Toponymy Puns

The Turkish government is changing the spelling of the country’s English name from “Turkey” to Türkiye,” rejecting the long-used exonym. Do you think that it will catch on?

I've got an interest in the origion of various place names within the UK. Traditionally I'm used to interpreting these from the east coast side of things (celtic, norse and saxon mix of names), and I've got used to doing it with the old welsh names, however I'm eternally confused with the name origin of Kilvey Hill, in Swansea. Sorry for the following essay, I've tried to work through my thoughts but I'm not the best at it. The TLDR is just anyone know the origin of the word Kilvey?

Now as I'm sure many people are aware Swansea as a name isn't actually Welsh in origin but rather Norse (Svein's Ey, Sveins Island) after they formed a settlement on the river mouth. Whilst many of the place names in the area are obviously Anglicised versions of the early Welsh or more direct translations I cannot for the life of me find the name origion of Kilvey.

The wikipedia and a 1915 article cite the Welsh name being "Yn Bigwrn" however I cannot find any actual evidence of this being the actual name. A single reference from someone in a newspaper opinions column claiming it is what the ancients called it isn't really evidence. No idea why it would be called Ankle hill?

I've looked historically through the tithe records and maps. The oldest map that marks the hill is a 1572 map and since then it has been called some varient of Kilvey (Killvey, or Cilfai are also used). Now this normally wouldn't be an issue however Kilvey as a word doesn't have any real Old English meaning, it's not used anywhere else, its not similar to anything in England. So saying Cilfai is the Welsh version of the English Kilvey strikes me as odd.

In terms of the various word origins, it's likely two combined (Kil/Cil/Kill and Fai/Vey). I can't see any Saxon origin no matter how I misspell.

Welsh name origins: Cil could be corner or nook? Fai could be Fault? Doesn't make sense to me but that might be the case

Norse name origins: Not to assume Swansea is primarily a Norse settlement, logically they'd have had some presence on the opposite hill as it gives a great vantage point. Kili is a Norse name (which might explain the ll usage at times). For the second half nothing matches well but we have two that could've been miswritten as Fell is hill and Var is spring, so something like Kili's Spring might work but I'm not sure.

Now the slightly more modern maps the area by the peak is Pen-y-Graig-Uchaf (upper head of the rock[face]?) which ties into the Isaf farm to the east which is the lower pe

I am taking a Master's Degree in Linguistics now and want to start a side research project on native toponyms of my region. What are the fundamental reads in Toponymy I have to take into account? What do I have to know?

Wow, but I love how the limited length of portal names encourages all sorts of crazy naming development schemes. Specifically, how I can observe toponymically curious phenomena happening in real time. Example:

I have my central settlement a short ways away from spawn. I've decided to call it "The Longhouse" 'cause it's my house and it's long. Also cause longhouse is a classic name.

Eventually, I stumble across a good site for a farm. So I call it "The Farm". Cause, well, that's what it is.

So now I've gone and gotten access to portals. So the first thing I do is setup a portal between the Farm and the Longhouse. Since I like wasting resources instead of renaming the portal at the Longhouse every time I return, I also decide to make it a pair of permanent portals. It connects the Longhouse and the Farm, so I name the portal pair "LongFarm". My smithing facility is called "LongSmith," my docks "LongDock". Even after I realized that a portal hub at the Longhouse is probably a better idea, I kept tacking on "Long-" as an acknowledgement of what I had been using it for. So on and so forth.

Well, that's all nice and simple, but now I start exploring further. This sort of portmanteau hits it's limit when I first make a portal between the Longhouse, and a place I like to call the Coal and Plains Farm (swamp near plains, and those places with a lot of things that have a lot of coal). So I shorten it to LongCoalPlainFarm -- this is too long. So I shorten it again to LongCoalPlarm, then to LongCoPlarm, then to LonCoPlarm.

What's further? I make a portal near Bonemass. Being a slightly prudish person /s I decide that calling a portal LongBone is too much for me, so I shorten Bonemass to Boma, and now I have a portal called LongBoma. Portal to the Northern Launching Point -- LonNorLaun. Portal to the swamps -- LongMire. Portal for random returning cause damn those greydwarves, stop giving me so many eyes and resin -- LongRet

Stripping out the caps (since signs don't have caps) gives me:

• Longfarm
• Longsmith
• Longdock
• Loncoplarm
• Longboma
• Lonnorlaun
• Longmire
• Longret

Now my friend comes along and changes a few of the names on the signs I have attached to the portals:

• Longfarm
• Longsmith
• Londoc
• Loncoplarm Plains
• Longboma Swamp
• Lonnorlaun Settlement
• Longmire
• Longret Mountain

Since Longret Mountain is now the permanent mountain portal, I make another quick return portal called "LonQuickRet" but the font makes this look like "LonQukkRet".

Hello fellow Icelanders,

I am currently doing research on the French expedition La Recherche in 1835 and at one point the captain lands in "Gronnefjord/Grounefjord/Gronnefiord" but I cannot find this place on a map. The only reference I found online was this one but I cannot translate it right (it comes from the 1840 book by August Baggesen).

I also know that the captain made previous halts in Dyrafjordur Önundarfjörður, Breidafjördur, and Ólafsvík so I guess it is nearby.

It would be really awesome if you could help me find this place as I am trying to write a wikipedia page of the expedition as accurate as possible.

As I build and name places in my world I like to use Toponymy, particularly germanic, to create names. I can't, however, find a list of Spanish place name elements. Does anyone know if one exists?

Is there any searchable maps that you can search places like Google maps with historical place names. For example you can search with an old name of the place and search results will show the place on the map and will show other names of the place.

For me, Whitmount comes from the Old English hwīt, meaning white, and the Old English munt, meaning a hill or mound. This is when Germanic settlers in the early 6th century came across it during winter time, when all they could see was a white mass in the distance, thinking it to be an iceberg, but then found it to be land.

I think of this quote from a response that Fenn gave to a searcher and see searchers wandering around waiting for the next clue to appear in their search.

It also overlaps with people asking how close to the location do you have to be or how many of the clues must you solve to find it. It sounds like almost all of the 9 clues have to have some geographic location that you can pinpoint on a map without being on the ground.

My personal solve can find 8 clues/locations on the map and the 9th has a very good idea of the blaze but wouldn't know for sure until standing in before it.

There is another "featured question with Forrest Fenn" out today at mysterious writings, and I thought this was rather interesting. As usual, this will spin folks in many directions with interpretations ranging from the simple to the convoluted and unintelligible.

> Dear Forrest, What’s more important in solving the search, a greater knowledge (“knowlege”) of Toponymy or Geography? ~Chris

> I don’t know how Toponymy can help you at all Chris (I had to look that word up). But if you knew the geographic location of each clue it would be a map to the treasure. f

The map to the treasure is knowing the geographic location of each clue, but the names (toponymy) probably won't help you.

That this help anyone with their train of thought?

http://mysteriouswritings.com/featured-question-with-forrest-fenn-and-the-thrill-of-the-chase-treasure-hunt-toponymy-or-geography/

Is there a reason to study and treat toponymy as subfield within modern linguistics? That is to ask: is there a motivation and use for an academic study focused on toponymy?

I’ll answer this questions below, in an attempt to bring more attention to it. Also, please share your experiences or maybe material concerning this field.

The source of my questioning is the research work I’ve been doing on the field, and my “feeling alone” in the field as a researcher. This led me to search for the real scenario outside my own institution and academic circle. While doing that, I quickly came across the fact that there are hundreds of time less texts on toponymy/onomastics — be it using Google’s results number, be it in various websites that compile scientific papers and texts, or at universities’ libraries — than there are written material on many other fields you may search for. — Even specific objects of study have appeared considerably more throughout my searches, such as numerous books and papers on vowels, Celtic languages, grammatical gender, adverbs etc.

Toponymy doesn’t receive that much attention, not even in places where it could and would bring contributions. The first example that comes to my mind is historical linguistics. And indeed it makes a lot of sense that toponymy should be regarded by historical linguistics since its first courses on linguistics curricula (I’ll clarify it below.) What happens, in fact, is that the two most present and recognized introductory books on the topic do not bring a line mentioning toponymy as a field of research.

French geographer Bernard Brunhes, one of the founders of modern geography, in one of his earliest texts comments m on the scientific value of place names, which, according to him,!should be accounted not only as linguistic fossils, but “as geographical fossils”. (1925, it’s and apud; unfortunately I’ve never been able to find the complete original text).

What makes me think of the underdevelopment, we can say, of toponymy as an independent and worthy field of linguistic study, as unfair, has to do with Brunhes’ statement above. The few works I’ve read that subscribe to toponymy and encourages research on the field often mentions, when introducing the field, that one of the most valuable features of toponyms is their resistance to time. I won’t get into the reasons for that, otherwise my text will get even longer (tell me if you are interested on the comments, I can write a reply on those reasons)

A more humorous book is favored.