Synonym Etymologies E

Continuing the look at synonyms through the eyes of the etymologist, this time it is the letter E and edge. We will look at the noun twice, first as in 'rim' and then as in 'advantage'.

Edge as in 'rim' comes to English through the Germanic route and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European ak 'be sharp' or perhaps 'point'. Note that Germanic trail also sees forms such as the Old Frisian egg, Old Saxon eggia, and Old Norse egg. Remember these early forms when we look at the other use of 'edge' below.

Rim is derived from Old Norse rimi where it was used to refer to 'a raised strip of land or ridge'. That it came to be used in this sense is down to it being used in the Old English saerima or 'seashore'.

Border has only been used in this sense since the early fifteenth century, it came to English with Old French bordeure 'seam, edge of a shield'.

Boundary puts the suffix '-ary' on the word which should be seen as meaning 'limit'.

Fringe also came to English from French, there frenge was used to refer to 'thread, strand' as much as 'edge'.

Margin was first used in English to refer to the edge of a body of water (and still is today). It came from Old French margin and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European merg 'border'.

Lip has only been used in this sense for the last two centuries at most. Clearly from the body part it has hardly changed in millennia and has never had any other meaning, thus the etymology is difficult to see.

Brim, as with margin, started as a reference to where land met water, this time more often used to refer to the riverbank. It is derived from Proto-Indo-European bhrem 'point, spike, edge', where it is easy to see why it came to be used when referring to hats.

Brink has near identical historical usage and meanings, with the exception of Proto-Indo-European bhreng meaning 'to protect' as well as 'edge'.

Verge comes from the Old French verge meaning 'twig, branch' and also 'measuring rod' and 'rod of office' and also 'penis'.

Perimeter is a compound of peri- 'around, about' and -meter from metron 'measure'.

Circumference is another compound word, from circum- 'around' and ferre 'to carry' and also 'to bear children'.

Periphery is first seen in the fourteenth century, where periferie means 'atmosphere around the earth'. It is a compound of peri- (as in perimeter) and the same suffix found in cirumference.

Edge again, this time as in 'advantage'. is from the verb 'to egg on'. Now, if you've ever wondered why we 'egg' someone on, it's because 'egg' is the correct early form and only from the early 17th century did the word become 'edge'. There was no confusion between the two as these would be used in quite different contexts. Thus to 'egg' someone on is the same as edging forward or advancing slowly. (I won't bother with the etymology of 'egg' as in chicken here, or we'll be here all day.)

Advantage is another first sen in the fourteenth century, and comes from the Latin abante 'from before' and Proto-Indo-European ant 'front, forehead'.

Lead is a Germanic word, all forms suggesting 'to travel' and all can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European leit 'to go forth'.

Superiority is from 'superior' and from 'super', 'above, upper' and from Proto-Indo-European uper 'over'.

Dominance is a derivative of dominant, coming to English from Old French dominant, from Latin dominari 'to rule', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dem 'home, household'.

Supremacy is derived from supreme, from Latin supremus 'highest' and from that same Proto-Indo-European root uper seen in 'superior'. (Well who else did you think I was going to suggest fitted this description?)

Venezuela 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 Venezuelan cities.

Caracas, the capital city, named by Spanish explorers after the local tribe, it was originally known as Santiago de Leon de Caracas where Saint James, the patron saint of Spain, preceded Don Pedro Ponce de Leon, the provincial governor.

Maracaibo is held to be from the brave cacique or chief named Mara, who resisted and was killed fighting the Spanish. Legend says the name comes from Mara kayo meaning 'Mata fell!. Others give the originas maara iwo or 'place where serpents abound' - you can see why the legend is preferred.

Valencia is clearly a transferred name from Spain. While the Spanish origin is clearly irrelevant here, it is noted the name means 'strength, valour'.

Barquisimeto comes from the local Caquetio people who describe the region of 'the ash-coloured river'.

Barcelona, like Valencia, is a name transferred from Spain where the name is said to remember Hamilcar Barca, supposed founder of the place in the 3rd century BC.

Maturin was named after the Indian chief El Indio Maturin.

Merida is named after the home town of founder Juan Rodriguez Suarez. The Spanish place name comes from the Latin emerita meaning 'retired, veteran'.

Ciudad Bolivar is 'the city Bolivar'. Simon Bolivar was a Venezuelan military and political leader known as The Liberator.

Barinas comes from the local tongue and describes a seasonal strong wind.

Los Teques takes its name from the indigenous tribe Aroctoeques Carabs.

Punto Fijo was said to refer to a place where travellers and fishermen stopped, for it means 'the fixed point'.

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

Ukraine 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 Ukraine cities.

Kyiv is the official version of what we would most often see as Kiev, and thought to come from the name of the legendary founder of the city.

Kharkiv is another supposedly named after its legendary founder, Kharko.

Odessa was named after the Greek city of Odessos, at the suggestion of either Catherine the Great or, as his memoirs claim, her secretary of state Adrian Gribovsky.

Dnipro takes its name from the Dnieper River, the origin of which depends upon whether this comes from Sarmatian and 'the river on the far side' or Scythian for 'deep river'.

Zaporizhia took the name in 1921, it means 'beyond the rapids' but as the river has now been dammed and the river valley flooded, the rapids are no more.

Lviv was named to honour Leo (1228 - 1301), the eldest son of Daniel, King of Ruthenia.

Kryvyi Rih transaltes as 'the crooked horn' or 'the curved cape', either way describing the local topography.

Mykolaiv was named after Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of seafarers.

Sevastopol has Greek origins in sebastos polis meaning 'the venerable city'.

Vinnytsia has been in use since the 14th century andis thought to come from the Old Slavic word vino meaning 'bride price'. When captured by Duke Algirdas of Lithuania in the 14th century, he gave these lands to his nephews.

Simferopol is another Ukranian name coming from the Greek. Here the name of Sympheropoli means 'city of common good'.

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

Togo 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 Togo's cities.

Kara takes its name from the Kara River on which it stands, the river name has never been understood.

Kpalime was originally known as Agome-Kpalime, the Agome being the name of the people. Kpalime is an abbreviation of mokpalipe or 'crossroads'.

Tchamba takes its name from the tribe living in and around here.

Notse is a distortion of the word noin, and says 'we stay here' in the Ewe dialect.

Maritime is the southernmost of Togo's five regions and named as it is the only one with a coastline.

Centrale is a region of Togo named because it is the middle of the five regions.

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

Suriname 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 Suriname's cities.

Kawemhakan comes from the Wayana language and means 'high riverbank'. Locals still refer to the place as Anapaike, the name of the last granman or chief of the Maroon nation.

Witagron comes from the local tongue and means 'land of my forefathers'.

Brokopondo Reservoir is a misnomer, named as such for the dam stands close to the village of Brokopondo. Correctly this is the Professor Doctor Ingenieur W. J. von Blommenstein Meer and named after the Dutch engineer who desiged it.

Sipaliwini is the name of a district, a village and, originally, a river. The river's name comes from the thornback ray, known as the sirari in the local tongue.

Friendship took this simplistic name from the plantation established here before the town developed.

Lelydorp is named after the Dutch governor of Suriname in 1905, Cornelius Lely.

Onverwacht is the Dutch word for 'unexpected', and your guess as to what they had not expected to discover is as good as mine.

Paramaribo is named from the tribe who, in turn, take their name from the Tupi-Guarani words para 'large river' and maribo 'inhabitants'.

Tepu takes its name from the Tiriyo language and means 'high'.

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

Solomon Islands 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 some of the largest settlements of the Solomon Islands.

Honiara is the capital of the Solomon Islands and has a name derived from nagho ni ara which transaltes as 'place of the east wind' or 'facing the southeast wind' depending on which Guadalcanal language it comes from.

Malaita is the largest of the Solomon islands, an island known to the locals as simply Mala while Malaita first appears in the logs of Spanish explorers arriving her in the 16th century. The suffix is said to be either 'there' or 'east' depending on the source consulted.

Orona is an island which has also been known as Hull Island, this to honour Commondore Isaac Hull, of the United States Navy (d1843).

Guadalcanal takes its name from the Spanish village, it discovered by the Spanish in 1568. While the name of the original means 'river of the stalls', it was due to the Spanish explorer and navigator Alvaro de Mendana de Neira being born in Guadalcanal, Spain that it was chosen by his captain Pedro de Ortega.

Nendo was known as Santa Cruz by Spanish explorers.

Santa Isabel was also first recorded and named by the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendana, although when he charted the island in February 1568, he named it Santa Isabel de la Estrella 'St Elizabeth of the Star of Bethlehem'.

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

Slovakia 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 Slovakian cities.

Bratislava has only been known as such since 1919, this taken from an earlier name meaning 'Braslav's castle', although whether these were on the same site is uncertain. Prior to 1919 the city was known by its German name of Pressburg and its Hungarian name of Pozsony, the Slovak name of Presporok and the Czech name of Prespurk - all referring to the fortification and a personal name.

Kosice comes from the Slavic personal name Kos or Kosa with the suffix ice.

Presov is first seen in 1247 as Theutonici de Epuryes which many have attributed to the Hungarian eper or 'strawberry'. But this has recently been questioned and a suggestion of a personal name, either Pres or Presa has now proven more popular.

Zilina is from the Slavic or Slovak zial meaning 'a vein' and referring to the flow of the river or rivers..

Banska Bystrica has two roots: Banska from the Slovak bana meaning 'mine' and Bystrica from Slavic bystrica or 'swift stream'.

Nitra takes its name from the river, itself from Proto-Indo-European and meaning probably meaning 'to cut', in the sense of referring to its course.

Trnava is another river name, the Trnava creek is derived from Old Slavic trn or 'thornbush', these found along the riverbanks.

Trencin is similar to the above, here the Slavic refers to the 'blackthorn'.

Prieidza is likely from a personal name such as Previd and thus 'Previd's village'.

Zvolen is from Slavic and means 'the chosen one, splendid, excellent', depending on the context. However, this does not explain why it would have been described as such.

Spisska Nova Ves is a merging of two settlements: the older the Slavic Iglov from igla 'needle' together with the more recent settlement of German colonists and hence Nova Ves or 'new village'.

Komarno is of Slavic or Latin origin, where the former would give komar no refers to 'the place of mosquitoes' and the latter commercium and still easily seen as 'trade centre'.

Humenne is another from the Slavic tongue, where hummo means 'backyard'.

Levice comes from an Old Slavic name where leva means 'the left one', and it does stand on the left bank of the Hron river. Incidentally, to discover which is the left bank, you simply face downstream and on the left is ......

Hron is a river name from a Germanic tongue, the name earlier being Granahua and from gran 'spruce' and ahua 'water'.

Bardejov has almost as many stories told about its origin as letters in the name. Perhaps this is from the Hungarian bard 'chopper, hatchet' and refers to clearing the area when it was founded; or maybe Hungarian Barfta 'chopping trees'; or is it a personal name Bardej; or the name Barduj; or ......

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