Sand Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘stone’ and now look at ‘sand’. Note, historically there has never been a distinction between sand and gravel, both were described as being abrasive for each came from the Proto-Indo-European meaning ‘to rub’.

Sandhill may mean ‘dune’ in the UK – and a Sandhiller was one from Sandhill in Newcastle - but in the US a Sandhiller was one seen as a blackguard, one who used coarse language since 1813.

Sand-trap might be a golfing term since 1906, but psince 1838 referred to a device for removing impurities in a hydraulic system.

Nobody made a sandcastle until 1838, probably because beach holidays were not popular until the coming of the railways around the same time.

Nothing was sandblasted until 1878, at least it was not written as such until then.

Sandbanks have been described as such since at least the 1580s.

Sandflies were first described in 1748.

Sand fleas first appears in print in 1798.

Sandbox has been a place for children to play since 1891; from 1849 it described the device on railway locomotives used to improve grip on a wet rail; and from 1570 had been a box used to sprinkle sand.

Surprisingly, quicksand has been used in the modern sense since at least the late 13th century.

Sandpaper has been described as such since 1788.

Sandstone was first described in the 1660s.

Sandman, that mythological figure who sprinkles sand in your eyes to make you sleep, is first seen in 1861. More often associated with the US, it was more often said to be the dustman until around 1821.

Sanderlings are wading birds, first described as such around 1600.

Sandpipers are smaller wading birds, these described as such for the first time in 1670.

Tajikstan 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 Tajikstan cities.

Dushanbe means 'Monday' in the Persian language - correctly 'second day' - as this was when a large bazaar was held here.

Tursunzoda was originally known as Regar or 'a town on sand' but renamed in 1978 to honour the national poet Mirzo Tursunzoda.

Somoniyon was renamed in 1998 to mark the 1100th anniversary of the Samanid Empire, earlier known as Sardorova after Karakhon Sardorov.

Balkh is related to the Sanskrit for 'Bactrian'.

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

Macau 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 Macau places.

Ilha Verde is simply 'the green island'.

Toi San translates to 'table hill'.

Hipodromo or 'horse farm' would more likely be seen as 'Hippodrome' in Europe.

Areia Preta tells us it can be found in 'black sand'.

Bairro Fai Chi Kei is, rather intriguingly, from 'chopsticks base'.

Iao Hon translates as 'blessing the Han'.

Taipa comes from the Chinese pronunciation of tiam-a, originally meaning 'cess pit'.

Coloane is from the Portuguese influence of the name Gwo Lou Waan 'passing road ring'.

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

Lesotho 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 Lesotho cities.

Maseru is the capital of Leotho with a population of some 330,000. It is not only the name of the city but of the district, this a Sesotho word meaning 'red sandstone'.

Teyateyaneng gets its name from two rivers: the Tebe-tebe and the Teja-tejana, tributaries of the Mohokare River. Both tributaries are named for their deep sandy bottoms and refer to this area as 'the place of quick sands'.

Mafeteg is held to be named after an early visitor, one Emile Roland. Emile was also known as Lefeta, 'the traveller' or perhaps 'passer-by', and thus the place name refers to itself as 'the place of the passers-by'.

Mohale's Hoek is an area named after the younger brother of Moshoeshoe, an 18th century chieftain.

Butha-Buthe is also the name of this city's district, both taking their name from a feature of the local area marking it out as 'the place of deposits'.

Mokhotlong takes its name from the Lesotho language and means 'place of the bald ibis'.

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

Israel 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 Israeli cities.

Jerusalem is a name which dates from the Bronze Age, where Sumerian yeru is the first element and shows this refers to 'the foundation (settlement) of the god Shalem', this the god of this Bronze Age city. However the settlement is at least four thousand years old and had earlier names, too. Around 1330 BCE we find the name given as Urusalim and six centuries prior to that as Rusalim, both with identical meanings but different languages.

Tel Aviv is the Hebrew translation of the German Altneuland and speaks of 'the old new land'. The German name is from Nahum Solokov, he taking the name of the Mesopotamian site near Babylon mentioned in Ekekiel. The name is very new, chosen in 1910 from a number of suggestions.

Haifa was, around 2,000 years ago, known as Sycamium or 'the mound of the Ficus sycomorus trees'. The first mention of anything approaching the modern name is during Roman rule around the end of the 1st century, when Efa (later Hefa and Hepha, where the meaning is the same as the earlier name.

Rishon LeZion is derived from the Biblical verse "First to Zion are they and I shall give herald to Jerusalem".

Petah Tikva is Hebrew for 'opening of hope' and a comparatively recent name.

Netanya is from the Hebrew for 'God gave'.

Beersheba has several suggested origins, most often said to come from Hebrew be'er 'well' and sheva 'seven' or perhaps 'oath'. Both would refer to the story of Abraham.

Bnei Brak gets its name from the ancient city of Beneberak, meaning 'son of Iraq'.

Holon is from the Hebrew word holon meaning 'little sand'.

Rehovot is named for its 'wide expanses' by founder Israel Belkind.

Ashkelon is probably Western Semetic and therefore means 'to weigh', an indication of a trading post.

Beit Shemesh means 'house of the sun' or perhaps 'temple of the sun', a reference to the Canaanite sun-goddess Shemesh.

Kfar Saba means 'grandfather's village' but nobody has any idea why this name was chosen.

Herzliya is, quite simply, named after Theodor Herzl, who founded the settlement in 1924.

Hadera is Hebrew for 'the green one'.

Nazareth is a Hebrew word for 'branch', and is taken from the book of Isaiah.

Ra'anana is the Hebrew for 'fresh'.

Rahat has several meanings depending on which language the word originates. This could represent Arabic 'group', Aramaic 'run' or Hebrew 'trough'.

Hod HaSharon translates as 'splendour of the Sharon'.

Givatayim is the Hebrew for 'two hills'.

Nahariya is named from its location on the Ga'aton river, the Hebrew for 'river' being nahar.

Umm- al-Fahm is Arabic and can be translated to .Mother of Charocal', the forests around here were a plentiful suplly of wood for charcoal.

Kiryat Gat is named for Gath, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. From the Hebrew where gat means 'winepress'.

Eilat, a name found in the Old Testament, may come from the Hebrew of ayl which gave elah and refers to the Pistacia trees. These trees are found across across Africa, Eurasia and the southern part of North America, where these are cultivated for their seeds, today known as pistachios.

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

Western Sahara 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 should have been East Timor, as I'm running through the list in alphabetical order, but admit being unable to find sufficient information to fill much more than the back of a stamp - albeit a large stamp. Hence we jump towards the end of the alphabet and look at some of its largest settlements and most interesting names of Western Sahara.

Laayoune is from the Maghrebi Arabic name of Layoun, literally meaning 'the water springs'. The modern form is due to French influence, although under the Spanish this became El Aaiun with the same meaning.

Cape Bojador is sometimes found by its Portuguese name of Cabo Bojador and occasionally given as Cape Bojador. While this is said to mean 'the bulging cape', this can be discounted as it is simply wrong and such is only ever written when suggesting origins of the name. Correctly this is a Portuguese corruption of the Arabic Abu Khatar meaning 'the father of danger'.

Guelta Zemmur is from the Tamazight language and means 'the olive tree pool'.

Bir Lehlou comes from Hassaniya Arabic, where bir lahlu speaks of 'the sweet water well'.

La Guera, clearly of European influence, comes from the Spanish Aguera and describes a ditch used to bring rainwater to the crops - basic irrigation. Today the town is abandoned, save for a military post, and is slowly being engulfed by drifting sands.

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