a gate or court; Babel and Babylon, according to the Arabic (the gate of God), or from a word signifying confusion, Gen. xi. 9; Baab (the gate), a town in Syria; El-Baab (the gate), in the Sahara; Bab-el-Mandeb, Strait of (the gate of tears), so called by the Arabs from its dangerous navigation; Bab-el-estrecho (the gate of the narrow passage), the Arabic name for the Strait of Gibraltar.
BACH, BATCH (Teut.),
BEC, BOEK (Scand.),
but bach, by mutation fach or vach, in Welsh names means small, little,
a brook; e.g. Snail-batch and Caldbeck (cold brook or swift brook); snell in A.S. and Old English means active, sharp, quick; and in Scotland, as applied to the weather, it means sharp or severely cold; Crumbeck (crooked brook); Lauterbach (clear brook); Skurbeck (dividing brook); Griesbach and Sandbach (sandy brook); Gronenbach (green brook); Over-beck (upper); Reichenbach (rich); Marbeck (boundary); Schoenbach (beautiful brook); Beckford (the brook ford); Bacheim and Beckum (the dwelling at the brook); Beckermet (the meeting of brooks); Bickerstith (the station at the brook); Laubach and Laybach (the warm brook); but Laubach may also mean rich in leaves—v. ACH. Bec in Normandy is named from a brook that flows into the Risle: Birkbeck in Westmoreland (the birch-tree brook); Ansbach or Anspach (at the stream in Bavaria); Schwalbach (the swallow’s brook), in Nassau; Houlbec, in Normandy, Holbeck, in Lincoln and in Denmark (the brook in the hollow); Fulbeck (Lincoln) and Foulbec, in Normandy (muddy brook).
BAD (Teut.),
BADD (Cym.-Cel.),
a bath or mineral spring; e.g. Baden, anc. Thermæ-Austricæ (the Austrian warm springs); Baden-Baden, anc. Civitas Aquenses Aurelia (the watering-place of Aurelius); Baden-bei-Wien (the baths near Vienna); Baden-ober (the upper baths); Franzens-bad (the bath of the Franks); Carlsbad or Kaiser-bad (the bath-town of the Emperor Charles IV. of Bohemia); Marien-bad, Lat. Balneum Mariæ (the bath-town of the Virgin Mary); Wiesbaden, anc. Fontes-Mattiaci (the baths or springs of the Mattiaci, dwellers on the meadow)—v. WIESE; Badborn (bath well); Wildbad (wild bath, i.e. not prepared by art), in the Black Forest; Slangenbad (the bath of snakes), so called from the number of snakes found in the mineral springs; Badsdorf (bath village), Bohemia. The Celtic name of the English city Bath was Caer-badon, or Bathan-ceaster (bath city or fortress); the Anglo-Saxons made it Akeman-ceaster (the sick man’s camp), or Aquæ Sulis (dedicated to a British divinity, Sulis, identified with Minerva).
BAGH (Ar. and Turc.),
a garden; e.g. Bag, or Baug, in Hindostan. Bagdad superseded Seleucia, which, it is related, was reduced to such a state of ruin as to have nothing remaining on the spot where it stood formerly but the cell of the monk Dad; hence the name of the new city founded by the Caliph Almazar, A.D. 762. Baghdad, i.e. the garden of Dad, a monk who had his cell near the site of the city; Bala-Bagh (high garden), in Affghanistan; Karabagh (black garden), a district in Armenia, so called from its thick forests; Alum-bagh (the garden of the Lady Alum), in Hindostan; Baktschisarai (the palace of the garden), in Crimea.
BAGNA (It.),
BANO (Span.),
BANHO (Port.),
BAIN (Fr.),
from the Lat. balneum (a bath); e.g. Bagnacavallo (the horses’ bath); Bagna-di-aqua (water bath); Bagnazo, Bagnara, Bagnari, towns in Italy, celebrated for their baths. In France there are Bagnères-de-Bigorre (the baths of Bigorones, i.e. the dwellers between two heights); Bagnères-de-Luchon (the baths on the R. Luchon); Bains-les-du-mont-doré (the baths of the golden mount); with numerous names with similar meanings, such as Bagneux, Bagneaux, Bagnol, Bagnoles, Bagnolet, Bagnot, etc. In Italy: Bagnolina (the little bath); Bagni-di-Lucca, Bagni-di-Pisa (the baths of Lucca and Pisa).
BAHIA (Port.),