What’s in a Name?
Place names can give clues to past cultural landscapes. They can also offer evidence of past migrations (sequent occupancy) in an area, even when time has erased other evidence. Place names or Toponyms, often survive as evidence of the early settlement in an area. For example, on the Caribbean island of Jamaica, there are at least four "layers" of place names, each a product of a stage of settlement. The first layer, the Arawark Indians, had no written language, so most of their words died with them. Still, a few place names such as Aqualta Vale, Liguanea, and Guanaboa are derivatives from Arawak words. In fact, the name Jamaica itself may be Arawak in origin. Spanish is the second layer. The Spanish dominated Jamaica until they were forced out by the British in the mid-seventeenth century. Spanish names of many towns Port Antonio, Santa Crux, Montague Bay, and rivers, Rio Mooney, Rio Core, remain throughout the island. The most numerous toponyms in Jamaica are the layer consisting of English, Scottish, and Welsh names like Kingston, Junk, and Llandovery. Finally, some settlements, particular in the interior mountains, show the influence of a fourth layer--African. These settlements were established and named by escaped slaves in the eighteenth century and by those emancipated after 1838. Wit-a-Bit and Quick Step in the isolated Land of the Look Behind are examples.
George Stewart categorized toponyms as falling into one of the following groups:
Descriptive: Rocky Mountains, Chicago (Stinking Onions in the language of the first inhabitants).
Associative: Mill River (a mill was on the river), Springfield
Incident Names: Battle Creek, Bloody Ridge, Cut and Shoot
Possessive Names: Castro Valley, Pittsburgh
Commemorative (commemorating someone well-known or in honor of a famous person): St Louis, San Jacinto, Houston, Seattle (named after Chief Seattle), Austin, Pennsylvania (Penn's Woods), Illinois (after the Illini Indians)
Commendatory (praising): Pleasant Valley, Greenland
Manufactured (made up names): Tesnus (Sunset spelled backwards), Reklaw (Walker spelled backwards) Iraan (Ira and Ann name the town after each other)
Mistaken (historic errors in identification or translation): West Indies (not west of the Indies and not the Indies)
Shift Names (relocated names or names from settler's homeland): Athens (Greece and Texas), Palestine (Middle East and Texas), New Mexico (settlers from Mexico named their new home after their previous home), New England
Toponymy Activity Sheet
Directions: Locate and list two examples of each of the following categories of toponyms as described by George Stewart. Please give the name and location (city & state) of the toponym. Find one example within the US and one within the rest of the world.
1. Descriptive:
2. Associative:
3. Commemorative:
4. Possessive:
5. Commendatory:
6. Incidental:
7. Manufactured:
8. Mistake:
9. Shift:
Now find as many places as you can which are named after parts of the body!!!