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.