How did snakes become poisonous? Why are there black swans only in Australia? Learn a bout the powerful Rainbow Snake, red and black flying foxes, the Eagle-hawk and the Medicine-man in these incredible tales of the Dramtime. So much of traditional Aboriginal storytelling teaches us about the animal world and the spiritual bond shared between the Aboriginal people and nature.

Puzzled by Welsh place names - but want to know what they mean and how to say them? Look no further. This is an exciting full colour pocket guide, "Understanding Welsh Place Names: What They Mean and How to Say Them", from outdoor specialists Northern Eye Books. This innovative yet carefully thought out guide means non-Welsh speakers can now easily translate and understand place names all over Wales - on the map, on road signs, and out in the countryside. Written by native Welsh speaker, Gwili Gog, the book contains not only a comprehensive gazetteer of place names arranged county by modern county - with an authoritative explanation of what each name means - but also a potted history of the Welsh language, a quick look at pronunciation, and a photographic exploration of place names in the landscape, as well as key words accompanied by phonetic explanations of how to pronounce them. But perhaps the most notable element of this book is its themed approach to the ideas and beliefs that lie at the heart of the Welsh language.Separate illustrated text boxes on each double page spread explore more than thirty central topics such as Hills and Mountains; Ancient Animals; Colours in the Countryside; Fords, Ferries and Bridges; Holy Wells; Inns and Taverns; and Funny Place Names. Armed with this insider knowledge, visitors will discover there's a whole unexplored new dimension to the Welsh landscape. In fact, for readers, Wales will never be quite the same again.

All over the world there are places that became famous forever because something extraordinary happened there by chance. Beautifully illustrated and carefully researched Fame By Chance covers 380 such places with new insights and facts that are amusing, surprising and sometimes controversial. Foreword by Peter Ackroyd. All over the world there are places that became famous forever by chance - battles briefly waged, scenes of triumph and disater, sites of murder and intrigue, centres of influential creativity and noted mythical places from books and film. How and why did; Angora, Tabasco, Duffel and Fray Bentos give us products good and bad; Kohima's tennis court save India; Storyville's 269 brothels helped it to create jaz; Botany Bay never saw any British convicts; Tay Bridge was a disaster avoided by Marx and Engels; 'OK' stands for a farmhouse; Ferrari chose the 'Prancing Horse of Maranello'; Kyoto was saved from Hiroshoma's terrible fate; The British built the Great Hedge of India; With 432 pages beautifully illustrated and carefully researched Fame By Chance covers 380 such places with new insights and facts that are amusing, surprising and sometimes controversial.

Visit the blog for the book at www.brooklynbyname.com

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

"Fascinating morsels of Brooklyn history. . . . An entertaining, breezy compilation for the NYU Press, perfect for reading down at Coney, up on tar beach, or out on your shady front stoop this summer. . . . So if you wanna know how Dead Horse Bay, Sheepshead Bay, Floyd Bennett Field, Smith St. Carroll Gardens, Junior's Restaurant, Green-Wood Cemetery, Gilmore Court or the Riegelmann Boardwalk got their names, grab a copy of Brooklyn by Name."
--"New York Daily News"

"Information is well presented and well illustrated--both factors making this guide easy on the eye. Hardly a location is left unexplored in this fascinating, indispensable guide to a borough undeservedly in Manhattan's shadow."
--"Booklist"

"Witty, occasionally irreverent and always engaging, Brooklyn by Name takes readers from the six independent towns that once comprised Breuckelen to the modern metropolis. Weiss and Benardo have uncovered surprising data and have woven a compulsively readable narrative. Pick it up, rifle through, and find out about--or be reminded of--the underpinnings of our boroughas heritage."
--"The Brooklyn Rail"

"This book is an essential companion for anyone teaching about Brooklyn, for anyone writing about the borough, and for tour guide people. Benardo and Weiss have to be pleased with their product, and clearly should be congratulated."
--"Brooklyn Daily Eagle"

"Brooklyn streets, parks and sites are dripping with history, and husband-and-wife team Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss have hung them all out to dry in their dictionary of street smarts, Brooklyn ByName."
--"Brooklyn Papers"

"A well-researched and concise compilation of the historical derivation of the place names in Brooklyn, an engaging stroll through the cityas largest borough and its history. . . . The book is easy to pick up, and with its wide-ranging, often quirky fragments of Brooklyn history, hard to put down."
--"Courier-Life Publications"

aAn excellent guide to Brooklyn. Explaining Brooklynas often mystifyingA names (like Force Tube Avenue and Dead Horse Bay) allows the streets to speak their stories. Walkers in the borough should not leave home without it.a
--Mike Wallace, co-author of "Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898"

aAn engaging stroll through the cityas largest borough and its historya
--Bay News

"Uncovering the remarkable stories behind the landmarks, Brooklyn by name takes readers on a stroll through streets and places of this thriving metropolis to reveal the borough's textured past. --NYU Today

"From Albemarle Road to Zion Triangle, the history of Brooklyn place names revealed in Brooklyn By Name is as fascinating as life in the County of Kings itself. By putting faces to the names of our streets, parks, and neighborhoods, Benardo and Weiss bring to vibrant life hundreds of places where Brooklynites live, work, and play every day. Whether weare called Breukelen, Brookland, or Brooklyn, thereas no place like it in the world!"
--Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President

"This beautifully researched, lucidly written and compulsively readable book will have readers bouncing from entry to entry. By focusing on the derivation of Brooklyn's place-names, the authors have subtly traced the borough's rich history of politics, power, greed and idealism."
--Phillip Lopate, author of "Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan"

aTaking off from neighborhood names, this page-turner of a book tells of the successive waves of settlers and immigrant arrivals who have given Brooklyn its distinctive flavor. Here are the men and women whose fantasies, foibles, and otherwise-fleeting fame find permanency in the pavements, parks and place-names of the borough that almost wasn't part of New York. Nicely illustrated with an exceptional folio of new photos and unusual old illustrations, and peppered with vivid stories and obscure facts, this book will fascinate even the most provincial of non-Brooklynites. You don't have to live there to love this book.a
--Andrew Alpern, co-author of "New Yorkas Architectural Holdouts"

"Jump into your walking shoes, bring along this marvelous book, and get ready to explore Brooklyn's streets!"
--Judith Stonehill, coauthor of "Brooklyn: A Journey Through the City of Dreams"

From Bedford-Stuyvesant to Williamsburg, Brooklyn's historic names are emblems of American culture and history. Uncovering the remarkable stories behind the landmarks, Brooklyn By Name takes readers on a stroll through the streets and places of this thriving metropolis to reveal the borough's textured past.

Listing more than 500 of Brooklyn's most prominent place names, organized alphabetically by region, and richly illustrated with photographs and current maps the book captures the diverse threads of American history. We learn about the Canarsie Indians, the region's first settlers, whose language survives in daily traffic reports about the Gowanus Expressway. The arrival of the Dutch West India Companyin 1620 brought the first wave of European names, from Boswijck ("town in the woods," later Bushwick) to Bedford-Stuyvesant, after the controversial administrator of the Dutch colony, to numerous places named after prominent Dutch families like the Bergens.

The English takeover of the area in 1664 led to the Anglicization of Dutch names, (vlackebos, meaning "wooded plain," became Flatbush) and the introduction of distinctively English names (Kensington, Brighton Beach). A century later the American Revolution swept away most Tory monikers, replacing them with signers of the Declaration of Independence and international figures who supported the revolution such as Lafayette (France), De Kalb (Germany), and Kosciuszko (Poland). We learn too of the dark corners of Brooklyn's past, encountering over 70 streets named for prominent slaveholders like Lefferts and Lott but none for its most famous abolitionist, Walt Whitman.

From the earliest settlements to recent commemorations such as Malcolm X Boulevard, Brooklyn By Name tells the tales of the poets, philosophers, baseball heroes, diplomats, warriors, and saints who have left their imprint on this polyethnic borough that was once almost disastrously renamed "New York East."

Ideal for all Brooklynites, newcomers, and visitors, this book includes:

*Over 500 entries explaining the colorful history of Brooklyn's most prominent place names

*Over 100 vivid photographs of Brooklyn past and present

*9 easy to follow and up-to-date maps of the neighborhoods

*Informative sidebars covering topics like Ebbets Field, Lindsay Triangle, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

*Covers all neighborhoods, easily find the street you're on

Place names are a window into the history and characteristics of a country. Their names reflect the migrations of peoples, their religious and cultural traditions, local languages, conquests and fortifications long since disappeared. They also reflect the topography and industrial development of a place. The text is ordered by country alphabetically. The book will include a historical section, putting the place name into context, and references those events, which have had an impact on the geography of a country, and those foreign influences, which have played a part in shaping the place name. This volume is confined to the 38 countries of Europe, together with Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Cyprus and the Vatican City. All place names of cities and towns of particular importance and interest are included. Detailed maps accompany the text to illustrate change and evolution.

You've always wondered about those peculiar and colorful town names. Now here comes the full and often remarkable explanantions. Perfect for new Texans, transplanted Texans, and history buffs, this book blends human interest, curious circumstances, humor and even constroversy with local historical facts surrounding the origins of Texas town names.

Designed for anyone interested in the human and physical geography of the Spanish-speaking world, both modern and historical, this dictionary provides more refined and geographically-oriented definitions than general bilingual dictionaries. It contains thousands of words not included in even the best standard bilingual dictionaries. Although the content is not aimed at the specialist, it is assumed that the user has more than an elementary acquaintance with Spanish and wants more than word-for-word matches. With over 26,000 main entries and thousands more subentries, the volume includes enough material for a native English speaker versed in basic Spanish to use it almost exclusively for landscape investigations in the field, library, or archive. It is an essential tool for anyone studying the human or physical geography of the Spanish-speaking world.

Originally published in 1914, this volume provides information on the historical background of place-names in Sussex. Entries are listed in alphabetical order and vary in length, depending on historical interest or the complexity of their development. Additionally, the text contains an introduction and bibliography, together with information on the principal personal names used in place-names, and words other than personal names used in place-names. This is a fascinating volume that will be of value to anyone with an interest in British history and the development of toponymy.

What links a champion bare-knuckle boxer, a pioneering general who inspired the invention of Ordnance Survey maps and a runaway cat? They've all given their names to London pubs! This book covers over 650 pub names across all 32 London boroughs as well as the City of London, revealing the stories of Elizabethan actors, puritanical plotters, Titanic survivors, treasured cuddly toys and many many more... Each of them contributes to our understanding of London, taking in its political, cultural and social history. A must have for anyone wanting to learn more about London through the unique medium of one of its most enduring and endearing institutions, pubs. Read this and you'll never look at your local in the same way again!

Place-Names of Carmarthenshire is the first publication to investigate all major place-names in the historic county of Carmarthen (1536-1974), including the westerly parts of the county transferred to modern Pembrokeshire after 1996. Tracing the history of Welsh place-names casts light upon the ways in which our ancestors lived and how they thought about the world around them. The meaning of place-names, however, is not always easy to determine because their written and spoken forms have often changed over time and particularly when the language in a particular location switched from Welsh to English. Fortunately, Carmarthenshire was not so markedly affected in this respect as many other parts of Wales but it is still easy to be mislead by modern spellings: Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) does not recall the name of the mythological Myrddin (Merlin) in the Arthurian tales but is derived from morddin (mor / 'sea' and din / 'fort') describing a Roman maritime fort - the precursor of the medieval borough; Llanboidy does not contain a llan ('church') but rather a nant ('stream') located near a beudy ('cow-shed'); Castelldwyran actually means 'Durant's castle', being composed of castell ('castle') and an Anglo-Norman personal name Durant, rather than dwyran ('two-thirds'). Illustrated with many images of the county, Place-Names of Carmarthenshire examines more than 920 place-names and features a 1,000-entry Glossary of place-name elements, personal names and rivers, and is the result of the author's detailed research in archives and reference libraries.

This book discusses developments in the history of British house names from the earliest written evidence (Beowulf's Heorot) to the twentieth century. Chapters 1 and 2 track changes from medieval naming practices such as Ceolmundingchaga and Prestebures, to present-day house names such as Fairholme and Oakdene: that is, the shift from recording the name of the householder (Sabelinesbury, 'Sabeline's manor'), the householder's occupation (le Taninghus, 'the tannery') and the appearance of the house (le Brodedore, 'the broad door'); to the five main categories still in use today: the transferred place-name (Aberdeen House), the nostalgically rural (Springfield), the commemorative (Blenheim Palace), the upwardly mobile (Vernon Lodge), and the latest fashion (Fernville). The development and demise of pub names and shop names such as la Worm on the Hope and the Golden Tea Kettle & Speaking Trumpet are detailed, and the rise of heraldic names such as the Red Lion is explained. Chapters 3-5 track the house name Sunnyside backwards in time to prehistory, through English, Latin, Scottish Gaelic, and the influence of Old Norse. Sunnyside's ancient origins lie in the Nordic practice of solskifte, a prehistoric method of dividing up land according to position of shadows, but the name was boosted in the eighteenth century by Nonconformists (especially Quakers), who took it to America, and in the nineteenth century by American celebrity influence. The book contains an appendix of the earliest London house names to the year 1400, and a gazetteer of historic Sunnysides.

This book explores international trends in naming and contributes to the growing field of onomastic enquiry. Naming practices are viewed here through a critical lens, demonstrating a high level of political and social engagement in relation to how we name people and places. The contributors to this publication examine why names are not only symbols of a person or place, but also manifestations of cultural, linguistic and social heritage in their own right. Presenting analyses of geographically and culturally diverse perspectives and case studies, the book investigates how names can represent deeper kinds of identity, act as objects of attachment and dependence, and reflect community mores and social customs while functioning as powerful mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. The book will be of interest to researchers in onomastics, sociology, human geography, linguistics and history.

This book is the first of its kind to chart the terrain of contemporary India's many place names. It explores different 'place connections', investigates how places are named and renamed, and looks at the forces that are remaking the future place name map of India. Lucid and accessible, this book explores the bonds between names, places and people through a unique amalgamation of toponomy, history, mythology and political studies within a geographical expression. This volume addresses questions on the status and value of place names, their interpretation and classification. It brings to the fore the connections between place names and the cultural, geographical and historical significations they are associated with. This will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of geography, law, politics, history and sociology, and will also be of interest to policy-makers, administrators and the common reader interested in India.

How many place names are there in the Hawaiian Islands? Even a rough estimate is impossible. Hawaiians named taro patches, rocks, trees, canoe landings, resting places in the forests, and the tiniest spots where miraculous events are believed to have taken place. And place names are far from static--names are constantly being given to new houses and buildings, streets and towns, and old names are replaced by new ones. It is essential, then, to record the names and the lore associated with them now, while Hawaiians are here to lend us their knowledge. And, whatever the fate of the Hawaiian language, the place names will endure. The first edition of Place Names of Hawaii contained only 1,125 entries. The coverage is expanded in the present edition to include about 4,000 entries, including names in English. Also, approximately 800 more names are included in this volume than appear in the second edition of the Atlas of Hawaii.

Well before the innovation of maps, gazetteers served as the main geographic referencing system for hundreds of years. Consisting of a specialized index of place names, gazetteers traditionally linked descriptive elements with topographic features and coordinates. Placing Names is inspired by that tradition of discursive place-making and by contemporary approaches to digital data management that have revived the gazetteer and guided its development in recent decades. Adopted by researchers in the Digital Humanities and Spatial Sciences, gazetteers provide a way to model the kind of complex cultural, vernacular, and perspectival ideas of place that can be located in texts and expanded into an interconnected framework of naming history. This volume brings together leading and emergent scholars to examine the history of the gazetteer, its important role in geographic information science, and its use to further the reach and impact of spatial reasoning into the digital age.

In this extensively revised and enlarged edition of a work first published in 1994, many of the entries have been expanded or entirely rewritten, and the entries have increased in number from 2,000 to more than 2,500. Each placename's entry identifies the country and, in most cases, geographical location within the country. An account of the name's origin and meaning follows, along with appropriate historical, topographical, and biological references. Cross references provide former names, alternate spellings, and alternate forms of current names. A new introduction comprises a geographical summary, a chronological survey of the exploration and colonization of Africa, and an overview of African languages.

This work gives the origins and meanings of geographical and political features of the former Soviet Union. All 15 countries that were once part of the U.S.S.R. are included. Each of the over 2,000 entries provides, first, the name of the feature along with its Cyrillic counterpart, followed by the country, and the geographical location within the country; an account of the name's origin and meaning then follows, with appropriate historical, topographical and biographical references. Cross references provide former names and alternate spellings or forms of current names.

An exploration of the landscape of Anglo-Saxon England, particularly through the prism of place-names and what they can reveal. The landscape of modern England still bears the imprint of its Anglo-Saxon past. Villages and towns, fields, woods and forests, parishes and shires, all shed light on the enduring impact of the Anglo-Saxons. The essays in this volume explore the richness of the interactions between the Anglo-Saxons and their landscape: how they understood, described, and exploited the environments of which they were a part. Ranging from the earliest settlement period through to the urban expansion of late Anglo-Saxon England, this book draws on evidence from place-names, written sources, and the landscape itself to provide fresh insights into the topic. Subjects explored include the history of thestudy of place-names and the Anglo-Saxon landscape; landscapes of particular regions and the exploitation of particular landscape types; the mechanisms of the transmission and survival of written sources; and the problems and potentials of interdisciplinary research into the Anglo-Saxon landscape. Nicholas J. Higham is Professor of Early Medieval and Landscape History at the University of Manchester; Martin Ryan lectures in Medieval History at the University of Manchester. Contributors: Ann Cole, Linda M. Corrigan, Dorn Van Dommelen, Simon Draper, Gillian Fellows-Jensen, Della Hooke, Duncan Probert, Alexander R. Rumble, Martin J. Ryan, Peter A. Stokes, Richard Watson.

A placename is often much more than just a label. A name may bespeak the history of a nation, the culture of a people, or the hopes of an individual. Such connections are revealed in this very large reference work on placenames of the world, which offers an in-depth look at the origins of each. First published in 1997, the work in this new edition contains over 6,000 entries, including 1,000 new placenames from previously under-represented areas such as China and Japan. Entries cover natural features such as mountains, rivers and lakes as well as manmade entities such as cities and countries. Each entry includes the name of the feature; a brief description and its geographical location; and the origin of the name with relevant historical, biographical and topographical details. Appendices give the meanings of common elements of non-English placenames (e.g., Abu, as in Abu Dhabi, means ""father of""); major placenames in European languages (e.g., Pays-Bas and Paesi Bassi are the French and Italian names, respectively, for what English speakers call the Netherlands); and transcribed Chinese-language equivalents for the names of the world's countries and capitals.

How the places in Brooklyn got their names--complete with vivid photographs and maps From Bedford-Stuyvesant to Williamsburg, Brooklyn's historic names are emblems of American culture and history. Uncovering the remarkable stories behind the landmarks, Brooklyn By Name takes readers on a stroll through the streets and places of this thriving metropolis to reveal the borough's textured past. Listing more than 500 of Brooklyn's most prominent place names, organized alphabetically by region, and richly illustrated with photographs and current maps the book captures the diverse threads of American history. We learn about the Canarsie Indians, the region's first settlers, whose language survives in daily traffic reports about the Gowanus Expressway. The arrival of the Dutch West India Company in 1620 brought the first wave of European names, from Boswijck ("town in the woods," later Bushwick) to Bedford-Stuyvesant, after the controversial administrator of the Dutch colony, to numerous places named after prominent Dutch families like the Bergens. The English takeover of the area in 1664 led to the Anglicization of Dutch names, (vlackebos, meaning "wooded plain," became Flatbush) and the introduction of distinctively English names (Kensington, Brighton Beach). A century later the American Revolution swept away most Tory monikers, replacing them with signers of the Declaration of Independence and international figures who supported the revolution such as Lafayette (France), De Kalb (Germany), and Kosciuszko (Poland). We learn too of the dark corners of Brooklyn"s past, encountering over 70 streets named for prominent slaveholders like Lefferts and Lott but none for its most famous abolitionist, Walt Whitman. From the earliest settlements to recent commemorations such as Malcolm X Boulevard, Brooklyn By Name tells the tales of the poets, philosophers, baseball heroes, diplomats, warriors, and saints who have left their imprint on this polyethnic borough that was once almost disastrously renamed "New York East." Ideal for all Brooklynites, newcomers, and visitors, this book includes: *Over 500 entries explaining the colorful history of Brooklyn's most prominent place names *Over 100 vivid photographs of Brooklyn past and present *9 easy to follow and up-to-date maps of the neighborhoods *Informative sidebars covering topics like Ebbets Field, Lindsay Triangle, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge *Covers all neighborhoods, easily find the street you're on

Towns, villages, islands, mountains, lochs and rivers of Scotland - all are listed, and the derivation of their names - some curious - some extraordinary - is given throughout. All have a story to tell, and Scotland's rich history is apparent in these place names. Celtic, Nordic and Anglo-Saxon influences that span 2,000 years from the beginning of the Common or Christian Era to the 11th century are shown. And as the incoming Celts did not find an empty land, some names can be traced to Pictish times. With the arrival of the Scots in the 6th century, Gaelic names began to appear, and then, a century later, Anglian names appeared from the south, to later be influenced by French and Dutch, becoming the 'Scots' tongue of the Middle Ages. The advent of the Norsemen in the 9th century produced Norse names in the North, the Northern and Western Isles and the South-West. Many names are Scots transliterations of Gaelic. Auchenshuggle, long thought of as an appropriate destination for Glasgow's tramcars is simply a Scots version of the Gaelic for 'rye field'. The book explains how, over successive generations with political, economic and cultural changes, while Scots became established, place names were not renewed or translated - they were merely Scotticised. And so today, with English as the common tongue, we can be reminded of the past at just about every turn. This book provides a fascinating journey that might take you from Aberbrothock to the Butt of Lewis, Cruachan to Dunnet, on to Ecclefechan and Friockheim, Gretna, Hoy, Ibrox, John o' Groats, Kells, pausing at Lanark before seeking out Mealfuarvounie, Nick, Oxgangs, Patna, Quanterness, Rum, Sciennes, Talisker, Uig,Voe, Waterloo, Yell and Zetland - your journey has just begun!

Victor Watt's reference work comprises a completely new compilation, based on the archives of the English Place-Name Society. It reflects the most recent scholarship for all names of cities, towns, villages, hamlets, rivers, streams, hills and other geographical locations included in the Ordnance Survey Road Atlas of Great Britain (1983), with many more recent additions. The Dictionary will be of interest to geographers, historians, historical linguists and language scholars.