Geographical etymology: a dictionary of place-names giving their derivations

by Christina Blackie

P

PALATIUM (Lat.),
PALAZZO (It.),
PALACHIO (Span.),
PALAS (Cym.-Cel.),
PAILIS (Gadhelic),

a palace; e.g. the Upper and Lower Palatinate, so called from the palaces erected by the Roman emperors in different parts of the empire; Palazzo, in Dalmatia and Naples; Palazzolo and Palazzuolo (the great palace), in Piedmont; Los Palachios (the palaces), in Spain; Pfalsbourg, anc. Palatiolum (the town of the palace, founded in 1570), in France; Semipalatinsk, in Siberia (the town of the seven palaces), so called from the extensive ruins in its neighbourhood; Spalatro, in Dalmatia, named from the palace of Diocletian, originally Salonæ-Palatium (the palace near Salona), at first corrupted to As-palthium (at the palace), and then to Spalatro. In Wales: Plas-gwyn (the white palace); Plas-newydd (the new palace).

PALLI (Tamil),

a small town or village, sometimes corrupted to Poly, Pilly, or Pally; e.g. Trichinopoly, i.e. Trisira-palli (the town of the giant).

PALUS (Lat.),
PADULE (It.),

a marsh; e.g. Padula and Paduli, towns in Italy; Peel, Lat. palus, an extensive marsh in Belgium; La Pala, La Palud, and Paluz, in France; Perugia (the town on the marsh), in a province of the same name in Italy; Pelusium, Coptic Permoun (the muddy or marshy place), on the Delta of the Nile.

PANT (Welsh),

a hollow; e.g. Pant-y-crwys (the hollow of the cross), in Wales; Pant-yr-Ysgraff for Pont-yr-Ysgraff—v. PONT.

PAPA, or PABBA (Scand.),
PFAFFE (Ger.),
POP (Sclav.),

a priest; e.g. Pabba (the priest’s island), several of this name in the Hebrides; Papa-Stour (the great island of the priest), in Shetland; Papa-Stronsay (the priest’s island near Stronsay), Orkney; Pappenheim, Pfaffenhausen, Pfaffenberg, Pfaffenhofen (the priest’s dwelling), in Germany; Papendrecht (the priest’s pasture); Pfarrkirchen (the priest’s or parish church); Poppowitz, Poppow, Sclav. (places belonging to the priests).

PARA (Brazilian),

a river, water, or the sea; e.g. Para, Parahiba, Parana, Paranymbuna, rivers in Brazil; Paraguay (the place of waters); Parana-Assu (the great river); Parana-Mirim (the small river); Parahyba (bad water).

PARA (Sclav.),

a swamp or marsh, cognate with the Lat. palus; e.g. Parchen, Parchau, Parchim (places in a marshy locality); Partwitz or Parzow, Paaren (the town on the marsh), in several localities. The letter p is sometimes changed into b as in Barduz, Barzig, Baruth, in Prussia, and Bars or Barsch, in Hungary.

PATAM, or PATTANA (Sansc.),

a city; e.g. Nagapatam (the city of the snake); Masulipatam (of fishes); Periapatam (the chosen city); Viziapatam (the city of victory); Seringapatam, i.e. Sri-ranja-Pattana (the city of Vishnu); Pata or Pattana (the city); Madras or Madras-patan (the city of the college or school; madrasa, Ar., a university). Madras is called by the natives Chenna-patana (the city of Chenappa, an Indian prince).

PEEL (Cel. pile),

a small fortress; e.g. Peel, in the Isle of Man, and numerous Peel towers on the border between England and Scotland. The Pile of Foudrig (the peel or tower of the fire island), called Furness, the site of an ancient lighthouse; Les Pilles, in Dauphiny; Ile du Pilier, in La Vendée, with a lighthouse; Pillas, in the Lithuanian language also, is a castle, thus—Pillkallan (the castle on the hill), in E. Prussia, as well as the towns of Pillau, in E. Prussia, Pilsen, in Bohemia, and Pillnitz (the towns with fortifications).

PEN (Cym.-Cel.),

a head, or a promontory, or hill summit; e.g. Pen-carrig (rocky hill or cape); Pen-brynn (hill summit); Pencoid (of the wood); Penmon (the promontory of Mona or Anglesea); Pentir (the headland); Pentyrch (the boar’s head); Pen-y-cwm-gwig (the top of the woody vale), in Wales; Pen-y-groes (the headland of the cross); Penby-diog (land’s end), in Wales; Pencelly (the chief grove); Pen-y-gelly (the head of the grove, cell, a grove); Penllech (of the stone or rock); Penhill, Somerset, and Penlaw, Dumfries (the hill summit); Pendarves (the head of the oak-field); Penpont (the head of the bridge), in Dumfriesshire; Penn (a hill), in Stafford; Pencombe (the head of the hollow); Penforfa (of the moor); Pennant (of the valley); Pen-mynnydd (of the mountain); Penrith, anc. Pen-rhyd (of the ford); Penicuik (the cuckoo’s hill); Cockpen (red hill); Pen-maen-maur (the great stone head or hill); Pennigant (windy hill); Penryn and Penrhyn (the head of the promontory); Pentraeth (of the strand); Pen-y-craig or Old Radnor (the head of the rock); Penzance, formerly Pensans—it is called the saint’s headland, from a head of John the Baptist (the town’s arms), but Camden thinks it might mean the head of the sands; Pain-bœuf or Penn-Ochen (the ox’s headland); Pendennis (the fort on the headland)—v. DINAS. Mount Pindus and the Grampians, Van in Brecknock, and the Vans in Wales, embody this root; also the Apennines and the Pennine Alps, Pena and Penha, in Spain and Portugal are applied to rocks, thus—Penafiel (the loyal rock), in Spain, and also Cape Penas; Penha-verde (green rock) in Brazil.

PFERCH (Ger.),
PEARROC (A.S.),
PARC (Fr.),
PAIRC (Irish).

In Germany this word signifies an enclosure for cattle—in England and France, an enclosure for the protection of game or for pleasure; e.g. Parkhurst (the enclosure in the wood); Parkfoot (at the foot of the park), Co. Stirling; Parkham (park dwelling); Parkmore (great park or field), in Ireland; Parkatotaun (the field of the burning), Co. Limerick.

PFERD (Ger.),

a horse; e.g. Pferdsfeld (the horse’s field); Pfersdorf (the horse’s village).

PFORTE (Ger.),
POORT (Dutch),
PORTH (Cym.-Cel.),
PORT (Gadhelic),

a haven, landing-place, or passage—cognate with the Lat. portus; e.g. Seligenpforten (the blessed port); Sassenpoorte (the Saxons’ haven); Himmelpforte (the port of heaven); Pforzheim (the dwelling at the passage or entrance to the Hyrcenian forest), in Baden; Zandpoort (sandy haven); Porlock (the enclosed haven), in Somersetshire; Portsmouth (the mouth of the haven); Porthkerry (rocky haven), in Wales; Porthaethroy (the landing-place of the terrible water), a dangerous ferry in Wales; Portholgoch, corrupt. from Porth-y-wal-goch (i.e. the harbour of the red wall); Porthstinian (the port of Justinian), in Wales; Porth-y-cawl, corrupt. from Porth-y-Gaul (the harbour where the Gallic invaders used to land), in Wales. In Ireland: Portraine, now Rathlin (the landing-place of Rachra); Portadown (at the fortress); Portlaw, Irish Port-lagha (at the hill); Portmarnock (the haven of St. Marnock); Port-na-Spania (the port of the Spaniard), where one of the vessels of the Invincible Armada was wrecked, off the coast of Ireland; Port-Arlington, named after the Earl of Arlington in the reign of Charles II.; Port-Glasgow, anc. Kil-ma-Colm (St. Columba’s church). It received its modern name in 1668, when purchased by the merchants of Glasgow; Portmoak, in Kinross (the landing-place of St. Moak); Port-Patrick (the place from which it is said St. Patrick sailed for Ireland); Portree, in Skye, and Port-an-righ, in Ross (the king’s haven); Portnellan (the landing-place of the island), in Loch Tummel; Portmore (the great port), in Wigton; Port-na-craig (of the rock); Port-na-churaich (of the boat), in Iona, where St. Columba landed from Ireland; Port-skerrie (the rocky landing-place), in Sutherland; Snizort, in Skye, corrupt. from Snisport, probably named after a Norse leader or pirate; Port-ny-hinsey (the haven of the island), the Celtic name of Peel, in the Isle of Man; Portinscale, in Westmoreland (the passage where the skaala or booths for the Scandinavian thing, i.e. meeting, were erected); Portobello (the beautiful harbour), in South America, so named by its founder; Portobello, in Mid Lothian, named in commemoration of the capture of the South American town in 1739; Portskewitt or Porth-is-coed (the port below the wood), in Monmouth; Porth-yn-lyn (the port of the pool), in Wales; Portsoy, in Banffshire, i.e. Port-saith (the safe port); Port-dyn-Norwig (the port of the Northman), in Wales; Maryport, in Cumberland, named after the wife of its first proprietor; Portlethan, Gael. Port-leath-an (the port of the gray river), Kincardine; Port-Logan, in Wigton, i.e. Gael. Port-na-lagan (the port of the hollow). Port became an established Saxon word for a market-town—hence we have such names as Newport, Longport, applied to inland towns; Bridport, on the R. Brit. The Cinque-ports, Fr. cinq (five), were the towns of Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney, Sandwich. In Portugal: Oporto (the port); Portugal, anc. Portus-cale, both meaning the harbour; Porto-rico (rich port), an island of the Antilles group; Porto-Santo (the holy port), in the Madeira Isles; Porto-seguro (safe port); Porto-Vecchio (old port), in Corsica; Porto-Alegre (the cheerful port), in Brazil; Porto-farina (the port of wheat), in North Africa; Porto-ferrajo (fortified port), in Tuscany, on the coast of the Island of Elba; Port-Vendres, Lat. Portus-Veneris (the port of Venus), in France; Le Treport, corrupt. from the Lat. Ulterior-Portus, in Normandy, at the mouth of the Bresle.

PIC, PIKE (A.S.),
PIC and PUY (Fr.),
SPITZE (Ger.),

a peak or promontory; e.g. the Pike o’ Stickle (the peak of the high rock); the Peak, in Derbyshire; Pike’s Peak, in the Rocky Mountains, named after General Pike; Spitz, in Austria, built around a hill; Spitzbergen (the peaked mountains); Spithead (the head of the promontory); Le Puy (the peak), a town situated on a high hill; Puy-de-dome (the dome-shaped peak).

PISCH (Sclav.),

sand; e.g. Pesth, in Hungary (on a dry, sandy soil); but Buttman suggests that the name may be derived from paz, Sclav. (a baking place), as the German name for Buda, on the opposite side of the Danube, is Ofen (the oven); Peschkowitz, Peshen, Pisck, Pskov, Peckska, in Russia and Bohemia. Pies, Sclav. (the dog), may, however, be the root-word of some of these names.

PITT, PITTEN (Gadhelic),

a hole, a small hollow. This word, as a prefix, occurs very frequently in Scotland, especially in Fife, in which county the most important place is Pittenweem (the hollow of the cave, uaimh), the seat of an ancient monastery, near which is the cave from which it was named; Pitcairn (the hollow of the cairn), near Perth, in the neighbourhood of which there are two large cairns of stones; Pitgarvie (the rough hollow); Pitglas (the gray hollow); Pettinain (the hollow of the river), a parish on the Clyde; Pittencrieff (the hollow of the tree, craobh); Pitgober (of the goat); Pitnamoon (of the moss); Pittendriech (the Druid’s hollow); Pitcaithly, probably the hollow of the narrow valley, in Perthshire; Pittentaggart (the priest’s portion)—as in ancient times, the word pitte is understood to have also meant a part or portion of land; and it has probably this meaning in Pitlochrie, in Perthshire, anc. Pittan-cleireach (the portion of the clergy or church-land), as well as in Pittan-clerach, in Fife; Pitmeddin, in Aberdeenshire, named after St. Meddane. Pittenbrae (the hollow of the hill); Petty or Pettie, anc. Petyn (the hollow of the island), on Beauly Loch, Inverness; Pettycur (the hollow of the dell, coire), in Fife.

PLESSA (Fr.),
PLESSEICUM,

meaning successively a hedge, an enclosed and cultivated place surrounded by trees, an enclosed garden, a park, a mansion, or country residence; e.g. Plessis, Le Plessin, Plessier, Le Plessial, etc.—v. Cocheris’s Noms de Lieu.

PLEU, or PLOE (Cym.-Cel.),

a village, found only in Brittany; e.g. Pleu-meur (great village); Pleu-nevey (new village); Ploer-mel (the mill village); Pleu-Jian (John’s village); Pleu, Ploven, Pleven, etc.

PLÖN, POLSKI (Sclav.),

a plain; e.g. Ploen, a town in Holstein; Plönersee (the lake of the plain); Juriev-Polskoi (St. George’s town on the plain); Poland, i.e. Polskoi (the plain or level land); Volkynia (the level country).

POD (Sclav.),

near or under; e.g. Podgoriza (under the hill); Podmokla (near the moss); Potsdam, from Pozdu-pemi (under the oaks).

POLDER (Dutch),

land reclaimed from the sea; e.g. Polder and Polders, in Belgium; Beemsterpolder (the meadow of the reclaimed land); Charlotten-Polder (Charlotte’s reclaimed land); Pwlpolder (land reclaimed from a pool or marsh).

POLIS (Grk.),

a city; pol (Sclav.), probably borrowed from the Greek; Constantinople, Adrianople, founded by the emperors Constantine and Adrian; Nicopolis and Nicopoli (the city of victory)—the first founded by Augustus to commemorate the battle of Actium, and the second by Trajan to commemorate his victory over the Dacians; Persepolis (the city of the Persians); Pampeluna, corrupt. from Pompeiopolis, so called because rebuilt by the sons of Pompey the Great; Decapolis (the district of the ten cities), colonised by the Romans, in Palestine; Sebastopol (the august city); Stavropol (the city of the cross), in Russia; Bielopol (the white city); Bogopol (the city of God, Sclav. Bog); Gallipoli, anc. Calipolis (the beautiful city); Naples, Nauplia, Nablous, and Neapolis (the new city); Grenoble, corrupt. from Gratianopolis (the city of Gratian); Heliopolis (the city of the sun), being the Greek name for On, in Egypt, and also for Baalbec, in Syria; Krasnapol (the fair city); Theriasipol, in Hungary (named after the Empress Theresa)—its Hungarian name Szabadka (the privileged); Yelisabetpol (after the Empress Elizabeth); Tripoli, in Syria (the three cities), being a joint colony from Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus; Tripoli, in Barbary, named from its three principal cities, Lepta, Oca, and Sabrata; Tripolitza, in the Morea, built from the remains of the three cities Tegea, Mantinea, and Palantium; Amphipolis, now Emboli (the surrounded city), so called because almost encircled by the R. Strymon; Anapli, in the Morea, corrupt. from Neapolis (new town); Annapolis, in Nova Scotia, named after Queen Anne; Antibes, in Provence, a colony from Marseilles, anc. Antinopolis, named after its founder; Stamboul, the Turkish name for Constantinople, means eis ten polin (to the city).

POLL (Gadhelic),
PWL (Cym.-Cel.),
POEL (Teut.),

a pool or marsh, cognate with the Lat. palus; e.g. Poole, in Dorset, situated on a lagune; Pontypool (the pool at the bridge); Welsh-pool, so called to distinguish it from Poole in Dorset—its Welsh name is Trellyn (the dwelling on the pool); Hartlepool, Danish Hartness (the pool hard by the headland)—the Normans added le pol, from a pool called the Slake, by which it is almost insulated; Liverpool, probably Llyr-pwl, Welsh (the sea pool); Blackpool, in Lancashire, named from a marsh now drained; Polton and Pulborough (pool town); Polbaith and Polbeath, Gael. (the pool of the birches); Poltarf (of the bull); Pollnaranny and Polrane (of the ferns), in Ireland; Wampool in Cumberland (i.e. Woden’s pool); Pwl-helli (the salt pool); Pwll-du (black pool); Pwll-broch-mael (the pool of the warlike weapons), the site of a battle between the Welsh and Saxons; Pwll-tin-byd (the very deep pool, literally the pool at the bottom of the world); Pwll-y-wrach (the hag’s pool), in Wales. Pill, in Gloucester, means the mouth of a brook, e.g. Cow-pill, Horse-pill, etc.; Polmont, Co. Stirling, corrupt. from poll-monaidh (the pool near the hill).

POMMIER (Fr.),

the apple-tree; pomeratum (a place planted with apple-trees); e.g. La Pommerée, Pommeray, Pomiers, Pommera, Pommeraie, Pommereau, Pommereuil, in France.

PONS (Lat.),
PONT (Welsh),

the bridge, with its derivatives in the Romance and in the Welsh languages; e.g. Pontefract, Lat. Ad-pontem-fractum (at the broken bridge); Pontoise (the bridge across the R. Oise); Pont-Audemer (the bridge built by Aldemar across the R. Rille); Pont-de-briques (the bridge of bricks); Pont-d’Espagne, corrupt. from Pont-de-sapins (the fir-tree bridge); Ponteland, in Northumberland, corrupt. from Ad-pontem-Ælianum (at the bridge of Ælius); Pontigny (bridge town); Les-Ponts-de-Cé (the bridges of Cæsar), a town in France, with four bridges across the Loire; Negropont, probably a corrupt. of Egripo, which the Italian sailors translated into Negripo or Negropont (black bridge), in allusion to the narrow strait called in Greek Euripos (i.e. the strait with the violent current), on which the town was built—the name of the town was gradually extended to the whole island, till then called Eubœa; Ponte-vedra (the old bridge), and Puenta-de-la-Reyna (the queen’s bridge), in Spain; Grampound, in Cornwall, Welsh Pout-maur (the great bridge), corrupt. from the Fr. Grand-pont; Paunton, in Lincoln, anc. Ad-pontem (at the bridge); Pontesbury (bridge town), in Cheshire; Ponte-corvo (the crooked bridge), in Campania; Deux-ponts (the two bridges), in Bavaria. In Wales: Pont-faen (stone bridge); Pont-newydd (new bridge); Pont-glasllyn (the bridge at the blue pool); Pont-y-glyn (the bridge of the glen); Pont-y-pair (the bridge of the cauldron); Pont-ar-ddulas (the bridge on the dark water); Pont-ar-Fynach (the devil’s bridge); Pontypool (the bridge of the pool); Pant-yr-ysgraff, probably corrupt. from Pont-yr-ysgraff (the bridge of boats). In France: Poncelle, Ponchel, Poncelet, Ponceaux, etc.; Pont-à-couleuvre, in the depart. of Oise, probably from an Old Lat. text, in which this place is called Pont-à-qui-l’ouvre (i.e. the bridge to whomsoever may open), it being a bridge closed by barriers—Cocheris’s Noms de Lieu.

POOR, PORE, PURA (Sansc.),

a city; e.g. Nagpoor (snake city); Chuta Nagpore (the little snake city); Amarapoora (divine city); Bejapore or Visiapoor (the city of victory); Berampore (of the Mahometan sect called Bohra); Bhagulpore (tiger city); Ahmedpore (the city of Ahmed); Ahmedpore Chuta (the little city of Ahmed); Callianpoor (flourishing city); Bhurtpore (the city of Bhurat, the brother of the god Ram); Rampoor (Ram’s city); Bissenpoor (of Vishnu); Ferozepore (of Feroze-Togluk); Huripoor (of Hari or Vishnu); Shahjehanpoor (of Shah Jehan); Mahabalipoor (of Bali the Great); Caujapoor (of the Virgin); Rajapore (of the rajah); Cawnpoor or Khanpur (of the Beloved One, a title of Krishna); Hajipoor (of the pilgrim); Ghazipore (of Ghazi, a martyr); Mirzapoor (the city of the emir); Secunderpoor (of Secunder Lodi); Sidhpoor (of the saint); Singapore (of the lions); Russoulpoor (of the prophet); Chandpoor (of the moon); Joudpoor (war city); Ratnapoor (of rubies); Munnipora (of jewels); Darmapooram (of justice); Dinajpore (of beggars); Futtepoor (of victory); Sudhapura (bright city); Conjeveram, corrupt. from Canchipura (the golden city); Trivandrum, corrupt. from Tiruvanan-thapuram (the town of the holy Eternal One), in Travancore.

PRAAG, PRAYAGA (Sansc.),

a holy place; e.g. Vissenpraag (the holy place of Vishnu); Devaprayaga (God’s holy place).

PRADO (Span. and Port.),
PRATA (It.),
PRAIRIE (Fr.),

a meadow, derived from the Lat. pratum; e.g. the Prairies or meadow lands; Prato-Vecchio (the old meadow), in Tuscany; Ouro-preto, corrupt. from Ouro-prado (the gold meadow), near a gold mine in Brazil. In France, Prémol, i.e. pratum molle (the smooth meadow); Prabert, i.e. Pratum Alberti (Albert’s meadow); Pradelles, Les Prések, Prémontié, Lat. Pratum-mons (the mount in the meadow), the site of an abbey, chief of the order of the Prémontié.

PUEBLA (Span.),

a collection of people, hence a village; e.g. La Puebla, in Mexico; La Puebla-de-los-Angelos (the village of the angels), in Mexico.

PULO (Malay),

an island; e.g. Pulo-Penang (betel-nut island).

PUSTY (Sclav.),

a waste place; e.g. Pustina (on the waste ground); Pusta-kaminica (the stony waste).

PYTT (A.S.),
PFUTZE (Ger.),
PYDEN (Welsh),

a well or pool of standing water, cognate with the Lat. puteus and its derivatives in the Romance languages; e.g. Puozzuoli in Italy, and Puteaux in France, anc. Puteoli (the place of wells); Le Puiset, anc. Puteolis castrum (the camp of the well); Pfutzenburg and Pfutzenthal (the town and valley of the wells or pools), in Germany; Poza-de-la-sal (the salt well), near a salt mine in Spain; also in Spain: Pozanca and Pozancos (the stagnant pools); Pozo-blanco and Pozo-hondo (the white and deep pool); Putney, anc. Puttenheath (the pool on the heath), in Surrey; Puttenheim, in Belgium (a dwelling near a well or pool).