Land of the South Wind People
The Atlas of True Names is a divertimento of Stephan Hormes and Silke Peust, who plays with the etymological roots and meanings of the original names on the maps of the world today. Debatable but nice, do not hesitate this is a great job.
The geographical names were created through the observation of natural areas due to blunders, such as generous human to misinterpret the meaning of words in languages other than their own.
There are poetic names, such as lush Navel of the Moon and the Sea of Sand (the Sahara). Or the Bay Terraces (Taiwan), the Destroyer of Ships (the Amazon) and Leaves of Mango (Colombo). Hispania is still the Land of Rabbits, you already know, but in Barcelona, Badalona, or perhaps, it is called Lightning (what??) And Catalonia is the Country Of the Common People and of the Big Sirs, is worthy of analysis. Pastore is Madrid and Shrubs, Andorra. That Thailand is the Land of the Free has Miga. Spend some time exploring the maps, it is worth.
Spanish version.
And New York?, New Town of the Boar (New Yew-Tree Village). Apparently York derives from the Old English wild boar, and the Latin Vicus for people.
Britain? The Great Land of the tattooed.
And Chicago?, Onion Stinks, a Native American term used to the smell of rotting onions in the swamps.
And the City of Boatmen, Paris, is based on a word of Celtic origin.
Toronto, Indian word meaning Meeting place (Meeting Point?).
Spanish version.
Yucatan probably want to say I do not understand or do not know, just as the name of the town of Nome in Alaska comes from a phrase that does not know (ki-no-me) and going back to 1905 as a minimum. Also comes under this type of error the word kangaroo.
Nicaragua means that There are people here? Many sources say that the Spaniards were called Nicaraoagua a lake in honor of a local chieftain named Nicarao (Nicarao + water). It could also be surrounded by water.
There pleonasmes often find the names that are the same thing in two different languages. One example is the River Avon, Afon in welsh is the river. El Puente de Alcantara, in spanish, is The Bridge of the Bridge.
Chattanooga: Rock Rising to a Point
Peribonca: River Flowing through the Sand
Saskatoon: Fruit of the Tree of Many Branches
Unsurprisingly, countries and landscapes often derive their names from the characteristics of the people who lived there:
Kansas: Land of the South Wind People
Whilst local mythology and regional rulers also frequently leave their legacy:
Manitoba: Strait of the Great Spirit
Pocatello: White Plume
Source:Story Maps
