Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 5000 Natural Features, Countries, Capitals, Territories, Cities, and Historic Sites

The origins and meanings of the place-names of more than 5,000 countries, cities, regions, and other geographic features worldwide form the main part of this reference work. A very informative introduction considers the basic principles of place-name study, the classification of place-names, naming patterns, and the presentation and arrangement of entries in this volume. Each entry, arranged alphabetically, has three elements: the name; identifier of the name, such as town, city, river, island; and origin of the name and its meaning. Occasionally a pronunciation guide is provided. Cross-references refer to similar names, former names, or forms of current names; for example, Kampuchea see Cambodia; Leningrad see St. Petersburg; Peking see Beijing. The author notes that 'the purpose of the present book is not primarily to serve as a (literally) politically correct gazetteer but to present the origins and meanings of geographical names. Hence the general preference for the traditional or conventional form.' Following the main selection of the book are two glossaries, seven appendixes, and a select bibliography. The glossaries consist of a guide to the many languages cited in the entries, and 'Non-English Language Placename Components, ' such as band, which denotes mountain range in Persian, and berg, which means mountain in Dutch, German, Norwegian, and Swedish. The appendixes, a gold mine of trivia, comprise 'Indigenous Country Names, ' 'Roman Names of Towns and Cities, ' 'Bilingual Placenames' (for example, the Welsh and English names for places in Wales), 'Coastal Touristic Names, ' 'Inhabitants of Towns and Cities' (people from Cambridge, England, are called Cantabrigians), 'Canting Civic Coats-of-Arms' (lists of cities whose coats-of-arms refer to their names), and 'Words from Names.' Works in French, German, Polish, and Russian (with titles translated into English) are included in the bibliography. The majority of titles in English are published in the British Isles. Adrian Room, a notable toponymist, maintains the high standards of his other books on place-names and word origins. This book updates his earlier Place-Names of the World: A Dictionary of Their Origins and Backgrounds RBB S 1 88, which, with approximately 1,000 entries, is much more limited in focus. The new work is an easy-to-use, straightforward, useful reference source for public and school libraries. ; 441p work is an easy-to-use, straightforward, useful reference source for public and school libraries. ; 441p-