Sunday, September 1st, 2013

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The Atlas of True Names shows, on its map, not names as we have them today but the original meaning of the names. I don't know whether to be delighted at it, for combining two of my loves, etymology and maps, or annoyed at the way it takes names of uncertain origin and presents in the main map just one of the theories as to their origin (albeit that it says "Not all translations are definitive. The reader may be offered a number of possible alternatives, or the translation may be prefixed by ‘possibly’ or ‘probably’").

To give just one example, from the sections of map shown on the website, I see they have Hispaniola as "Little Rabbitland". Hispaniola (originally Española, though Columbus spelled it on his map "Spagnol.") is the diminutive of Spain. It's only according to one theory among many that Latin "Hispania" derives from Phoenician אִי שְׁפָנִיָא ī šfāniyā "coast of hyraxes", the Phoenicians using their word for hyrax to describe rabbits, for which they did not have a word (the opposite problem of the translators of the KJV, who translate שָׁפָן as "rock-badger", as hyraxes are unknown in Britain). This is based on the evidence of coin of Hadrian, on which Hispania is represented with a rabbit at her feet, and on Strabo, who calls Hispania 'the land of rabbits'. Wikipedia gives five other possible origins of the name; the website I first learned all this from concludes "None of these etymologies are truly satisfactory."

Mind you, none of the map sections shown in detail on the Atlas of True Names website includes the notes around the margins, so possibly I would be happier if I got to see those.

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Lethargic Man (anag.)

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