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From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: Some Place Names
Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 10:54:45 -0700


There are thousands of places in the world and each and every place has a
name with a significant meaning. Below are some very familiar places and a
short description of how these places were named.

Amazon River .. Early Spanish explorers noticed that women battled alongside
men and so named the river for the legendary Amazon female warriors.

Austria .. From the word Ostreich meaning, "eastern kingdom."

Belgium .. The Celtic tribe Belgae lived in the area before the first
century.

Bolivia .. Named for the South American independence fighter Simon Bolivar.

Delaware, United States .. Named for the 17th century governor of Virginia,
Thomas West, the Baron De La Warr.

Ganges River .. In Hindi the word "ganga" means river.

Ireland .. From the Gaelic name of the country, "Eire", which is pronounced
air."

Ivory Coast / Cote d'Ivoire, Africa .. In the 19th century, the French
traded ivory from this coastal colony.

Japan .. Comes to us from a transliteration the Chinese phrase meaning "land
of the rising sun." In Japanese call their nation Nippon.

Mediterranean Sea .. In Latin, the term "mare mediterraneum" means "sea in
the middle of the earth." At the time of it's name, civilization surrounded
the Mediterranean.

Sahara Desert .. From Arabic for "brownish desert."

Sydney, Australia .. Named for the British Secretary of State Lord Sydney.
Australia itself is named for the ancient mythical Greek Terra Australis, or
"southern land."

Tripoli, Libya .. The name means "three cities" in Greek and is named
because of three ancient cities which were once in the modern city's
location.

Venezuela .. Reminded explorers of Venice because of native homes on stilts;
Venezuela means "little Venice."

Yellow River .. This Chinese River is a translation of the Chinese and is
named for the river which is yellowish due to the large amount of sediment
it carries.

For more info on .. Toponyms and Place Names II
http://geography.about.com/library/misc/bltoponym1.htm




Sally Rolls Pavia
Sun City, AZ

"To live in the hearts we leave behind, is never to have died."
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