English in North America

1
English in North America

• Lecture by
• Prof. Dr. Hildegard L.C. Tristram
• Winter Semester 2003/2004
• Potsdam

North American Toponomy
2
North American toponymy

• common nouns (proper nouns) ? names

3
North American toponomy

• onomastics
• The study of the origin and form of proper
  names
• place names personal names
• toponomastics hydromastics

4
North American toponomy

• transparency and opaqueness of toponyms
• Yellowstone Park, Old Faithful (geyser a hot
  spring that ejects a column of hot water),
• New York
• Mount Monadnock, Lake Winnipesaukee,
• Santa Fé

5
North American toponomy

• etymology
• studies the original meanings of words, both
  within specific languages and across languages
• e.g. Santa Fé Holy Faith, Los Angeles
• The Angels, Santa Monica Holy Advisor,
  Counselor

6
North American toponomy

• five basic types of geographical and
  topographical naming in North America
• 1. Common Old World names were given to newly
  founded places
• London, Thames, Boston, Berkeley, Montreal,
  Mountpelier, Berlin, Moscow, Athens, Syracuse,
  Lebanon, Potsdam, Karlsruhe

7
North American toponomy

• Karlsruhe, North Dakota

8
North American toponomy

• 2. Old World names are specified by the element
  new
• New York, New Orleans, New Hamburg, New
  Hampshire, New Brunswick
• cf. Nova Scotia

9
North American toponomy

• 3. Topographical descriptions of landscape
• Salt Lake City (Utah), Two Rivers (Wisc.), Elk
  (Wyo.), Goldfield (Nev.), Buffalo (NY),
  Flagstaff (Ariz.), Sunnydale (Ariz.), Palm
  Springs (Cal.)

10
North American toponomy

• 4. Places named after memorable people
• (kings, queens, culture heroes or pioneers)
• Columbus (Ohio), Washington (State and D.C.),
  Lincoln (Nebr.), Amherst (MA, city of Western
  New York State, suburb of Buffalo), Bismarck
  (Ontario, changed into Waterloo in WW I),
  Jefferson City, Alberta (CN)

11
North American toponomy

• 5. Moral values (mostly Puritan, but also
  classical)
• Philadelphia (Pa.), Freedom (Cal.), Temperance
  (Mich.), Truth or Consequences (NM), Mount
  Pleasance (city in Mich.), Phoenix (Ariz.)
• Pleasant Street vs. Main Street

12
North American toponomy

• linguistic origin of the place names
• English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Latin, Greek,
  Native American, mixture of elements of various
  origin

13
North American toponomy

• English
• Boston (MA), Worcester (MA), Hartford (MA),
  Portland (Maine, Oregon), Northampton (MA),
• Halifax (Nova Scotia, CN)

14
North American toponomy

• French
• Detroit (Erie and Lake St. Clair), Boblo (Mich., bois blanc white forest), Lousiana, Montreal
  (Montréal), New Orleans (La Nouvelle Orléans),
  Lake Superior (Lac Supérieur), Lake Champlain

15
North American toponomy

• French pronunciation (!)
• Chicago, Arkansas, Illinois, Connecticut

16
North American toponomy

• Spanish
• Mesa Verde National Park (Colo., table), Arroyo Colorado (NM, stream), Canyon de Chelly (Ariz.), San Diego
  (CA), San Francisco (CA), Santa Monica (CA),
  Santa Barbara (CA), La Hoja (CA), Baja
  California (Mexico), Ajo (Ariz.), Sacramento
  (CA)

17
North American toponomy

• names of states
• Florida, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico

18
North American toponomy

• Dutch
• (along the Hudson river)
• Staten Island (NY), Harlem (NY), Rhode Island,
  Manhattan (NY)

19
North American toponomy

• Latin (as the first language of learning, one of
  the highest Puritan values)
• Corpus Christi (TX), Ann Arbor (Ind.), Nova
  Scotia (province of Canada), Virginia (after
  Elizabeth I of England), Georgia (after King
  George II) , North and South Carolina (after
  Charles I), Lousiana, British Columbia (CN)

20
North American toponomy

• Greek
• Philadelphia (Penn., adelphos brother), Eureka (Cal, I found it),
  Thermopolis (Wisc.), Athens (West Virginia)

21
North American toponomy

• Native American names with English (and sometimes
  French) pronunciation
• Chicago, Norwalk (MA, Ohio), Sault Saint Marie,
  Mount Monadnock (MA), Lake Winnipessauky (N.
  Hamp.)

22
North American toponomy

• names of states
• Ohio, Idaho, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
  Mississippi, Missouri,Wisconsin, Minnesota,
  Nebraska, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Delaware,
  Tennessee, Oregon
• Names of Canadian provinces
• Saskatchewan, Ontario

23
North American toponomy

• Mixture of elements of various origin
• Indianapolis, Minneapolis, South Dakota, North
  Dakota, South Carolina, North Carolina, West
  Virginia

24
(No Transcript)
25
North American toponomy Summary

• The study of North American toponomy involves
  both the study of cultural and political history.
• Explaining the name patterns requires a sound
  mastery of the history of the English language
  and the history of North American colonization.