# Transparent place names



## Gavril

In English-speaking countries, place names rarely have a transparent English meaning. For example, the place name _Lancaster_ (in England) originally meant "Fort on the river Lune", but no modern English speaker will recognize this just by hearing the name. On the other hand, the name _Newcastle_ clearly means "new castle", and the name _Townsend _clearly means "town's end", but place names like this are the exception rather than the rule as far as I know.

In which languages do most (or all) place names have a transparent meaning in their country of origin?


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## Outsider

I'd say Portuguese is pretty much like English. Occasionally you'll find a place name with a literal meaning, like Rio de Janeiro (River of January) or Castelo Branco (White Castle), but for the most part the meanings of place names have been obscured by history.


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## Hakro

In *Finland* we have both transparent and understandable place names but also old names that are impossible to understand for a modern Finn. Let's take an internationally well known name as an example: Nokia.

Nokia is a small town in central Finland. For most of the Finns Nokia means just mobile phones, automobile tires or rubber boots, but very few know that originally the word is the ancient name of an animal, the marten, although it shows in the arms of Nokia city. In modern Finnish this animal is called _näätä_.

Another thing to mix up place names in Finland, especially on the coastal areas, is the influence of the Swedish language. There are originally Finnish names that became Swedish (Vuolahti -> Voolax) and originally Swedish names that became Finnish (Borgå -> Porvoo) and they are extremely difficult to understand unless you happen to know it. Very often even the local people do not.


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## Rallino

In Turkey, most of our city names are foreign.

İstanbul is from Greek _stampouli_, it means "inner castle", if I recall well.

Ankara is from a very old word _Ancyra_, which means 'anchor' in some language that I don't know.

İzmir is from Ionian: Smyrna. I don't know what it means.


We do have city names that are modern Turkish.

Kocaeli - _Husband's hand_
Eskişehir - Old city
Kırıkkale - _Broken Castle_
Denizli - _With a sea_
Çanakkale - _Claycastle_

and so on.


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## nach_in

In Argentina happens the same, for instance we have a city named Salsipuedes (go away if you can) or Buenos Aires (Good air) but others that are quite hard like Córdoba (I think it comes the word "cordoban" from some middle-eastern language wich means male goat skin) or Formosa (beautiful in old Spanish), we also have places with aborigine names like Iguazú (big water in Guaraní) so it's kind of complicated


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## Agró

nach_in said:


> In Argentina happens the same, for instance we have a city named Salsipuedes (go away if you can) or Buenos Aires (Good air) but others that are quite hard like Córdoba (I think it comes the word "cordoban" from some middle-eastern language wich means male goat skin) or Formosa (beautiful in old Spanish), we also have places with aborigine names like Iguazú (big water in Guaraní) so it's kind of complicated



As for the Argentina city, if its name comes from the Spanish city *Córdoba*, this is what wiki says about it:

"El significado etimológico del nombre de la ciudad ha sido largamente discutido en la historiografía no existiendo en la actualidad consenso al respecto. El primer nombre conocido para la población es el de _Corduba_ otorgado bajo la forma de _Colonia Patricia Corduba_ tras la fundación romana de la ciudad en el siglo I a.C. y que se supone anterior. Dado que la primera aparición de Córdoba en textos antiguos hace referencia al establecimiento de un puesto comercial fenicio en las inmediaciones de la ciudad se ha dado un posible origen semítico al topónimo. De este modo _Qorteba_ vendría a significar _molino de aceite_, para algunos autores,[5] o bien _ciudad buena_ a partir de _Qart-tuba_ para otros.[6] Otras etimologías hacen referencia a la existencia de un asentamiento indoeuropeo anterior a la llegada de los fenicios considerando que la terminación _uba_ es ampliamente conocida en Hispania significando bien _colina_ o bien _río_.[7"


Now, a great deal of names are transparent in Spanish: Castillonuevo, Aldeavieja...

Another great deal of names can be traced back to their Roman, Iberian, Arabic origins and, though etymologically meaningful, are not understood by common mortals.


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## nach_in

Agró said:


> As for the Argentina city, if its name comes from the Spanish city *Córdoba*



It does, at least I never heard of another possible origin, and now I'm confused 

some things we'll never know for sure :S


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Well, the names of our cities/towns are by the large transparent:
Athens: In Ancient Greek its name was «Ἀθῆναι» (ă'tʰēnæ), _feminine nominative plural_, because it was established by the unification of smaller towns into one city under the protection of the goddess of wisdom, «Ἀθηνᾶ» (ătʰēn'ă). In Modern Greek it's «Αθήνα» (A'θina, _feminine nominative singular_).
Thessaloniki: Named after the sister of Alexander the Great. The name lit. means "Victory in Thessaly" because she was born the day her father Philipp defeated the Thessalians in a battle.
Patras: In Ancient Greek its name was «Πᾶτραι» ('pātræ), _feminine nominative plural_, because it was established by the unification of three smaller towns into one city. It lit. means "Homelands". In Modern Greek it's «Πάτρα» ('Patra, _feminine nominative singular_).
Piræus: In Ancient Greek its name was «Πειραιεύς» (peiræ'eus), _masculine nominative sing_. According to Strabo, derives from the adv. «πέραν» ('pĕrān)-->_on the other side, across_.  In Modern Greek it's «Πειραιάς» (Pire'as), _masculine nominative sing._


			
				Rallino said:
			
		

> İstanbul is from Greek stampouli, it means "inner castle", if I recall well


It's from the set expression «εἰς τὴν Πόλιν» (eis tin 'Polin) which lit. means "to the city" (because the Byzantines referred to their capital simply by "the City")


			
				Rallino said:
			
		

> İzmir is from Ionian: Smyrna. I don't know what it means


Smyrna (Σμύρνη or Σμῦρνα) means "myrrh"


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## Agró

nach_in said:


> ... but others that are quite hard like Córdoba (I think it comes the word "cordoban" from some middle-eastern language wich means male goat skin) ...



*cordobán**.*
 (De _Córdoba_, ciudad de fama en la preparación de estas pieles).
* 1.     * m. Piel curtida de macho cabrío o de cabra.



_Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados_


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## nach_in

Agró said:


> *cordobán**.*
> (De _Córdoba_, ciudad de fama en la preparación de estas pieles).
> * 1.     * m. Piel curtida de macho cabrío o de cabra.
> 
> 
> 
> _Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados_



¡Ah! era al revés entonces, gracias por la aclaración, tendré que quedarme con las explicaciones de wikipedia entonces  ¡sos un grande!


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## rusita preciosa

Like in most languages, in Russian generally the older the name the less obvious its origin. 

Russian cities established in 1600s-1700s have very clear ethymology, e.g. *St. Petersburg* (after Peter the Great); *Ekaterinbourg *(after Catherine the Great), *Khabarovsk* (after the explorer Khabarov) *Vladivostok* (rules the East). 

The older names usually have several hypotheses:
*Moscow *(Moskva in Russian) is named after the Moskva river it stands on. The name could come from Slavic ”mzgva” (cold, chill).
*Suzdal* may have come from Slavic ”zijdu” (I build) or ”szdati” (to create).

There are very many places that were named by the locals in their language: *Saratov* may derive from Turkic “saryk atov” (hawks' island) or from Tatar “sary tau" (yellow mountain).
*Kazan* is from Tatar “quazan” (big pot).


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## silver frog

Given the many civilisations that have settled on the Italian peninsula over the course of many centuries, place names come from multiple languages (and dialects) and ages, so the etymology of many of them is not immediately intelligible to the average layperson (and frequent, its origin is pretty obscure to philologists as well).

There are, however, every now and then (but they are the exception, usually) place names (often small towns, or rivers, valleys, etc) with a transparent meaning even for the modern Italian speaker, such as "Villafranca" (freetown), Villanova (=newtown), etc... 

Incidentally, the name of the town Ventimiglia (literally "twenty miles") has in fact nothing to do with "twenty miles". It is a corruption of its ancient Ligurian name.


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## bibax

Some Italian cities have very transparent names:

Napoli from Greek _nea polis_ (new city);
Firenze (we call it Florencie), like Florida from Latin _flos/flores_ (flower);


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## Frank78

Ad hoc I would just know a few meanings of German towns:

Berlin - indeed is related to a bear ("Bär" in German) a nickname of a ruler of Brandenburg: "Albrecht der Bär"
Hamburg - ??? "-burg" means castle
Bremen - ???
München - has something to do with "monks"
Nürnberg (Nuremberg) - ???
Stuttgart - ???
Frankfurt - "Frank-" is related to the Franks, "-furt" is a ford
Köln (Cologne) - I guess from Latin "*Colonia* Agrippinensium"

I guess the Average Joe does not even know the meaning of these cities.

In Central and Eastern Germany a lot of old towns have slavonic roots and are unidentifyable, e.g. Leipzig, Dresden


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## silver frog

bibax said:


> Some Italian cities have very transparent names:
> 
> Napoli from Greek _nea polis_ (new city);
> Firenze (we call it Florencie), like Florida from Latin _flos/flores_ (flower);



Transparent to the educated (i.e. people who know a little Greek and Latin) but I don't think the average Italian layperson (=non-linguist) is aware of their meaning, unless he/she studied it in school and still remembers it.


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## ThomasK

In Dutch (Flemish) it is seldom clear. Sometimes there is a place (like a brook, a church, etc.) that we can recognize, but the element in front of it, is seldom clear. Often a name, I believe. 

But few people know for example that *Brussels* means _Broekzele_ originally : a large farm of room (sale, zaal, zele) in the moors (broek).


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## Favara

Maybe I'll write about Catalan transparent place names later but, as an appetizer, there's a Catalan town going by the totally transparent name of Ultra-Death (_Ultramort_).


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## Lars H

Hej
Many Swedish placenames are obvious to all Swedes; like Västervik (the bay in the west), Söderhamn (south harbour) or Storsjön (the great lake). I suspect that Swedish place names are very often formed by two words put together.

Others are "semi transparent", lik Kungsör, formed by Swedish for "King" and "ör". "Ör" is an old word meaning sand bank (or gravel), which only few Swedes are aware of.
The oldest names (among them rivers/streams and larger lakes) are the toughest to interpret.

Unlike most of Europe, we've had no ancient invasions creating waves of place names of different linguistic origins. Pretty much everything is of Germanic/Scandinavian origin. But in northern Sweden (and Norway/Finland) placenames of Sami origin are common. Impossible to grasp for Swedish speakers but (what I got from a few examples that I know of) quite transparent for Sami speakers. The same for the north east parts of the country - with many Finnish placenames.


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## Orlin

As far as I know, most if not all "transparent" place names are the ones named after famous people (usually meaning "the town of ...") and are almost all recent (20th century): e. g. Крумовград [Krumovgrad], Асеновград [Asenovgrad], Ивайловград [Ivaylovgrad] (Крум [Krum], Асен [Asen] and Ивайло [Ivaylo] are Bulgarian medieval rulers), Ботевград [Botevgrad] (Христо Ботев [Hristo Botev] is a famous Bulgarian poet and revolutionary, 1848-1876). These names were mostly created in the 20th century to replace the Ottoman Turkish place names for nationalistic reasons. There are such place names after famous communists created in 1944-89 - the majority of them changed after 1990 but some remained like Благоевград [Blagoevgrad] - after Димитър Благоев [Dimitar Blagoev], the founder of the Bulgarian Socialdemocratic Party in 1891. There are also towns created in this period by uniting several villages that still have their "communist" names: Димитровград (Dimitrovgrad - after Георги Димитров/Georgi Dimitrov, a prominent Bulgarian communist,1882-1949, prime minister in the 1940s), Велинград (Velingrad, after Вела Пеева/Vela Peeva, a partisan).
Apart from this pattern, there are other examples - Студена/Studena = cold (adj., f.), Ябълково/Yabalkovo (ябълка/yabalka = apple) etc.


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## ThomasK

Great information, Orlin, but I can decipher 80 % of Cyrillic letters, but not all. So please transcribe. (Thanks !)


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## Orlin

ThomasK said:


> Great information, Orlin, but I can decipher 80 % of Cyrillic letters, but not all. So please transcribe. (Thanks !)


 
OK, I'll add transliteration.


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## galaxy man

Names of Hungarian historical persons: *Tétény, Buda*;

Hungarian nouns: *Sárvár* (mud fort); *Vasvár* (iron fort);

Word combinations: *Mihályfalva* (Michael's village); *Békásmegyer* (béka = frog; Megyer = historic family name);

And one of my favorites: *Hódmezővásárhely* (Marketplace on beavers' field) -- Yes, this is a well-known city name  

Some other place names would be easy to understand, provided one speaks another language. For instance: *Pécs* (slavic: oven);  *Déva* (slavic: maiden);

And, of course, there are a lot of names who's transparency has been lost for the ordinary Hungarian: *Szeged, Debrecen, Sopron*;


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## er targyn

In Central Asia:
Astana means capital, from Persian; Almaty - having apples, but in Kazakh it should be Almaly. Almatu may be Mongolian. Taraz (corrupted Talas) - unknown. Türkistan - shortened Hazrati Türkistan - Saint of Türkland, old name - Yassy, of unknown origin. Bishkek - stick for churning, whipping in Kyrgyz. Tashkent - lit. stonе city, a corruption of original Sogdian Chach(kent). Dushanbe - Monday in Tajik. Ashgabat - place of love. Aral sea - islands' sea (mongol). Sary Arka - yellow ridge. Ulytaw - great mountain(s). Syr-darya(<Shir) - beautiful river, old name Yahsha Arta - great pearly.


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## Montesacro

silver frog said:


> There are, however, every now and then (but they are the exception, usually) place names (often small towns, or rivers, valleys, etc) with a transparent meaning even for the modern Italian speaker, such as "Villafranca" (freetown), Villanova (=newtown), etc...



Let's add other "transparent" Italian place names.

Francavilla (freetown)
Civitanova (newtown)


Orvieto, from _urbs vetus_ (old town)
Viterbo, from _vetus urbs_ (old town)
Civitavecchia, (old town)
(well, Orvieto and Viterbo are fairly transparent only if one knows some Latin...) 

And then we have a lot of placenames such as Rovereto, Cerreto, Farneto, etc (_cerro_, _rovere_ and _farnia_ are all types of oaks, so their meaning is "oakwood").



silver frog said:


> Incidentally, the name of the town Ventimiglia (literally "twenty miles") has in fact nothing to do with "twenty miles". It is a corruption of its ancient Ligurian name.



Oh, interesting! didn't know that


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