted zawiyah on the hill top.

Al Khums translates as 'the quintile', the name not readily understood but possibly refers to some counting quirk used when dealing in olives and olive oil.

Kufra is from the Arabic kafir, an Arabic term for non-Muslims.

Tajura is named after a princess who lost her crown with taj 'crown' and Oura the name of the princess.

Tarhuna takes its name from the Berber tribe who inhabited this region prior to the Roman occupation.

Msallata may come from the Arabic word masalla because there is a core of tall buildings.

Tawergha is from the Berber language and means 'the green island'.

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

Czech Republic 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 the Czech Republic and a look at some of its largest settlements and most interesting names and starting with the capital city.

Prague is most likely from the Old Slavic prah meaning either ‘ford’ or ‘rapid’, depending upon context, but certainly referring to some early crossing point on the Vltava river. Other sources would give this as the Czech word prah, meaning ‘threshold’ and points to the story of Princess Libuse ordered the city be built ‘where a man hews the threshold of his house’. The problem with the latter story is this princess is mythical.

Brno has a number of suggested origins, including the Old Czech brnie ‘muddy, swampy’, Slavic brniti ‘to armour, fortify’, or a Celtic tongue related to Welsh bryn and thus meaning ‘hill’.

Ostrava took its name from the Ostra river on which it stands, now known as the Ostravice.

Liberec had been known as Reychinberch by the 14th century, this describing ‘the rich or resourceful mountain’. Later Czech versions are simply corruptions of the earlier German name.

Olomouc is another corruption of an early name. Here the Roman fort of Iuliomontium described ‘Mount Julius’.

Usti nad Labem had been known by its German name Aussig. It comes from the Old Czech ustie to describe ‘the mouth of the river Elbe’.

Hradec Kralove is one of the oldest settlements in the country and is named for being the ‘castle of the queen’, a reference to Elisabeth Richeza of Poland (1286-1335) who became the second wife of two Bohemian kings: Wenceslaus II and Rudolph I of Hapsburg.

Most is a name meaning simply ‘bridge’, a reference to the many bridges once linking the dry ‘islands’ in this area of swamps by the 10th century.

Jihlava is derived from the German name Iglau, itself from igel or ‘hedgehog’ as the animal appears on the city’s coat of arms.

Karlovy Vary is named after its founder, Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, who founded this place in 1370.

Jablonec is from the Old Czech jablon and means ‘apple tree’.

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