This article provides a collection of the '
etymology of the
names of
subnational entities'. This page generally only deals with regions and provinces; cities and other localities and features may appear listed under the individual country, with a link below.
Australia
States
★
New South Wales:
ostensibly named with reference to
Wales by
James Cook on
22 August 1770
★
Queensland: named in honour of
Queen Victoria[1]
★
South Australia: located in the south-central region of Australia
★
Tasmania: named after
Abel Tasman, who sighted the island in 1642; originally named by Tasman as ''Van Diemen's Land'', after
Anthony van Diemen, the colonial governor who commissioned Tasman's voyage
★
Victoria: named in honour of
Queen Victoria[2]
★
Western Australia: comprises the western third of Australia
Territories
Mainland Territories
★
Northern Territory: Territory in the north-centre of Australia
★
Jervis Bay Territory: originally named "Long Nose" by Captain
James Cook; renamed in 1791 for the naval hero Admiral
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent.
[3]
External Territories
★
Ashmore and Cartier Islands: named for
Ashmore Reef islets and
Cartier Island
★
★ Ashmore Reef: first recorded sighting by a European, Captain Samuel Ashmore of the ''Hibernia'',
11 June, 1811
[4]
★
★ Cartier Island: discovered by a Captain Nash, aboard the ''Cartier''
[5]
★
Christmas Island: named on
25 December (
Christmas Day), 1643, by Captain William Mynors of the
British East India Company[6]
★
Cocos (Keeling) Islands:
★
★ Cocos: after the plentiful
coconuts ''(Cocos nucifera)'' growing there
[7]
★
★ Keeling: discovered in 1609 by William Keeling, a mariner of the
English East India Company[8]
★
Coral Sea Islands: uninhabited islands in the
Coral Sea, named for the its
coral formations, especially the
Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world.
[9]
★
Heard Island and McDonald Islands:
★
★ Heard Island: discovered (first ''confirmed'' sighting) by Captain John Heard of the merchant vessel ''Oriental'',
25 November, 1853
[10]
★
★ McDonald Islands: discovered by Captain William McDonald,
4 January, 1854
[10]
★
Norfolk Island (
Norfuk: ''Norfuk Ailen''): discovered and named by James Cook (1774) either for the
Duke of Norfolk[12] or for his wife
[13] [14]
Austria
''Bundesländer'' (States)
★
Burgenland (
German;
Hungarian: ''Várvidék '';
Croatian: ''Gradišće ''): originally called ''Vierburgenland'', "Land of four Burgs (castles)", a name suggested in 1919 from the endings of the four former counties forming the state:
Preßburg,
Wieselburg,
Ödenburg and
Eisenburg. In 1922 Austria ceded Ödenburg Hungary and dropped the numeric prefix ''Vier-''; the remaining three counties became Burgenland.
[15] The Hungarian ''Várvidék '' and Croatian ''Gradišće'' calque the German ''Burgenland''
★
Carinthia, German'' Kärnten'': derived from the early Slovene medieval state
Karantania (Slovenian ''Karantanija'', German ''Karantanien''); a suggested etymology references a Celtic term for "stone" or "crag", while a popular etymology holds that the name means "land of friends"
★
Lower Austria, German ''Nieder-Österreich'': the lower part (lower in height) of the original territory of Austria ('the eastern country'), as opposed to Upper Austria; also called ''Österreich unter der Enns'' "Austria below the (river) Enns"
★
Salzburg: after the city of
Salzburg (literally "salt castle"), which takes its name from the
salt mines that existed there during the Middle Ages
★
Styria, German ''Steiermark'': after the castle of
Steyr; in the high Middle Ages, it formed a
march of the
Holy Roman Empire, hence ''-mark''
★
Tyrol, German ''Tirol'', Italian ''Tirolo'': after the castle of
Tirol near
Merano
★
Upper Austria, German ''Ober-Österreich'': the upper (physically higher) part of the original territory of Austria, as opposed to Lower Austria; also called ''Österreich ob der Enns'' "Austria above the (river) Enns"
★
Vienna, German ''Wien'': from Celtic ''Vindobona'' (''vindo'' "white" + ''bona'' "foundation, fort")
★
Vorarlberg, literally "in front of the Arlberg", takes its name from the
Arlberg, a mountain (German: ''Berg'') characterised by ''Arle'', a local German term for "
mountain pine".
Belgium
'Official languages':
Dutch;
French;
German
''Gewesten / Régions / Regionen'' (Regions)
★
Brussels, Dutch ''Brussel'', French ''Bruxelles'' (the capital city, outside any province; also Belgium's third region): medieval Dutch ''broek'' 'bog' + ''zele'' (in many place names in the Low Countries = "habitation using thatching")
★
Flanders, Dutch ''Vlaanderen'', French ''Flandre(s)'': plural of a terrain type; extended from the historical county (about half lost to French and Dutch neighbours; the rest roughly made up two administrative provinces, East Flanders and West Flanders; in French ''les Flandres'', plural) to the whole Dutch-speaking, majority part of Belgium (French ''la Flandre'', singular)
★
Wallonia, French ''Wallonie'': from the (Romanized (Germano-) Celtic, now Francophone) Walloon people: as in many European countries, so named by Germanic neighbours; meaning: "strangers". Compare "Wales".
''Provincies / Provinces / Provinzen'' (Provinces)
★
Liège: of disputed etymology. The name ''Liège'' may have the same origin as the ancient name of
Paris, i.e. ''
Lutetia''; the
German form, ''Lüttich'', suggests this. Liège and Lutetia would both derive from
Latin ''lucotætia'', "marsh" or "mud". Another suggestion derives the names from Latin ''Lætica'', "colony", or ''Leudica'', "free". Alternatively, the Latin ''Leudica'' meaning "public place" may have given rise to the
Walloon ''Lîdje'' and thence to ''Liège''. Note that the name appeared in written form as ''Liége'' (with an acute accent) until the 1950s.
Brazil
See
List of Brazil state name etymologies.
Canada
Provinces and territories
:See
Canadian provincial name etymologies
Regions
★ '
Acadia' (
French ''Acadie''): origin disputed:
:# Credited to
Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, who first named a region around Chesapeake Bay ''Archadia'' (
Arcadia) in 1524 because of "the beauty of its trees", according to his diary. Cartographers began using the name ''Arcadia'' to refer to areas progressively farther north until it referred to the French holdings in maritime Canada (particularly
Nova Scotia). The ''-r-'' also began to disappear from the name on early maps, resulting in the current ''Acadia''.
[16]
:# Possibly derived from the
Míkmaq word ''akatik'', pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as ''-cadie'' in place names such as
Shubenacadie and
Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.
[17]
★ '
Nunatsiavut':
Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land".
[18]
China
People's Republic of China
Most of the names of the modern
administrative regions appeared as coinages in the
Ming Dynasty and in the
Qing Dynasty in
ancient China. The
Republic of China (ruling all of China from 1911 to 1949) and the
People's Republic of China (ruling
most of China after 1949) inherited most of them, and each made modifications and innovations. This list only includes the subnational entities under the effective control of the People's Republic of China.
省 ''Shěng'' (Provinces)
★
Anhui -
Anqing + Huizhou (
Huangshan)
★
Beijing - "northern capital"
★
Chongqing - "double celebration"
★
Fujian -
Fuzhou +
Jian'ou
★
Gansu - Ganzhou (
Zhangye) + Suzhou (
Jiuquan)
★
Guangdong -
Guangzhou + east (Dong)
★
Guangxi -
Guangzhou + west (Xi)
★
Guizhou - after
Mount Gui
★
Hainan - "south of the ocean"
★
Hebei - "north of the River (
Huang He)"
★
Heilongjiang - "black dragon river" (
Amur)
★
Henan - "south of the River (
Huang He)"
★
Hong Kong - "
incense harbour" or "
fragrance harbour"
★
Hubei - "north of the lake (
Lake Dongting)"
★
Hunan - "south of the lake (
Lake Dongting)"
★
Jiangsu - Jiangning (
Nanjing) +
Suzhou
★
Jiangxi - from "Jiangnanxi", meaning "western part of the region south of the
Yangtze River"
★
Jilin - Manchu name for "by the river"
★
Liaoning - "Liao tranquil"; the region traditionally bore the name of "Liao"
★
Nanjing - 'southern capital'
★
Ningxia - "tranquil Xia," "
Western Xia" was a
Tangut state in the region from
1032 to
1227
★
Qinghai - "green/blue sea" (after
Lake Qinghai)
★
Shaanxi - "west of Shan (陝) (a mountain pass region in China between modern Henan and Shaanxi)"
★
Shandong - "east of the mountains (
Taihang Mountains)"
★
Shanxi - "west of the mountains (
Taihang Mountains)"
★
Sichuan - literally "four-rivers", after the four
circuits (provinces) in the region during the
Song Dynasty. Before then, the region simply had the name ''Chuan'' ("rivers") for its many rivers
★
Tianjin - "river ford of the emperor (literally 'sky')"
★
Xi'an - 'peaceful west'
★
Xizang (
Tibet) - either "Zang of the west" or "western Zang";
Zang (the Tibetan nationality) comes from ''Tsang'', a name for central-southern Tibet
★
Xinjiang - "new frontier"
★
Yunnan - "south of the clouds, or Yunling ("mountains of the clouds")"
★
Zhejiang - old name of the
Qiantang River
Republic of China (Taiwan)
The Republic of China governed all the territory of China from 1911 to 1949, and retreated to
Taiwan after the
Chinese civil war (1927 - 1949). The list below includes only the subnational entities under the effective control of the Republic of China.
★
Hsinchu: "new bamboo" in
Mandarin, named after a bamboo fortress
★
Hualien: "lotus flower" in
Mandarin
★
Kaohsiung: "bamboo forest" in a
Formosan language
★
Miaoli: "plain" in a
Formosan language, originally sounds like "pali" (貓裡)
★
Penghu: "clashing-wave lakes" in
Mandarin
★
Tainan: "southern Taiwan" in
Mandarin
★
Taipei: "northern Taiwan" in
Mandarin
★
Taitung County: "eastern Taiwan" in
Mandarin
★
Taoyuan: "peach orchard" in
Mandarin
Czech Republic
★
Bohemia: from the
Celtic tribe
Boii, former inhabitants of the territory.
★
★
Czech ''Čechy''
★
Moravia (
Czech ''Morava''): from the river "
Morava"
Denmark
★
Bornholm: the
Old Norse version of the name, ''Burgundarholm'', suggests connections with the
Burgundians, who traditionally originated in Scandinavia
★
Copenhagen (
Danish: ''København'') - a corruption of the original designation for the city, ''Købmandshavn'', or "Merchants' Harbour" in Danish. It comes to English via the
German ''Kopenhagen''.
★
Faroe Islands (
Danish: ''Færøerne'',
Faroese: ''Føroyar'') - literally, "Sheep Islands", from their dense population of sheep
★
Greenland (
Danish: ''Grønland''): from
Old Norse ''Grœnland'', literally, "green land"; so named by
Erik the Red to induce settlement there.
Greenlandic-speakers use the name ''Kalaallit Nunaat'', meaning "Land of the Greenlanders"
★
Jutland (
Danish: ''Jylland'';
German: ''Jütland'') - name associated with the
Jutes
★
Zealand (
Danish: ''Sjælland'') - literally "seal-land", from the
seals found on the coasts of the island
Finland
★
Helsinki: from Old Norwegian ''Helsingfors'' (''Helsing'', a local tribe, plus ''fors'' meaning "waterfall")
★
Ostrobothnia (or in
Swedish: ''Österbotten'') - "Eastern Bothnia"
France
Note that most modern French
départements take their names from local geographical features: usually rivers, occasionally mountain ranges or coasts. Thus most such names have a self-evident immediate origin: even non-speakers of
French can deduce them with a minimum of geographical knowledge. The traditional provinces and regions (of any period) often bear names with more obscure and superficially richer histories.
★
Alsace - from
Latin ''Alisatia'', a Latinised form of the Germanic name that also yields Old High German ''El-sasz'', allegedly meaning "foreign settlement"
★
Artois - from
Latin ''Atrebatensis'', adjectival form derived the Belgic tribe
Atrebates; the name of its main city
Arras (''Atrecht'' in Dutch) derives directly from the tribe's name
Atrebates, so ''Artois'' properly means "territory of Arras"
★
Brittany (''Bretagne'') - area occupied by refugee
Britons from
Roman Britain (''
Britannia'') ''circa'' 500 AD
★
Burgundy (''Bourgogne'') - part of the land settled by the East Germanic
Burgundians, who possibly originated on the island now known as
Bornholm
★
Champagne - from the
Latin ''campania'' (plain, open country, battlefield)
★
Corsica (''Corse'') - possibly from the
Phoenician ''Korsai'', which means something like "forest-covered"
★
Dauphiné - from the nickname and
coat of arms of former ruler Guy VIII of Vienne: "dolphin"
★
Franche-Comté - in
French, literally the "Free
County" of
Burgundy (as opposed to the
Duchy of Burgundy)
★
Gascony (''Gascogne'') - from the
Duchy of Vasconia (also ''Wasconia''), itself derived from the ancient tribe of the
Vascones. In Latin and Romance languages in medieval times, ''Vascones'' came to apply to all the
Basque-speaking peoples.
★
Languedoc - the region speaking the ''
langue d'oc'' (as opposed to the regions whose language (
langue d'oïl) developed into modern
French)
★
Limousin - from an adjective referring to the local centre,
Limoges
★
Lorraine - from the
Mediaeval Latin coining ''
Lotharingia'', meaning the lands granted as a kingdom in
855 AD to
Lothair, son of the Holy Roman Emperor
Lothair I
★
Normandy (''Normandie'') - land settled by
Viking ''Northmen'' in the early 10th century
★
Basque Country (
French: ''Pays Basque'',
Basque: ''Euskal Herria'') - derived from the ancient tribe of the
Vascones via the medieval
Duchy of Vasconia and a ''County of Vasconia'', split from it. The Basque name derives from ''Euskara'' (the autochthonous name of the Basque language).
★
★
Labourd(''Lapurdi''): from the Roman city of Lapurdum (modern
Bayonne).
★
★
Lower Navarre (French: ''Basse Navarre'', Basque: ''Nafarroa Behera'', ''Benafarroa''). From the medieval
Kingdom of Navarre, itself of disputed etymology (either Basque ''nabar'': "brownish, multicolor", also "ploughshare"; or Romance ''nava'': "river bank").
★
★
Soule: deformation of the original Basque name ''Zuberoa'' or ''Xiberue''
★
Provence - from Latin ''provincia'' (province), short for ''Provincia Narbonensis'', the Roman province located in present-day southern France.
★
Savoy - of unknown origin, but dating to the days of the
Kingdom of Burgundy
Germany
''Bundesländer'' (States)
★
Baden-Württemberg: formed by combining the names of the former states of
Baden and of
Württemberg.
★
★ Baden: after the city of
Baden-Baden, formerly ''Baden'', the name became reduplicated to distinguish it from the state (as in "Baden in Baden"). The name means "baths", after the springs in the city.
★
★ Württemberg: after Württemberg Castle, which stood on the Württemberg, a hill in
Stuttgart, formerly ''Wirtemberg'', further origin uncertain (''-berg'' means "mountain")
★
Bavaria (
German ''Bayern''): the state of Bavaria developed out of the tribe of the
Baiuvarii, who probably gained their name from the land of
Bohemia
★
Brandenburg: after the city of
Brandenburg. The earlier
Slavic name of the castle (''Burg'') of Brandenburg appears as ''Branibor'' ("Branim's forest")
★
Hamburg: from the 9th-century name ''Hammaburg'', where ''Hamma'' has multiple conflicting interpretations, but ''burg'' means "castle".
★
Hesse: after the tribe of the
Chatti
★
Lower Saxony (
German ''Niedersachsen''): after the tribe of the
Saxons. "Lower Saxony" became differentiated in modern times from the state of
Saxony to its southeast. The word "lower" reflects Lower Saxony's location in the lowlands of the
North German Plain, as opposed to Saxony, which has a higher elevation
★
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (
German) ''Mecklenburg-Vorpommern''): formed geographically by joining
Mecklenburg with the western part of
Pomerania, also called ''Hither Pomerania''.
★
★ Mecklenburg takes its name from Mecklenburg Castle in Dorf Mecklenburg,
Nordwestmecklenburg District (''Burg'' means "castle" in
German, the first part means "big": compare
Middle Low German ''mekel'', cognate with English ''mickle'' — "big castle").
★
★ ''Pomerania'' (
German ''Pommern'') comes from
Slavic roots meaning "near the ocean"
★
North Rhine-Westphalia (
German ''Nordrhein-Westfalen'') — geographically formed by joining the northern part of the
Rhineland (after the River
Rhine) with
Westphalia.
★
★ Westphalia formed the westernmost subdivision of the
Saxon tribe; the origin of the second part (''-falen'' in German) remains unknown
★
Rhineland-Palatinate (
German ''Rheinland-Pfalz''): formed geographically by joining parts of the
Rhineland (after the River
Rhine) with the
Rhenish Palatinate, formerly a
palatine county located near the Rhine, meaning that its count administered a palace of the
Holy Roman Emperor. The word derives from
Latin ''palatinus'' "imperial", from ''palatium'' "palace", after the location of the palace of the Roman Emperor
Augustus on the
Palatine Hill in
Rome
★ the
Saarland - after the
Saar River
★
Saxony (
German ''Sachsen''): land of the
Saxons (possibly the "sword-folk"). The state of Saxony developed out of the Saxon tribe, which principally inhabited present-day
Lower Saxony; during the Middle Ages and early modern times, the name migrated to the current location of the state of Saxony
★
Saxony-Anhalt (
German, ''Sachsen-Anhalt''): formed geographically by joining the Prussian
Province of Saxony (see above under Saxony) with
Anhalt
★
★ Anhalt takes its name from Anhalt Castle near
Harzgerode; the origin of the name of the castle remains unknown
★
Schleswig-Holstein: created by joining
Schleswig and
Holstein.
★
★ Schleswig takes its name from the
City of Schleswig, which in turn derives its name from the
Schlei bay and the
Low German word ''wig'' for "trading place".
★
★ "Holstein" comes from a
Saxon subtribe named, in Latin,
Holcetae
★
Thuringia (
German ''Thüringen'') — after the tribe of the
Thuringii
Historic regions
★
Franconia (German: ''Franken''): from the traditional designation "
Franks", referring especially to the
Kingdom of the East Franks
★
Oldenburg, first recorded in 1108 as the town of ''Aldenburg'', subsequently also a county, duchy, grand duchy and republic
★
Prussia (German: ''Preußen'') — (at times historically connected with Germany or with parts thereof): from the people known as the
Prussians, a grouping of western
Balt peoples whose collective name (German: ''Prussen'' or anciently ''Pruzzen'') may possibly derive from an
Indo-European root meaning "swamp": see
Prussian people
★
Swabia (German: ''Schwaben'' or ''Schwabenland''): after the tribe of the
Suebi
Greece (Hellas)
★
Arcadia: from
Arcas, the legendary eponymous leader of early Hellenic settlers
★
Sparta: from Greek ''spartē'', a cord or rope made from the shrub ''spartos'', a type of broom
★
Macedonia, from Greek mak- (long, tall) - 'highland'.
India
States
The element ''Pradesh'' appears in the names of many Indian states. It means "land" or "province" in
Sanskrit.
★
Andhra Pradesh: land of the Andhras. ''Andhra'' also denotes "south" in Sanskrit - the equivalent of ''Australis'' in Latin. (An early Indian people also bore the name ''Andhra'': see
Satavahana.)
★
Arunachal Pradesh: in
Sanskrit, ''aruna'' means "dawn-lit" and ''achal'' "mountains"
★
Assam: from Kamarupa in
Sanskrit; or from ''Ahom'', a name given to the ruling
Shan people by the inhabitants of the former kingdom of Kamarupa, and later assimilated in the Sanskrit form ''Asama'', meaning "unequalled, peerless or uneven", referring to the undulating nature of the land.
★
Bihar: from ''vihara'' ("Buddhist monastery"). Foreign invaders often used abandoned viharas as military cantonments; the word ''Bihar'' may have come from the large number of viharas thus employed in the area that later became Bihar.
★
Chhattisgarh: "thirty-six forts". Originally many-towns land of Dasarana (ten cities), which over time changed to Dahala and, after the Muslim conquest as the region atrophied with no connections to the rest of India, reverted to forest and to tribal ways. The name ''Chhattisgarh'' preserves the memory of the many cities. The ruling Haihay clans and their 36 forts preserved the independence of the region against foreign invaders.
★
Gujarat: land of the "
Gurjars", a
Kshatriya tribe or warrior-class. The Gurjaras, later immigrants, had
Vaishaya and
Sudra tribes only (no Kshatriyas). The book ''History of
Paramaras'' by Pratipala Bhatiya mentions that after the
Hunas and Gurjaras merged into the melting-pot of India, the Hunas acted as the Kshhatriya tribe of the Gurjara nation. The ruling clan of Prtaiharas claimed descent from
Lakshaman, brother of
Rama.
★
Haryana: the name ''Hari'' refers to the Hindu deity
Vishnu. The term "Hara" refers to the Hindu deity
Shiva. The land also gave shelter to wandering tribes of
Ahir and
Hunas. ''Haryana'' to this extent thus means "Land of God" or "Land of Ahirs and Hunas".
★
Himachal Pradesh: in
Sanskrit, ''hima'' means "snow" and ''achal'' "mountain" (referring to the
Himalayas). Multiple synonyms exist: Himanchal, Himachal, Himalaya, Himaratta and Himapradesh.
★
Karnataka: from Karu + Naad = Karnaad, which means "lofty + land". "Karnatik", also spelt "Carnatic", the adjectival form of "Karnaad", means "of Karnaad". The term "Carnatic Music" also shares this etymology. Two other (probably erroneous) proposed etymologies suggest:
★
★ "Karnaad" as from "Kari + Naad", "kari" in
Sanskrit meaning "
elephant"; hence: "Land of Elephants". (Note: ''kara'' in Sanskrit means "tax".)
★
★ Even more unlikely: "Karnaad" as "Kara + Naad", from "Kaaraa", the Turkic/Mongol/Urdu/Hindi and Sanskrit word for "black", hence "Black Land". Champions of this etymology believe it refers to the black cotton soil of central
Maharashtra, which however quickly turns red as one moves southward.
:These latter two etymologies also share a common flaw in that they combine the
Dravidian word "Naad" for "country" with Hindi "Kaaraa" or Sanskrit "Kari".
★
Kerala: The etymology of Kerala occasions much dispute and remains a matter of conjecture. It may derive from Sanskrit ''keralam'', meaning "the land added on", with reference to its mythical and geographical origins. Another prevailing theory postulates an imperfect
Malayalam portmanteau that fuses ''kera'' ("coconut palm tree") and ''alam'' ("land" or "location" or "abode of" ). Natives of Kerala — Keralites — thus refer to their land as Keralam. Other theories derive the name from the phrase ''chera alam'' ("land of the Chera").
★
Madhya Pradesh: "Middle Province". At the time of the setting up of the state, Nehru commented that no state in India had a name directly associated with India. Accordingly, the local people rejected the proposed name (''Mahakosala'') and selected the word ''Madhya'' or "Central India" for the area.
★
Maharashtra: "Great State". ''Maha'' means "great" or "big" (compare Latin and English 'major') and ''rashtra'' means "nation" or "state". (The name actually appears in a reduced form: it derives from the conquerors of the land, called Rathis (Charioteers) or later
Maharathis (Great Charioteers). The land takes its name from them. Compare
Marathi people#Etymology.)
★
Manipur: "Jeweled land"
★
Punjab: Persian for ''panj'' plus ''ab'', "five rivers" — though the land has seven rivers and ancient Persians called it ''Hapta Hindu'' or "Seven rivers". The etymology remains doubtful. Persian uses the word ''hindu'' for "river" — ''ab'' comes from the Persian cognate of the Sanskrit ''Ap'', meaning "waters".
★
Rajasthan:
Raja's land (''
-sthan'') - Land of Kings
★
Tamil Nadu:
Tamil country (''Nadu'' in the
Tamil language means "country" or "homeland")
★
Uttar Pradesh: in Sanskrit, ''uttar'' means "north", ''pradesh'' means "province". (At the time of independence, Dr. Sampurnand suggested the name ''Aryavrata''; another proposal favored ''Antarvedi'' (between the rivers). But Nehru wanted a name which preserved the initials "U P" from the earlier name "
United Provinces of Agra and Awadh". Various suggestions emerged, like ''Urvara Pradesh'' or ''Uddichya Pradesh'', but later another Nehru prefernce: for names associated with the name of the nation, led to the adoption of ''Uttara'' or "North India".)
★
West Bengal: the word ''Bengal'' derives ultimately from Sanskrit ''Banga'', an area that currently falls largely in Bangladesh and eastern India. Persian, Hindi, and Bengali derived ''Bangâlah'', ''Bangâl'' and ''Bânglâ'', respectively, from the Sanskrit original. The British anglicised these words into ''Bengal'', and this name came to denote the entire linguistic region. - The term ''West Bengal'' originated after the partition of Bengal province in 1905, when the administration set up the two separate provinces of West and East Bengal. The latter, after a period as
East Pakistan (1955 - 1971), became the present country of Bangladesh. (The leaders of Bihar (Dr.
Srikrishan Sinha), of Bengal (Dr.
B C Roy), of
UP (Dr.
Sampurnanand), of Orissa (Dr. Mahtab) and of
MP (Dr. Mishra) each gave a honorary pledge to Nehru not to change the names of their states (as others did) after Independence. West Bengal changed its name after 52 years, while Bihar, UP, Orissa and MP have kept the names Nehru liked.
Union Territories
★
Andaman Islands: From the name of the Hindu God
Hanuman (Hanumant)
★
Chandigarh: "
Chandi's fort". No actual fort ever existed; a large Chandi temple "protected" the locals, hence the name. The goddess Chandi appears as a form of the goddess
Kali or of
Parvati.
★
Delhi: according to one theory: city of the Goddess Dhilika. The area had seven temples of Yoginis or Goddesses in the area, the highest dedicated to the Goddess Dhillika. Compare
Dhillika.
★
Lakshadweep: "Hundred Thousand Islands". In
Sanskrit, ''laksha'' means "a hundred thousand" and ''dweep'' means "island".
★
Puducherry: ''Pudu'' + ''cheri'', from the
Tamil words for "new" and "settlement" or "camp". Formerly a French colony: ''Pondicherry''.
[19]
Indonesia
★
Jakarta: from ''Jayakarta'', City of Victory
★
Sumatra: from
Ibn Battuta's pronunciation of the name of the
Samudra Kingdom
Iran (Persia)
★
Lorestan: land of the
Lurs
★
Mazendran: land of Mazda Indra or the god
Indra.
Italy
★
Campania: from the
Latin ''campania'' (countryside, plain, battlefield). Compare
Champagne in
France.
★
Friuli: from the
Latin ''Forum Julii'' (The market of Julius), which at the beginning referred only to the city of
Cividale, founded by
Julius Caesar and then extended to the whole region
★
Latium (in modern Italian: ''Lazio''): land of the early
Italic inhabitants known as
Latins, in their turn popularly associated with the mythological King
Latinus [in turn, "Latins" (in Latin, ''Latīnī'') — as well as the name of King ''Latīnus'' (simply the singular of the same name) — clearly derived their names from ''Latium'' by means of the ethnic suffix ''-īnus'', with the obvious meaning of "inhabitant(s) of Latium", which makes this etymology ridiculously circular, but let that serve as a warning to the reader as to the quality of this and other etymologies on this page].
Ovid hints at perhaps a slightly more sophisticated
folk etymology, with a legend of the naming of Latium after
Saturn ''latente deo'' (as a god in hiding) after he allegedly fled to Italy following his expulsion by
Jupiter. - Modern linguists postulate origins in a
Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) root ''
★ stela-'' (to spread, extend), expressing the idea of "flat land" (in contrast to the local
Sabine high country). But the name may originate from an earlier, non Indo-European one. See the
Online Etymological Dictionary.
★
Lombardy: from the Germanic tribe of the
Lombards (literally "long-beards" or "
long-bearded axe people", or, according to another theory, "long-
halberds"), who invaded Italy in the 6th century. Note: After the Lombard invasion, the name "Longobardia" or "Langobardia" applied to the whole of Italy for about two centuries, throughout Europe and also in Arabic (''al-Ankubardiya''). The name ''Italia'' did not return into wide use until the late 8th century
★
Marche: literally. "
marches", "borderlands". In the Middle Ages the region lay on the boundaries between imperial lands and the more independent areas of southern Italy. The March of Ancona became the best known of such marches
★
Sardinia: speculatively linked with the
Shardana people and/or with
Sardis
★
Sicily: island settled by the
Sicels
Korea
★
Chungcheong - from the first characters in the city names
Chungju and
Cheongju.
★
Gangwon (South Korea) /
Kangwŏn (
North Korea) - from the first characters in the city names
Gangneung and
Wonju.
★
Gyeonggi - the Chinese characters for the name mean "area around the capital", referring to the location of the province around
Seoul, South Korea
★
Gyeongsang - from the first characters in the city names
Gyeongju and
Sangju.
★
Hamgyŏng - from the first characters in the city names
Hamju and
Kyŏngsŏng (?).
★
Hwanghae - from the first characters in the city names
Hwangju and
Haeju.
★
Jeolla - from the first characters in the city names
Jeonju and
Naju (The first character of Naju is actually "ra"—"r" changes to "n" in the initial position, and the combination "nr" changes to "ll" due to phonological characteristics of the
Korean language).
★
P'yŏngan - from the first characters in the city names
P'yŏngyang and
Anju.
Malaysia
★
Alor Star - ''alor'' in Malay means "furrow", while ''star'' refers to a kind of tree (''Bouea macrophylla'') that bears small, sour fruit known as ''kundang'' or ''remia'' in
Malay
★
Cyberjaya - Malay: "cyber excellence", a reference to the city's designation as the "
Silicon Valley of Malaysia"
★
Ipoh - named after the
''ipoh'' tree whose poisonous sap the
Orang Asli used to coat their
blowpipe darts with
★
Johor - from
Arabic ''jauhar'', or "precious stones"
★
Kangar - named for the Malay 'kangkok', a kind of
hawk (''Spizaetus Limnaetu'')
★
Kelantan - said to be a corruption of ''gelam hutan'', the Malay name for the ''Melaleuca leucadendron'' tree, also possibly derived from ''kilatan'' ("lightning")
★
Klang - possibly from
Mon-Khmer ''klong'' or Malay ''kilang'' ("warehouse")
★
Kota Bharu - Malay: "new town/fort"
★
Kuala Lumpur - Malay: "muddy confluence", a reference to the founding of the city at the confluence of
Gombak River and
Klang River
★
Kuching - Malay: "cat", but probably a corruption of the
Indian ''cochin'' ("port") or a reference to the that used to proliferate where the city grew subsequently
★
Labuan - derived from the Malay ''labuhan'' ("anchorage")
★
Langkawi - Malay for "eagle island", but possibly related to
Langkasuka, an ancient Hindu kingdom founded in
Kedah in the 1st century CE
★
Malacca - named by the founder of Malacca,
Parameswara, after the
Melaka tree under which he sheltered
★
Negeri Sembilan - Malay: "nine states", a reference to the nine original districts (or ''nagari'') settled by the
Minangkabau
★
Penang - named after the
Pinang tree
★
Perak - Malay: "silver", from the silvery colour of tin for which the area became famous; or possibly from the "glimmer of fish in the water"
★
Putrajaya - Malay: "princely excellence", named after the first
Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra and possibly a reference to the planned city's status as the new administration centre for the Federal Government
★
Selangor - possibly from the Malay ''selangau'' ("fly") due to the abundance of flies along the
Selangor River
★
Sungai Petani - literally "farmer river" in Malay, said to originate from the concentration of
paddy-fields and
farmers in the state
★
Taiping -
Chinese: "great peace"
Mexico
:See
Mexican state name etymologies
Netherlands
Provinces
★
Drenthe (
Nedersaksisch: ''Drentie''):
★
Flevoland:
★
Friesland (
Frisian: ''Fryslân''):
★
Gelderland (also English: ''Guelders''):
★
Groningen (
Gronings: ''Grönnen'' or ''Grunnen''):
★
Limburg:
★
North Brabant (
Dutch: ''Noord-Brabant''):
★
North Holland (Dutch: ''Noord-Holland''): Germanic "holt (i.e. wooded) land" (often incorrectly regarded as meaning "hollow [i.e. marsh] land")
★
Overijssel:
★
South Holland (Dutch: ''Zuid-Holland''): Germanic "holt (i.e. wooded) land" (often incorrectly regarded as meaning "hollow [i.e. marsh] land")
★
Utrecht:
★
Zeeland (also English: ''Zealand''):
Other names
★
Alkmaar: from ''Aelcemaer'', meaning 'lake of auks', due to the fact that lakes formerly surrounded the core of Alkmaar - all of them now drained and thus turned into dry land
★
Amsterdam: from ''Amstelredam'', which means "dam over the
Amstel" (the river Amstel flows through present-day Amsterdam)
★
Batavia (Germanic): "arable land" (derived from the regional name "Betuwe", as opposed to the other regional name "Veluwe" meaning "fallow" or "waste" land)
★
Holland (part of the Netherlands; but the term often refers to the country as a whole): Germanic "holt (i.e. wooded) land" (often incorrectly regarded as meaning "hollow [i.e. marsh] land")
★
Rotterdam: meaning 'dam over the Rotte' (the river Rotte flows through present-day Rotterdam)
New Zealand
See also
List of New Zealand place names and their meanings.
Provinces
★
Auckland: in honour of
George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, a patron of
William Hobson, who founded and named the city of Auckland. The Earl took his sobriquet from Auckland in
Durham,
United Kingdom, possibly deriving from the
Celtic ''Alclet'' or ''Aclet'', or "Cliffs of the Clyde". Although nowhere near the
River Clyde, the locality may have had connections with the Celtic kingdom of
Strathclyde; it may have borrowed the name of the Clyde for aesthetic or prestige reasons, as Alclet's river - the
Gaunless - means "useless" in
Old Norse; or a nearby river may have had the name "Clyde" — history does not record the name of the river Gaunless before the Norse named it
★
Hawke's Bay: in honour of
Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke of Towton
★
Marlborough: to commemorate
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
★
Nelson: in honour of
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (the Admiral)
★
Otago: anglicised from the Māori name ''Otakou'', a ''kainga'' east of present-day Otago Harbour, originally meaning "one isolated village" or "place of red earth"
★
Wellington: in honour of
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Other categories
★
Levin: from a director of the railway company that created the town to help boost its railway
★
Plimmerton: from John Plimmer,
Wellington pioneer, director of the railway company that created the seaside resort to help boost its railway; central
Wellington has Plimmer's Steps.
★
Tasman: district named from the bay name, in honour of Dutchman
Abel Tasman, commander of first European expedition to sight the country; also a
mountain and
glacier name.
Abel Tasman National Park bears a fuller version of his name.
★
Waikato: Named after the
Waikato River. The hydronym means "flowing water" in Māori.
Pakistan
Provinces
★
Afghania (
North-West Frontier Province) - from the native
Pashto language for "valley of the Afghans"
★
Balochistan - Land of the indigenous Balochi people of the
Makran that straddles south-east
Iran and south-west Pakistan
★
Punjab - from the
Persian for "Land of Five Rivers" in Central Pakistan
★
Sindh - from "Sindhu," the
Sanskrit name for the
Indus River
Pakistani-administered portions of the Kashmir
★
Azad Kashmir — ''Azad'': Urdu, "Free"; "Kashmir" either:
★
★ from the 'Koshur' (Native
Kashmiri) for "mountain tribes people" in north-east Pakistan; or
★
★ from Sanskrit ''KaSyapa-mIra'', land of the
Kasyapa[20], although some regard this as a
folk etymology.
[21]
Papua New Guinea
★
New Britain - in honour of
Great Britain. Originally named by
William Dampier in the
Latin form ''Nova Britannia''; called ''Neu-Pommern'' (New
Pomerania) during the period of German colonization until the conquest of the area by Australia in
1914
Poland
★
Greater Poland - from the tribe of
Polans or from the word "pole" (field) meaning "country of fields" - "Greater" distinguishes it from the whole Polish state
★
Kuyavia - "covered by
sand dunes"
★
Lesser Poland - in contrast with
Greater Poland
★
Lubusz Land - from the town of
Lubusz
★
Masovia - "boggy"
★
Masuria - from the
Masovians, who settled Masuria
★
Podlachia, "by
Lachs" , i.e., "by
Poles"
★
Polesie - "covered by forests"
★
Pomerania - "along the sea"
★
Silesia - from the holy Silesian mountain of
Ślęża
★
Subcarpathia - "at the foot of the
Carpathians"
★
Warmia - from the
Old Prussian tribe of Varms
Portugal
★
Alentejo: meaning "beyond the Tejo (the
Tagus river)"
★
Algarve: meaning "country to the west" (of the Guadiana River), from the Arab "Al-Gharb"
★
Azores: from Açores (pl.), after the "Açor", a type of bird
★
Beira: quite literally, the "edge" (during the early phase of Portugal's history, Beira formed a borderland)
★
Madeira: "wood"
Romania
''See:
Etymological list of counties of Romania''
★
Bessarabia - from
Basarab I, Wallachian king who led some expeditions in this land
★
Bukovina - (in
German: "''Buchenland''") = "beech land"
★
Dobrogea - "good land"
★
Haţeg - "''Terra Herzog''" = Duke's land
★
Muntenia - from ''muntean'' = man of the mountains, from Romanian ''munte''=mountain
★
Oltenia - from the river
Olt, called ''Alutus'' by the Romans, possibly from Latin ''lutum'', meaning "mud" or "clay".
★
Transylvania - "beyond the woods"
★
★ ''Ardeal'' - probably a borrowing of the Hungarian name Erdély, like the Romani name ''Ardyalo'' — speakers of old Hungarian pronounced ''Erdély'' as ''Erdél''. The initial Hungarian "e-" occasionally changes to "a-" in Romanian (compare Hungarian ''egres'' "gooseberry" and ''Egyed'', which became ''agriş'' and ''Adjud'' in Romanian). An alternative explanation extracts the meaning "wooden hill": ''arde'' expresses an Indo-European root meaning "forest", the same as in English ''Forest of
Arden'' and Belgian ''
Ardennes Woods''; ''deal'' means "hill" in
Romanian.
★
Wallachia - "land of the foreigners"
Russia (including Siberia and the Russian Far East)
★
Amur River: ''Amur'' comes from the
Tungus ''amor'' for "great or big river".
★
Arkhangelsk Oblast: the region of the city of
Arkhangelsk, whose name the inhabitants traditionally associated with a monastery in the area dedicated to the
Archangel Michael (Russian: Архангел Михаил or ''Arkhangel Mikhail'').
★
Grozny or Groznyy: Russian for "threatening" or "terrible" or "dread" or "severe"
★
Kaliningrad Oblast: from the Russian name ''Kaliningrad'' ("Kalinin-city) of its largest city, re-named in 1946 to commemnorate
Mikhail Kalinin
★
Kazan (historic name of a region): from the name of its capptal city, Kazan
★
Khabarovsk Krai: the Khabarovsk region. The city of
Khabarovsk took its name from the explorer
Yerofey Khabarov
★
Leningrad Oblast: from the city (
Saint Petersburg formerly known as ''Leningrad'' (Russian for
Lenin-city)
★
Novaya Zemlya: Russian for "new land"
★
Novgorod: from
Russian roots meaning "new city"
★
Novosibirsk: roughly means "new Siberian city"
★
Sakhalin: derived from misinterpretation of a Manchu name "sahaliyan ula angga hada" (peak of the mouth of
Amur River). "Sahaliyan" means "black" in Manchu and refers to the Amur River (''sahaliyan ula'').
★
Siberia: from a
Tatar word meaning "sleeping land"
★
Smolensk: from the river Smolnya
★
Vladikavkaz: Russian for "ruler of the
Caucasus" or "rule the Caucasus"
★
Vladivostok: Russian for "ruler of the East" or "rule the East"
★
Volgograd: Russian for "city of the
Volga" or "Volga city"
Spain
★
Andalusia: from the Arabic name (
Al-Andalus, with several suggested etymologies) formerly applied to the whole Iberian Peninsula
★
Aragon: from the
Aragon River, that gave its name to the county of Aragon, one of the little Christian polities that resisted Islamic rule in
Spain during its greatest extent (see
Reconquista)
★
Asturias: the land of the
Astures, an early people of north-west Spain
★
Basque Country (
Basque: ''Euskal Herria'': from the ancient tribe of the
Vascones, whose name became an
ethnonym in the Middle Ages. The Basque name derives from ''Euskara'' (the autochthonous name for the Basque language).
★
★
Álava (Basque: ''Araba'']]: of uncertain etymology. Various theories see it deriving from a Roman town called ''Alba'', from several prossible Basque etymologies and even from Arabs (who, however, never occupied the province for long). A chronicle of 905 uses the form ''Arba'', but later the word commonly appears as ''Alaba'' or ''Alava''.
★
★
Biscay (Basque: ''Bizkaia'']]: variant of ''bizkarra'' ("shoulder", "back" or, in this case, "mountain range" in Basque)
★
★
Guipuscoa (Basque: ''Gipuzkoa'']]: of unknown etymology. Old documents sometimes use the variant ''Ipuscoa''.
★
Cantabria: from the
Cantabri, a mountain people defeated by the
Romans only after a great military effort (
Cantabrian Wars, 29 - 19 BC). Celtologists have suggested a derivation from the
Celtic root ''cant-'', meaning "rock" or "stone", and from the suffix ''-abr'', used frequently in Celtic regions. From this we can deduce that the word "cantabrus" means "dwelling in the
mountains", referring to the rugged terrain of Cantabria. Another suggestion derives ''Cantabria'' from the Celtic ''Kant'' ("mountain" or "rock") and ''Iber'' (the river
Ebro), thus "The Mountains of the Ebro". Spaniards also call this region ''La Montaña'' ("The Mountain"), but usually call the
Bay of Biscay the
Cantabrian Sea.
★
Catalonia: from the ''castlà'' ("castellan") class who governed the nascent feudal Catalonia from their castles in the 11th and 12th centuries. (Compare the etymology of "
Castile".)
★
Extremadura: from
Medieval Latin ''Extrema Dorii'' (literally, "extremes of the
Douro river"), referring to the territories south of the Douro basin; or from an Old
Castilian word used to designate the further territories controlled by the Christians (see
Reconquista)
★
Galicia: from Latin ''
Gallaecia'', the name of the province created in Roman
Hispania by
Diocletian in
298 CE. It derives from ''gallicoi'' or ''callicoi'', (''Galli'' or
Celts).
★
León: the ancient
kingdom and subsequent
province of León take their name from the city of
León, whose name derives from its position as the base of a
Roman legion (Latin ''legio'')
★
Navarre (Spanish: ''Navarra'', Basque: ''Nafarroa''): from the
Kingdom of Navarre. ''Navarra'' has been argued to have either a Basque or Romance etymology. In the first case it would come from ''nabar'' ("brownish, multicolor", also "plowshare"), in the second from ''nava'' ("river bank").
Switzerland
★
Aargau:
German name labelling the district (''Gau'') of the River
Aar.
★
Basel: traditionally associated with the Greek ''basileus'' ("king") or ''basileos'' ("of the king"): the city saw itself as preserving the
Imperial Roman heritage of its parent settlement, the Roman town of
Augusta Raurica. Note the use of the
basilisk as a Basler icon.
★
Berne:
German ''Bär[e]n'' (bears): reflected in the
capital city's
bear-pits, foundation-legend and
coat-of-arms
★
Neuchâtel:
French for "new castle"; ''Neuenburg'' in
German
★
St Gallen: from
Saint Gall (c. 550 - c. 646), traditionally the Irish founder/namesake of the
Abbey of St. Gall which came to dominate the area.
★
Ticino: from the principal river of the canton, the
Ticino, a tributary of the
Po.
Taiwan
:''See
Republic of China (Taiwan)''
Ukraine
Most of Ukraine's
oblasts take their names from their principal city; but Volyn Oblast, Zakarpattia Oblast, and the Crimean Autonomous Republic offer exceptions to this rule. See also
subdivisions of Ukraine.
★
Cherkasy Oblast: from the city
Cherkasy
★
Chernihiv Oblast: from the city
Chernihiv
★
Chernivtsi Oblast: from the city
Chernivtsi
★
Crimea: from the
Crimean Tatar name: ''Qırım''
★
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast: from the city
Dnipropetrovsk (re-named in 1926 after ''Dnipro'' ("
Dnieper river") and the Soviet Bolshevik leader ''
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky'')
★
Donetsk Oblast: from the city
Donetsk, after the
Donets river. ''Donetsk'' forms a diminutive and tributary of the
Don.
★
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast: from the city
Ivano-Frankivsk, named after the famous Ukrainian writer
Ivan Franko (1856 - 1916) in 1962
★
Kharkiv Oblast: from the city
Kharkiv
★
Kherson Oblast: from the city
Kherson
★
Khmelnytskyi Oblast: from the city
Khmelnytskyi, named in 1954 on the 300th anniversary of the
Treaty of Andrusovo, after
Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky
★
City of Kiev: ancient name (Ukrainian: ''Kyiv'')
★
Kiev Oblast: from the city
Kiev
★
Kirovohrad Oblast: from the city ''
Kirovohrad'' ("Kirov City"), after
Sergey Kirov (named Kirovo in 1934, Kirovograd in 1939)
★
Luhansk Oblast: from the city
Luhansk
★
Lviv Oblast: from the city of
Lviv, founded 1256 by King
Danylo of Halych, and named after his son
Lev Danylovich
★
Mykolaiv Oblast: from the city
Mykolaiv, after the day of
Saint Nicholas (Ukrainian ''Mykolai'', Russian ''Nikolai''),
December 19,
1788, commemorating the
fall of the Turkish fortress of
Ochakiv to the Russians
★
Odessa Oblast: after the city
Odessa in 1795; etymology unknown, but see
Odessa: "History" for some possibilities
★
Poltava Oblast: from ''
Ltava'', an ancient name of the city
Poltava
★
Rivne Oblast: from the city
Rivne
★
City of Sevastopol: (1783) Greek "highly respectable city, august city"; see
Sevastopol: "Etymology"
★
Sumy Oblast: from the city
Sumy
★
Ternopil Oblast: from the city
Ternopil
★
Vinnytsya Oblast: from the city
Vinnytsia
★
Volyn Oblast: ancient name of the region of
Volyn
★
Zakarpattia Oblast: "beyond the
Carpathian Mountains",
Transcarpathia
★
Zaporizhia Oblast: from the city
Zaporizhia, in turn after
region "beyond the rapids" (seventeenth century), downstream of the
rapids of the
River Dnieper
★
Zhytomyr Oblast: from the city
Zhytomyr (988), after Zhytomyr, prince of the
Drevlians
United Kingdom
★ For etymologies of the names "England", "Scotland", "Northern Ireland" and "Wales", see
List of country-name etymologies.
★ See also:
★
★
British toponymy
★
★
List of generic forms in British place names
★
★
Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom
United States
States
★
List of U.S. state name etymologies
Counties
★
Lists of U.S. county name etymologies
Notes
1.
"How Queensland Got Its Name" at http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/federation/stories/s223425.htm
2.
http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/vic3_doc_1851.pdf
3.
http://www.navy.gov.au/reserves_new/historyDocuments/Admiral_Jervis.doc
4.
http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/ashmore/plan/chap4.html#42
5.
http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Australia.html
6.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9082434/Christmas-Island
7.
http://www.cocos-tourism.cc/discover.htm
8.
http://search.eb.com/eb/article-1384
9.
http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9026231
10.
http://www.heardisland.aq/history/discovery.html
11.
http://www.heardisland.aq/history/discovery.html
12.
http://search.eb.com/eb/article-5310
13.
http://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/gui/files/NI%20fact%20sheet.pdf
14. http://www.pitcairners.org/][http://www.norfolkisland.com.au/history_and_culture/paradise.cfm
15. http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.encyclop.b/b944915_en.htm
16.
http://www.billcasselman.com/canadian_food_words/acadia_one.htm
17.
http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/education/prov_e.php#ns
18.
http://www.nunatsiavut.com/en/nunatsiavutgov.php
19.
Reference: http://www.statoids.com/uin.html
20.
Talageri, Shrikant. Chapter 4:"The Geography of the Rigveda". 'The Rigveda. A historical analysis.' New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan 2000. Retrieved 25 November 2006
21. Witzel, Michael. "Have Words, Will Travel!" from "WESTWARD HO ! The Incredible Wanderlust of the Rgvedic Tribes Exposed by S. Talageri", 'ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF VEDIC STUDIES' Vol. 7 (2001), issue 2 (March 31). Retrieved 25 November 2006.
See also
★
Etymology
★
Toponomy
★
List of country name etymologies
★
List of political entities named after people
★
Lists of etymologies
★
List of double placenames
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