An Etymologist's look at Norse Mythology.

Continuing on after my recent course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Norse mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Asgard, the Norse equivalent of heaven, is a compound of ass 'god' and gardr enclosure - and makes perfect sense.

Midgard to the Norsemen, or to us 'Earth'. It shares the second element with Asgard, but instead of ass (stop tittering people) we have mid 'middle'.

Valhalla is the anglicised version of the Norse Valholl 'hall of the slain'. An appropriate name for the place where the souls of dead warriors went.

Baldr is from Old Norse baldr meaning 'brave, defiant', an appropriate description of Odin's son and Thor's brother.

Freyr simply means 'lord', which may sound simplistic but this busy deity has associations with fertility, peace, prosperity, virility, sunshine, good weather, and good harvests.

Loki, the Norse god who is always playing tricks and pranks on others, is sometimes said to derive his name from logi, the Old Norse for 'flame'. But that hardly fits with the character, and others have suggested luk might be more suitable, for it is used for things with loops (knots, hooks, locks, locked places).

Odin is the most widely revered god in Germanic paganism, as Woden he gave his name to Wednesday. He takes his name ultimately from Proto-Germanic wodanaz which has various interpretations byt is best given as 'lord of the frenzy'.

Thor is the hammer-wielding film star we know so well, he getting his name from thunaraz, the Proto-Germanic for 'thunderer'.

Tyr, sometimes given as Tiw, sacrificed his one hand to the wolf Fenrir, so perhaps he merits a name meaning 'the god'.

Ullr gets his name from Proto-Germanic wulthuz 'glory'. This is good for in days of yore it brings us images of great warriors winning even greater battles - today 'glorious' would be used to describe the runner-up's creation in Bake-Off.

Beyla is a female deity, but it isn't clear if her name means 'cow', 'bean', or 'bee'. Whilst confusing, ensuing discussions will still be more interesting than an episode of Bake-Off.

Freyja is quite simply Old Norse for 'lady, mistress'.

Frigg is from the Old Norse frijjo which may mean 'beloved' or 'free' depending upon the context.

Nanna os associated with the god Baldr, she may have a name meaning 'mother', alternatively 'she who empowers', or possibly 'the daring one', or even just 'woman'.

Sigyn simply means 'friend of victory', she appears in the Prose Edda where she assists her husband Loki during his time spent in bondage.

Snotra may not be the ebst-known of Norse goddesses, but she certainly has the best name - no, not for that reason, but because her name means 'clever'. While she is associated with wisdom, although I couldn't really see what she was held to have done to earn this accolade.

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.

Mexico 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 Mexican cities.

Mexico takes its name from the lake which once occupied the same general area as the capital city. Known as Metzlianan by the Aztecs, this comes from netz-tli atl and gave the name of Metzxihco to the city, the latter meaning 'in the navel of the waters of the moon'.

Ecatepec is from the Nahuatl and means eithr 'windy hill' or perhaps 'hill devoted to Ehecatl', this the deity in Aztec mythology associated with the wind.

Guadalajara is a transferred name from Spain, that of the leader of the original settlers Nuno de Guzman. That name comes from the Arabic Wadi-al-Hajara 'valley of stones' and a likely translation of the earlier Iberian name of Arriaca or stony river'.

Puebla was founded in 1531 in an area then known as Cuetlaxcoapan or 'where serpents change their skin', a much more interesting definition than the current name which is simply the Spanish for 'village'.

Juarez was known as Paso del Norte or 'pass of the north' until it served as a temporary stop for Benito Juarez's republican forces when they were fighting the French.

Tijuana was first named as such when the rancho was establsihed here by Santiago Arguello Moraga in 1829. He took the name of Rancho Tia Juana from the local Kumeyaay language where Tiwan means 'by the sea'.

Leon is simply the Spanish 'lion'.

Zapopan is the Spanish form of the Nahuatl tzapotl with pan giving 'among the sapote trees'. This does not refer to a specific tree but is a general term for the many trees bearing soft edible fruits.

Monterrey was named after the wife of Gaspar de Zuniga, 5th Count of Monterrey and ninth Viceroy of New Spain.

Nezahualcoyotl comes from the Nahuatl or Aztec for 'fasting coyote', the animal featured on the city's seal.

Culiacan is a Spanish version of the original and could either refer to Colhuacan 'the place of those who adore the crooked god Coltzin' or coahuacan 'palace of snakes'. Neither of which are particularly pleasant and yet another indication that places were named by the neighbours more often than the inhabitants, who simply called it 'home'.

Chihuahua is not named after the breed of dog but comes from the Nahuatl for 'between the waters', or 'place of the holed rock', or dry and sandy place', depending upon which era the name developed.

Naucalpan is another of Nahuatl origin, either referring to 'place of the four neighbourhoods' or 'four houses'.

Merida is taken from its Spanish namesake itself once Emerita Augusta and a reference to this being where the discharged soldiers of Emperor Augustus settled - it means 'the veterans'. Earlier the Mayans referred to this as Ichkanzihoo or 'city of the five hills' - a much nicer origin than the current name.

San Luis Potosi City is named after Louis IX of France, who is the city's patron saint. Potosi is a nod to the role played by the mines of Potosi in Bolivia, on which the wealth and growth of this place was founded. The origin of Potosi is uncertain, but may come from the Aymaran root meaning 'thunderous noise'.

Aguascalientes originates in the Spanish aguas calientes or 'hot waters', thermal springs still a feature of this area.

Hermosillo was named after Jose Maria Gonzalez Hermosillo, a 19th century hero whose surname loosely translates as 'beautiful ones'.

Mexicali is a modern name, a portmanteau composed of Mexico and California.

Guadalupe is another transferred from a Spanish namesake, here the Arabic wadi and Latin lupus combine to mean 'valley or river of the wolf'.

Acapulco is from the Nahuatl aca pol co or where the reeds were destroyed'.

Tlalnepantla resulted in a dispute between the towns of Tenayuca and Teocalheuyacan as to where the Franciscan monastery should be located. The decision to place it beween resulted in this sense of 'middle place'.

Cancun is a Spanish translation of the Mayan kaan kun 'place of snakes'.

Queretaro comes from the Purepecha language where they refer to Crettaro 'place of crags'. It was also referred to as Maxei or Ndamaxei in the Otomi language, this meaning 'ball game' oand 'grand pool game' respectively.

Chimalhuacan is from the Nahuatl for 'place of those who have shields'.

Torreon comes from the Spanish for 'big tower' these built to monitor the regular flooding of the area.

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

Lithuania 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 Lithuanian cities.

Vilnius derives its name from the Vilnia River, itself from Lithuanian vilnis or vilnyti meaning 'a surge' and 'to surge' respectively. Clearly this is a warning the river can rise quickly and without warning.

Kaunas is probably from a personal name, other forms in Polish, Russian and Yiddish very much support this, but what that name was and what it represents are unknown.

Klaipeda has only been the official name since 1945, it is from Lithuanian klaidyti 'obstruct' and peda 'foot' and understood as a reference to the boggy ground here.

Panevezys is first recorded in 1503, its name meaning 'alongside the Nevezis River'. While it is often said to mean 'a river without crayfishes', the river does boast a sustainable population of crayfish. The confusion is down to this not being from the Lithuanian vezys 'crayfish', but from the Finnic nevo 'swamp'.

Maryampol is named after the Virgin Mary Marya with the addition of the Greek suffix pol 'town'.

Mazeikiai is undoubtedly named after a person known as Mazeika.

Taurage is comprised of two words, tauras 'aurochs' and ragas 'horn', both are found on the town's coat of arms.

Ukmerge was originally known as Vilkmerge from the river of the same name. According to tradition the name means 'she wolf', this based on the idea that Vilkmerge was raised by wolves. While vilkas 'wolf' and merga 'maiden' are possible, the real suffix is likely to be merg 'to dip'.

Silute gets its name from an inn, one offering hospitality to travellers as this place is halfway between Memel and Tilsit.

Radviliskis took its name from the family of nobles, the Radziwill, who ruled here for more than two centuries from the middle of the 16th century.

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