The Hull Hub Issue 22

one of the tribes of the Berber people living west of the Nile Delta.
MADEIRA - Portuguese / Latin name based upon ‘material’ for wood / timber. In
1419 when the Portuguese discovered the uninhabited island in the Atlantic, it was
completely covered in forest.
MALTA - is a honey-sweet island according to the ancient Greeks who applied
their word ‘meli’ to the place.
MEXICO - comes from an Aztec word meaning ‘Land of the War God’ – without
specifying which particular God of War.
MONTENEGRO - the native Serbian name for this country is Crna Gora; but the
Italian/Venetian version (that we use in English) translates as Black Mountain from
the period when Venice ruled over this Dalmatian coastal area (c.14th century).
MOROCCO - is derived from the name for Marrakesh – and that in turn might
mean ‘Land of God’ from the Berber word.
NEPAL - there are a range of theories as to how this name arose. The one I favour
is simple and from the Tibetan language. ‘Ne-’ means ‘home’ and ‘-pal’ means
‘wool’. Sheep were reared in Kathmandu Valley many centuries ago. Hence Nepal
is ‘the land of wool’.
OMAN - there is only one country in
the world beginning with the letter ’O’
and this is it. Its name origin though
it not so simple. Some key historic
figures suggest it was named after an
individual called Oman. Alternatively,
some argue that the names comes
from an Arabic word aamen or
amoun referring to a ‘settled’ people
– as opposed to the nomadic Bedouin
tribes in that part of the Persian Gulf.
PAKISTAN - is derived from an
abbreviation of names from five
regions: Punjab; Afghania; Kashmir;
Sindh; TAN (from Baluch-ISTAN).
Equally, the name Pakistan literally
means ‘Land of the Pure’ in Urdu /
Persian. The acronym was specifically
coined in 1933 by a political movement
prior to the partition of British India
in 1947.
where it came from in the first place. It is another mystery.
SINGAPORE - derived from two Sanskrit words meaning Lion City. Experts,
however, claim that lions were never known to inhabit the island. So it is a mystery
too. Like many place names, they can be riddled with uncertainty – a bit like life.
SOMALIA - one view is that it means ‘go and milk’ perhaps referring to milking a
camel. Alternatively, it could mean the ‘land of hospitality’.
TRINIDAD - is simply for The Trinity. Christopher Columbus landed there in 1498
and found the land inhabited by the Arawak and Carib tribes – from where the
name Caribbean Sea is derived.
UKRAINE - There are several theories about the origin of the name Ukraine,
but many believe that it originates from the Slavic word for 'frontier region' and
'marches’. This might refer to the Pripet Marches of northern Ukraine – a muddy
region that recently impeded the Russian tanks during their failed attack on the
capital Kyiv.
VENEZUELA - the stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the
Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, Italy, so he named the
region Veneziola, or "Little Venice". But on a bigger scale, it is said that Amerigo,
unwittingly, gave his name to the two massive continents of North and South
America.
W - apart from WALES (covered in one of my earlier British place name articles)
there are no specific countries beginning with the letter “W” – odd though that
seems. All that leaves is countries whose official names begin with the word
Western. So let’s opt for WESTERN SAMOA in the Pacific Ocean (north-easterly
of New Zealand). Academics have long scratched their heads over the origin of
this Polynesian island’s name. Many Samoans are drawn to the view that it means
‘people of the deep sea or ocean’. If we go back 375 million years ago, then it could
be argued that all humans arose
from the sea.
X - there are no countries in
English beginning with an “X”.
But if we are desperate to fill
this X gap in our A-Z list, then
we could turn to the Catalan
language and come up with
Xina for CHINA. All that can
be said for the world’s greatest
population is that is comes from
the Chin / Qin Dynasty (221-207
BC).
PANAMA - is from native Cuna
language and means ‘Abundance of Fish’. When the Spanish arrived around 1517 on
the Pacific side of the country, legend has it that there was a fishing village of that
same name and it became a settlement. Whether this is linked to the modern-day
capital of Panama City is not clear. But the country is known around the globe for
its Panama Canal that connects the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
QATAR (juts into the Persian
Sea) - the Romans called it
Catara and in Arabic it is Katran –
strangely referring to ‘tar or resin’
with reference to petroleum.
R - an obvious choice would
have been Russia (having the
largest landmass on the planet);
but Hull Hub editors decided we
had better boycott that country in
view of Putin’s current ‘military
operations’ in the region!!!
So, instead, let’s opt for RWANDA
- the ‘land of a thousand hills’.
All that can be found is that the
name Rwanda is the name of
the indigenous people and that
they themselves never recorded
Y - there is only one country
name beginning with a Y and
that is YEMEN. In Biblical times,
it was the home of the Queen of
Sheba and rich in spices. From
the Arabian perspective, it was
‘the country of the south’ and
noted as being a happy and
fortunate land. Sadly, this is not the case today and its economy is classed as one
of the poorest and least developed in the world. Times change, nothing stays the
same.
ZAMBIA - (formerly Northern Rhodesia after the British explorer Cecil Rhodes)
takes its name from the Zambezi River - meaning ‘grand river’.
ZIMBABWE - (formerly Southern Rhodesia) there is general agreement (at last)
that this county’s name comes from the Karanga dialect of Shona and means ‘large
houses of stones’. Now, that description is a gross understatement and belittles
what the ‘houses’ actually are. They include very high walls and a conical tower.
The granite, dry stone ‘houses’ were in fact a palace or fortress belonging to royal
chiefs. Fortunately, this Iron Age enclosure is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site
and protected for future generations to visit.
In the final and seventh part of my Place Name series, I will conclude with forty
city names from around the world.
Advertise with us advertising@thehullhub.co.uk • Share your story with us info@thehullhub.co.uk
11