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

by Christina Blackie

A few Names which do not occur in the body of the Work are explained in the Index.

A

• Abbeville, [4]
• Abbeyfeale, [4]
• Abbeyleix and Abbeyshrule, [4]
• Abyssinia, named from the Rivers Abai and Wabash, or, according to Bruce, from habish (mixed), i.e. the country of the mixed races
• Acapulca, [9]
• Acre, anc. Accho, Ar. the sultry or sandy shore
• Adelsberg, the nobles’ fortress
• Aden, Ar. a paradise
• Afium-kara-hissar, Turc. the black castle of opium
• Agades, the enclosure
• Agde, in France, Grk. Agathos, the good place, founded by Greeks from Marseilles
• Aghrim, or Aughrim, [67]
• Agosta, Lat. Augusta
• Agra, [2]
• Airdrie, [10]
• Aix, [9]
• Aix-la-Chapelle, [9]
• Akerman, Turc. (white castle)
• Akhalzk, new fortress
• Alabama, the land of rest
• Alagous Bay (abounding in lakes)
• Aland, water land
• Albania, [7]
• Albert, in Cape Colony, named after the Prince Consort
• Albuera, Ar. the lake
• Albuquerque, Lat. the white oak-tree
• Alcala, Ar. the castle, [114]
• Alcantara, [6]
• Alcarez, Ar. the farm
• Aldershott, [107]
• Alemtayo (beyond the R. Tagus)
• Aleutian Islands, the bold rocks
• Alexandria and Alexandretta, named after Alexander the Great
• Alexandria, in Cape Colony, in honour of Queen Victoria
• Alexandria, in Italy, after Pope Alexander III
• Alhama, [100]
• Alleghany Mountains, from a tribe
• Alloa, the way to the sea
• Almaden, Ar. the mine
• Almanza, Ar. the plain
• Almanzor, Ar. victorious
• Almeida, Ar. the table
• Altona, called by the Hamburgians All-zu-nah, i.e. (all too near), in allusion to its vicinity to Hamburg
• Alyth, the ascent or slope
• America, named after the Florentine adventurer Amerigo-Vespucci
• Angora, anc. Ancyra
• Annam (the place of the South)
• Anstruther, [179]
• Antrim (at the elder trees)
• Antwerp, [208]
• Aoasta, Lat. Augusta
• Apennine Mountains, [154]
• Appenzel, [4]
• Appleby, [37]
• Applecross, [3]
• Aranjues, Lat. Ara Jovis, the altar of Jove
• Aravali Mountain, the hill of strength
• Arbois, anc. Arborosa, the woody place
• Arbroath, [3]
• Archangel, named in honour of the Archangel Michael
• Archipelago, the chief sea
• Arcos, anc. Argobriga, the town on the bend
• Ardeche, now Ardoix, in France, from ardoise, slate
• Ardee, in Ireland, on the R. Dee, now the Nith
• Ardeen and Ardennes, [10], [11]
• Ardfert, [10]
• Ardrossan, [10]
• Argos, the plain
• Argyle, [150]
• Arles, Cel. Ar-laeth, the marshy land
• Armagh, i.e. Ardmacha, Macha’s height
• Armorica, [143]
• Arras, named from the Atrebates
• Arthur Seat, in Edinburgh, Gael. Ard-na-said, i.e. the height of the arrows, meaning a convenient ground to shoot from
• Ascension Island, so named because discovered on Ascension Day
• Asperne, [11]
• Aspropotamo, Modern Grk. (the white river)
• Assouan, Ar. the opening at the mouth of the Nile
• Astrakan, named after a Tartar king
• Astura R., [199]
• Asturias, [12]
• Attica, Grk. the promontory
• Aubusson, [36]
• Auch, named after the Ausci, a tribe
• Auchinleck, [5]
• Auckland, [5]
• Audlem, [7]
• Augsburg, [35]
• Aurillac, supposed to have been named after the Emperor Aurelian
• Auriol, anc. Auriolum, the golden or magnificent
• Austerlitz, [151]
• Australia, the southern land
• Austria, [164]
• Autun, [69]
• Auvergne, the high country, [11]
• Ava, or Awa, named from angwa, a fish-pond
• Avignon, [14]
• Avranches, named from the Abrincatui
• Awe, Loch, [2]
• Azores Isles, Port. the islands of hawks

B

• Baalbec, [15]
• Babelmandeb Strait, [15]
• Bactria, Pers. the east country
• Badajos, corrupt. from Lat. Pax Augusta
• Baden, [15]
• Baffin’s Bay, named in honour of the discoverer
• Bagdad, [16]
• Bahar, corrupt. from Vihar, a Buddhist monastery
• Bahia, Port. the bay, [16]
• Bahr-el-Abiad, [17]
• Bahrein, [17]
• Baikal, the rich sea
• Baireuth, [162]
• Bakewell, [162]
• Bakhtchisarai, the palace of the gardens
• Bala (river head), in Wales
• Balachulish, [17]
• Balaclava, [21]
• Bala-Ghauts, [18]
• Bala-hissar, [18]
• Balasore, [18].
• Balbriggan, Brecan’s bridge
• Balearic Isles, because their inhabitants were skilful in the use of the sling (Balla, Grk. to throw)
• Balfour, [17]
• Balkan, [18]
• Balkh, [18]
• Ballantrae, the dwelling on the sea-shore, [196]
• Ballater, [125]
• Ballina, corrupt. from Bel-atha, ford mouth, [21]
• Ballingry, the town of the king—v. BAILE

• Note.—For Scotch or Irish names beginning with bal or bally, v. BAILE or BEAL, pp. 17 and 21

• Ballintra, [196]
• Balloch, [22]
• Ballycastle, castle-town—v. [17]
• Ballymena, [17]
• Ballymoney, [17]
• Ballyshannon, [22]
• Balmaghie, [18]
• Balmaklellan, the town of the Maclellans, [18]
• Balmerino, [17]
• Balmoral, [17]
• Balquhidder, the town at the back of the country
• Balta and Baltia, the country of the belts or straits, the ancient name of Scandinavia, [18]
• Banbury, [35]
• Banchory, the fair valley
• Banchory-Devenick and Banchory-Ternan, named in honour of two saints who lived there
• Banda-Oriental, the eastern bank of the Rio-de-la-Plata
• Banff, [34]
• Bangor, [23]
• Banjarmassin, from bender, a harbour, and masing, usual, or from banjer, water, and massin, salt
• Banks Islands and Banks Land, named in honour of Sir Joseph Banks
• Bantry, Ir. Beantraighe, i.e. belonging to the descendants of Beann, of the royal race of Ulster
• Barbadoes, Port. the island of pines
• Barbary, the country of the Berbers
• Barbuda, the island of the bearded men, so named by the Portuguese
• Barcelona, named from Hamilcar Barca, who founded it
• Bardhwan, Pers. the thriving place
• Bardsey, [72]
• Barfleur, [81]
• Bar-le-Duc, [19]
• Barnstaple, [152]
• Barrow, [19]
• Barrow Strait, named in honour of Sir John Barrow
• Barton, [194]
• Basque Provinces, from bassoco, a mountaineer, or, according to Humboldt, from basoa, a forest
• Bass Strait, named after Bass, a navigator
• Basse Terre, low land
• Bassora, or Bozra, the fortress
• Batavia, [108]
• Bath, [16]
• Battersea, [71]
• Battle and Buittle, [27]
• Bautzen, [33]
• Bavaria, the country of the Boii
• Bayeux, named from the Bajoccas, a tribe
• Bayonne, [17]
• Beachy Head, [19]
• Beauley and Beaulieu, [21]
• Beaumaris, [21]
• Beauvais, named from the Bellovacii
• Bedford, [82]
• Bednore, [151]
• Beersheba, [20]
• Behring Strait, so named by Captain Cook in honour of Behring, a Russian navigator
• Beinn, Ben, etc., a mountain, [22]
• Beira, Port. the river-bank
• Beja, corrupt. from the Lat. Pax-Julia
• Belfast, [22]
• Belgium, named from the Belgae
• Belgrade, [21].
• Belize, named after a person called Wallace
• Bell Rock or Inch Cape, a reef of rocks south-east from Arbroath, so called from the lighthouse which was erected on it in 1811, previous to which the monks of Arbroath caused a bell to be suspended upon it so as to be rung by the waves, and thus give warning to mariners
• Belleisle, [21]
• Bellie, the mouth of the ford
• Belper, [21]
• Beluchistan, [182]
• Benares, named from the names of the two rivers on which it is situated
• Bender, etc., [23]
• Beni, etc., [23]
• Benin, corrupt. from Lat. benignus, blessed
• Berbice, at the mouth of the R. Berbice
• Berdiansk, [176]
• Berg and its derivatives, [23]
• Bergamo, on a hill
• Berhampore, [160]
• Berkeley, [25]
• Berkshire, [25]
• Berlin, perhaps from Sclav. berle, uncultivated ground, but uncertain
• Bermudas Isles, named after the discoverer Juan Bermudez
• Berriew, corrupt. from Aber-Rhiw, at the mouth of the R. Rhiw, in Wales, [3]
• Bervie, [112]
• Berwick, [209]
• Berwyn, [19]
• Beveland, [122]
• Beverley, [25]
• Bewdley, [21]
• Beyrout, [20]
• Bhagulpore, [160]
• Bhurtpore, [160]
• Bicester, corrupt. from Birincester, i.e. the fortress of Birin, Bishop of Gloucester
• Bideford, by the ford
• Biela-Tsorkov, white church
• Bielgorod, white fortress
• Bielorietzk, [176]
• Biggar, the soft land
• Bilbao, under the hill
• Bingley, the field of Bing, the original proprietor
• Bir, [20]
• Birkdale, the birch valley
• Birkenhead and Birkhampstead, [25]
• Birmingham, [99]
• Biscaya and Bay of Biscay, named from the Basques, which, according to Humboldt, means forest dwellers
• Bishop-Auckland, so called from the number of oaks that grew here, and from the manor having belonged to the bishops of Durham
• Black Sea, perhaps so called from its frequent storms and fogs. The Greeks called it Euxine, from euxinos, hospitable, disliking its original name, Axinos, inhospitable
• Blaen and its derivatives, [26]
• Blair and its derivatives, [26]
• Blantyre, the warm retreat
• Bodmin, [27]
• Bohemia, [100]
• Bois-le-Duc, the duke’s wood
• Bokhara, the treasury of sciences, the chief town in a state of the same name
• Bolivia, named after its liberator Bolivar
• Bologna and Boulogne, named from the Boii
• Bombay, named after an Indian goddess Bombé, but translated by the Portuguese into Bom-bahia, good bay
• Bordeaux, [9]
• Bornholm, [127]
• Borovsk, [28]
• Borrowstounness, [145]
• Bosphorus, Grk. the passage of the bull
• Bourges, named from the Bituriges
• Brabant, [18]
• Bramapootra R., the offspring of Brahma
• Brazil, named from the colour of its dye-woods, braza, Port. a live coal
• Breadalbane, [29]
• Brecknock, the hill of Brecon or Brychan, a Welsh prince
• Breda, [29]
• Breslaw, named after King Vratis-law
• Breton, Cape, discovered by mariners from Brittany
• Bridgenorth, [31]
• Bridgewater, [31]
• Brieg, [29]
• Brighton, corrupt. from Brighthelmston, from a personal name
• Bristol, [183]
• Britain: the Cym.-Cel. root brith, to paint, is supposed by some to be the root of the word; the British poets called it Inis gwyn, white island, which answers to the Roman name Albion
• Brixton, [31]
• Brodick, [209]
• Brody, [30]
• Brooklyn, in New York, Dutch, the broken-up land
• Bruges, [31]
• Brunswick, [172]
• Brussels, [30]
• Brzesce-Litewski, [28]
• Bucharest, the city of enjoyment
• Buckingham, a tribe name, or the dwelling among beeches, [33]
• Buda, [33]
• Budweis, [33]
• Buenos-Ayres, [28]
• Builth, [8]
• Bungay, [95]
• Burgos, [36]
• Burslem, Burward’s dwelling in the clayey soil, leim
• Bury, [34]
• Bushire, [174]
• Bute, [33]
• Buttermere, [136]
• Buxton, [33]

C

• Cabeza-del-Buey, [117]
• Cabrach, the timber-moss, a parish in Co. Banff
• Cader-Idris, the chair of Idris, in Wales
• Cadiz, [86]
• Cahors, named from the Cadurci
• Cairo, Ar. Al-kahirah, the victorious
• Calahorra, [114]
• Calais, [39]
• Calatayud, [114]
• Calcutta, [88]
• California is supposed to have taken its name from an old romance, in which this name was given to an imaginary island filled with gold, and Cortes applied the name to the whole district
• Callander, the corner of the water—v. DUR
• The Calf of Man. The word calf was frequently used by the Norsemen for a smaller object in relation to a larger—i.e. the small island off Man
• Calvados, named from one of the vessels of the Spanish Armada, wrecked on the coast of France
• Cambay, anc. Khumbavati, the city of the pillar
• Cambuskenneth, [39]
• Canada, Ind. Kannahta, a collection of huts
• Candahar, named after Alexander the Great
• Candia, Ar. Khandæ, the trench island
• Cannes, [40]
• Cannoch, i.e. cann, bright, and oich, water, the ancient name of the spot on which Conway Castle stands
• Canopus was called by the Egyptians the city of Kneph, a god
• Cantal, the head of the rock, [41]
• Canton, i.e. Kwang Chou, the metropolis
• Cantyre or Kintyre, [45]
• Capri and Caprera, the islands of wild goats
• Cardigan, named after its ancient king Ceredig, and is therefore corrupted from Ceredigion
• Carew, [38]
• Carlingford, [39]
• Carlisle, [38]
• Carlow, [129]
• Carlscroone, [118]
• Carlshamm, Charles’s haven, [97]
• Carluke, [39]
• Carmel, Heb. the fruitful field
• Carmichael, [39]
• Carnac, [41]
• Carnatic, named from the Carnates, a tribe
• Carniola, [41]
• Carolina, U.S., named after Charles II.
• Caroline Isles, named after Carlos II. of Spain
• Carpathian Mountains, from Chrabat, a mountain range
• Carrantuohill, Ir. the reversed reaping-hook, the highest mountain in Ireland
• Carthage, [86]
• Carthagena, [86]
• Casale, [42]
• Cashel, [42]
• Caspian Sea, named from the Caspii, a tribe
• Cassel, [42]
• Castile, [42]
• Catania, Phœn. the little city
• Cattegat, [88]
• Caucasus, [147]
• Cavan, [44]
• Caxamarca in Peru, the place of frost
• Cefalu, [46]
• Cephalonia, [46]
• Cerigo, anc. Cythera, the harp-shaped
• Cerro—v. SIERRA
• Cevennes, [46]
• Ceylon, [65]
• Chambery, the bend of the water, on the R. Leysse, in France
• Chamouni, [40]
• Champlain, named from the Governor-General of Canada in the seventeenth century
• Charles Cape, named after Baby Charles in the reign of James I.
• Charlestown, named after Charles II.
• Chatham, [55]
• Chaumont, [39]
• Chelsea, [46]
• Chemnitz, [114]
• Chepstow, [47]
• Chester, [43]
• Cheviot Hills, [46]
• Chilham, [99]
• Chiltern Hills, [11]
• China, probably named from the dynasty of Thsin in the third century B.C.
• Chippenham, [47]
• Chiusa, [116]
• Christchurch, in Hants, anc. Twinam-burne, between two streams, and afterwards named from a church and priory founded by the W. Saxons in the reign of Edward the Confessor
• Christiana, named after Christian IV. of Sweden
• Ciudad, [49]
• Civita-Vecchia, [49]
• Clackmannan, [49]
• Clameny, [109]
• Clare Co., [50]
• Cleveland, [50]
• Cleves, [50]
• Clifton, [50]
• Clitheroe, [50]
• Clogheen, [49]
• Clonakilty, [50]
• Clones, [50]
• Clontarf, [50]
• Closeburn, [48]
• Cloyne, [50]
• Coblentz, [54]
• Cochin, kochi, a morass
• Cockburnspath, in Berwickshire, corrupt. from Colbrand’s Path
• Cognac, the corner of the water
• Coire or Chur, [56]
• Colberg, [31]
• Coleraine, [58]
• Colmar, Lat. Collis-Martis, the hill of Mars
• Colombo, corrupt. from Kalan-Totta, the ferry on the Kalawa Ganga
• Colonna, Cape, [117]
• Como, Lake, [54]
• Comorin, Cape, named from a temple to the goddess Durga
• Compostella, Santiago de, corrupt. from Sanctus Jacobus Apostolus, so called from a legend that the Apostle James was buried there
• Comrie, at the confluence of three rivers, in Perthshire, [53]
• Condé, [33]
• Congleton, [33]
• Connaught, anc. Conaicht, the territory of the descendants of Conn of the hundred battles
• Connecticut, Ind. Qunnitukut, the country on the long river
• Connemara, [144]
• Constance, Lake, [172]
• Copeland Isle, [47]
• Copenhagen, [47]
• Corbridge, [56]
• Cork, [54]
• Cornwall, [54]
• Coromandel, corrupt. from Cholomandala, the district of the Cholas, a tribe
• Corrientes, Span. the currents
• Corryvreckan, [52]
• Corsica, the woody
• Corunna, corrupt. from Columna, the pillars, in allusion to a tower of Hercules
• Cosenza, Lat. Cosentia, the confluence
• Cotswold Hills, [52]
• Cottian Alps, named after a Celtic chief
• Coutance and Cotantin, named after the Emperor Constantius
• Coventry, [196]
• Cowal, in Ayrshire, named after King Coill
• Cowes, [45]
• Cracow, the town of Krak, Duke of Poland
• Cramond, [38]
• Crathie, [56]
• Cremona, anc. Cremonensis-ager, the field named from a tribe
• Crewe, [56]
• Crewkerne, [56]
• Crieff, Gael. Craobh, a tree
• Croagh-Patrick, [56]
• Croatia, [109]
• Cromar, the heart of Mar, a district in Aberdeenshire
• Cronstadt, [118]
• Croydon, [70]
• CRUG, as prefix, [58]
• Cuença, Lat. concha, a shell
• Cueva-de-Vera, [45]
• Culebra R., the snake river
• Cumberland, [122]
• Cumbernauld, [53]
• Cumbraes Isles and Cumbrian Mountains, named after the Cymbri
• Cundinamarca, named after an Indian goddess
• Curaçoa, named from a kind of bird
• Currie, [56]
• Cuzeo, the centre, in Peru
• CWM, as prefix—v. [53], at COMBE
• Cyclades Isles, Grk. kuklos, a circle
• Cyprus, perhaps named from the herb kupros, with which it abounded, called by the Greeks Cerastes, the horned
• Czernowitz, Sclav. black town

D