Toponymy of Antarctica

The toponymy of Antarctica differs in the present and it's the youngest on Earth. The formation of it has begun right after the discovery of the continent by Russian travelers. In the Southern Shetland archipelago at coast of Antarctica to two islands the F.F satellites. Bellingshausen have given names of the Belarusian cities: lake Polotsk and lake Berezino. J. Cook called the islands opened for them in the Antarctic waters Sandvichev during the travel at the end of the 18th century. In 1820 F. F. Bellingshausen has suggested to call this archipelago the Southern Sandvichev unlike Northern (nowadays Hawaiian). In such form the name has remained up to now.

The main layer of toponyms of Antarctic was created in the 20th century. It is connected with the fact that in Antarctica there are absolutely no radical names as here never there lived people.

All place names of Antarctica have memorial origin, they were assigned to geographical objects in the process of their discovey, further research and development of the continent. The main part of toponyms is connected with names of researchers, courts on which they swam, etc. The Ross Sea, the Weddell Sea, the Bellingshausen Sea can be examples of such names. Erebus, Scott's glacier. Some names are connected with names of great people, heads of states: Queen Maud land, Alexander I's Land, Peter I Island, Roosevelt, cape Washington, Darwin. But there is a group of the names which have received names of the cities and countries. Such names are: cape Norway, mountain Melbourne, island Antwerp. Only in Antarctica there is a nazpaniye in honor of heroes of the novel of A. Dumas "Three musketeers". These are ridges Athós, Porthos, Aramis. A small group of names is connected with features of the nature, outlines of coast. Another group is made of names of polar stations: Mirnyi, East. Amundsen-Scott, etc. All these names were given by Russian and other researchers.

Recommendations for the study of the geographical nomenclature of North America and Eurasia

Since ancient times, people have treated to the geographical names as relics, considering them as special characters and symbols that play a magical role in people's lives. On this occasion one of the famous episodes can be given, which was reported to the present days by historical chronicles.

"... Roman direma (i.e. ship with two rows of oars on each side) moved slowly against the wind. Suddenly nimble boats with square sails came out from behind nearby rocks. They were the pirate ships. The grappling hooks clung with a whistle to the direma’s board and pirates, who were more than the Romans, rushed into battle. They bound the Roman soldiers and rowers back to back and throw overboard. But one Roman soldier was left alive by pirates. Young thin man read imperturbably a scroll on the deck of a ship. He did not engage in battle and ignored the moans of the dying companions. Purple stripe on a white toga, black sandals, proud posture denoted that the young man belongs to a noble family. Composure of the Roman impressed the leader of pirates. "The twenty talants of gold," - growled the head of the robbers. He called the incredibly high amount for ransom. For a moment there was silence.

Young Roman man put aside the scroll. Then he raised his head slowly and arrogantly looked at the leader. "If you knew your matter better, you would ask for fifty talants," – said the Roman, and immersed in reading again.

The pirates’ prisoner called Julius Caesar. When he was twenty four years old Caesar had already had a reputation of a skilled politician and an experienced warrior. But, according to the historian, Caesar's sword was sharp, but his tongue was not incisive, and ambitious Roman decided to learn the art of public speaking from famous rhetorician Apollonius Molon. And on the way to Apollonius Caesar was captured by pirates.

A month later Caesar's friends have gathered the money for ransom, and he was released from captivity. Then Caesar went to the richest city of Miletus, which was situated on the coast of Asia Minor. At the request of Caesar the light boats and military triremes were being constructed on the famous Milesian shipyards to take revenge on the pirates for his captivity. After some time a whole flotilla put to the sea. Fifty talants of ransom cost dearly for pirates. The last thing they were expecting was a sudden attack of man, who was a prisoner a month ago. Even in captivity Caesar was able to learn the names of all secret bays and harbors, where the pirates refuges were.

Within few days the flotilla of Caesar destroyed all pirates’ shelters and the leader of pirates was captured, who had captured Caesar before. The leader of the robbers asked Caesar if how he was able to hunt down, capture and destroy all their moorings so quickly. Caesar showed arrogantly the scroll, on which some signs had drawn, and said, "My records, which I made in my scroll, helped me. I wrote down the names of all bays and harbors, where you stopped during my captivity. I listened to the talks of your companions, who remembered the names of shelters in the coastal mountains, where their wives and children lived. And all this information helped me to liberate Rome from the pirate raids so quickly. "

From these words of Caesar we can conclude the importance of geographical names in Roman times. After the defeat of the pirates Mediterranean Sea has been purged from their raids for a long time. This episode can quite possible be told at the lesson during the studying of the Mediterranean countries. Such stories can cause real interest in the search for answers to the many mysteries of the place names for children.

Several years ago the author spoke to tenth-grade students in one of the Minsk schools on the theme "Mysteries of toponymy". At the end of our meeting I was approached by one of the students, who asked me about the name of the mountain which is depicted on the Canadian ten-dollar bill. I was very surprised and pleased at the same time about this issue and asked the young man about how he knew that. He told me about his summer trip with parents to relatives in Canada. I was not embarrassed and gave him an exhaustive answer. The subjects, which I taught to students at the geographical faculty of Belarusian State University, helped me a lot at that moment. I said that the mountain called Burgess, which is more than 2500 meters high, and it is a part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Then it was my turn to ask a question to the student: "Why is this mountain peak shown on a ten dollar bill?" The young man was confused, but suddenly other students joined to the discussion.

Eventually the impromptu debate occurred, whereby we found that the mountain Burgess is composed of pristine grained sandstones and shales, which had been mined there from the end of the XVIII century and are used in lithography. These limestones are called lithographic stone. The first banknotes of Canadian dollars were printed on its basis. Because of this amazing wealth, from which the mountain is composed, it was honored to be represented on the banknotes.

As a result of unexpected debate we have made sure, that geographical name of mountain peak helped students to find out interesting information about the geological rocks that form the Rocky Mountains of North America. Such "provocative" debates both during and after the lesson can be a great methodological procedure and can be used in the educational process.

Good knowledge of toponymical material and etymological meanings of many names allows the teacher to use this knowledge for the characterization of the natural conditions of the major geographic features. In fact, a lot of toponyms reflect the major natural features of these objects.

So, the name of the Himalayas in translation into Russian means "the abode or the home of the gods, the realm of the snow." In Sanskrit the word "hima" or "gama" means snow, frost and cold; the word "alaiya" - a house, dwelling, abode, what means inaccessible palaces of the gods. Really, the Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world, which represent the most elevated link in the great stone belt of the Earth.

Since ancient times the Himalayas have attracted the attention of people, amazed them with its grandeur and inaccessibility. People could not penetrate into the transcendental world of this mountain system. Therefore the human imagination populated it by divine powers.

It is confirmed by the natural features of the Himalayas. Mountain ridges with the height of seven or eight thousand meters have inaccessible steep slopes and deep ravines and the peaks are covered with eternal glaciers.

Let’s consider a second example. The world-famous Hollywood studio (USA) was built in the vicinity of mount Hollywood, which means "sacred forest", or "the mountain of the forest spirits."

The picturesque surroundings of Mount Hollywood are very favorable for all-day filming. Hollywood is characterized by the predominance of sunny weather, extraordinary richness and diversity of southern landscapes in a small area; it is blue expanse of the neighboring ocean, coastal cliffs, hilly and flat terrains. And nearby there are high mountains with snowy peaks and deep ravines, covered with flowering trees. Turbulent rivers with cascading waterfalls flow in the gorges. There is also a lot of coastal prairies, interspersed with sandy desert landscapes, and on the slopes there are virgin forests, which are inhabited by exotic birds and animals with the incessant voices and cries, resembling charming sounds of mysterious creatures. And all this beauty occupies the territory of several square kilometers of the unique corner of North America.

And one more example. The name of California, which according to one of the versions from Spanish means "fiery furnace", fully corresponds to the natural situation. In the summer the sun shines bright for many months there, and the sky always remains bright blue. The air temperature reaches +50 ° C, and in some places the sand is heated to +80 ° C. The vegetation oт the lowlands is almost burned out. Here, just as in Italy or Spain, the summers are hot and dry and winters are moist and warm.

California was found in 1532.

New Spain (now it is the territory of Mexico) was conquered. All its wealth was moved to the coffer of the Spanish king. Cortes, who was a conqueror of the Aztec country (the so-called indigenous peoples of Mexico) had a benefit, too. After that Cortes prepared for new expeditions to search for the new riches. Many ships, which he sent, didn’t return. The Spanish conquerors, who came to the new lands, behaved themselves like owners. Freedom-loving natives rejected the claims of comers. There were a lot of armed clashes, which resulted in the deaths of Spanish adventurers. Nonetheless one of the ships, which was set off by Cortes, returned to New Spain. His team said that they opened island Santa Cruz (Holy Cross), which was rich in pearls. One year after that Cortez took more than 300 colonists and went to the island of Santa Cruz. When the ships of Cortes came to the shores of the island, he realized that he had been misled. There were not any signs of the wealth, which the sailors told him before.

After returning from this voyage to the city of Tenochtitlan (now it is Mexico City) Cortes told everyone about the terrible heat and hardships that he and his companions had to experience during their stay on Santa Cruz. "This is a real red-hot furnace, - he said to friends. - And I wonder if how we are not boiled alive there.

Later it revealed that in fact the island of Santa Cruz is a peninsula. Cortes gave it the name of California. So, he called the land by comparing it to a hot oven (in Latin it sounds like "calidafornax"). Eventually this expression has undergone a transformation and it came to our days as California.

Geographical names actually memorialize. And it is not always rightly, but vice versa. For example, the English pirate F. Drake had his favorite cry of St. George. Therefore new fortresses, which were established by Drake’s pirate team, usually were named as St. Georgia on the Caribbean islands, where main pirate’s balls were located in XVI century. These names were given in honor of Drake’s cry rather than in honor of saint patron of England. With the name of F. Drake one more name is associated; it is the name of San Francisco. By L. Uspensky (1973) the San Francisco River is named, of course, in honor of St. Francis, who was a meek monk, referred in his prayers to the little brother Sun and to the sister Grass. Many people think that the city of San Francisco is named in honor of the St. Francis. But it turns out that it is not so. City of San Francisco got its name in memory of Sir Francis Drake, who was a ferocious corsair of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Sir Drake, who later was assigned by the Queen with the title of Lord, didn’t dare to fix the memory of himself in the name, attached to the toponym. He found another way: maybe it is named in my honor, and maybe it is not, but in honor of my saint patron.

So did Peter the Great, when he found the city of Petersburg. He called it not directly - Petersburg, the city of Peter, my city, but St. Petersburg, which is the city of Saint Peter, and, therefore, mine. It is more decently and humbly.

Students know that from the whole expedition of F. Magellan in 1522 only one ship called Victoria returned, which was under the command of El Cano. Spanish King Charles V gave El Cano the coat of arms depicting a globe, surrounded by ribbon, on which the motto was printed: Prima me cireum navigisti (i.e. You're the first one who walked me around). In various regions of the world there are more than twenty major geographical features, which have the name of Victoria. Many of them got their names in honor of the British Queen Victoria (Victoria is the largest island, which is part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago; it is the name of the administrative center of the province of British Columbia in Canada, Vancouver Island Centre, the city in the state of Texas, etc...). But many objects in Asia, which are called Victoria, are just the names of the ship, which was under the command of El Cano.

Or another example. In Arctic Ocean there is a territory belonging to Russia now. Until 1873 she had no name.

Sea expedition led by Julius Payer and Karl Weyprecht first saw this land and gave it the name of Franz Josef Land. Few people remember what role in the history of Austria-Hungary played the count Hans Johann Nepomuka Vilchik, who was the chamberlain of the Austrian court. On the territory of Franz Josef Land his name is repeated twice, and it is understandable, because he financed the expedition to the land on the ship "Tegetgof". Vilchik offered to name the newly discovered polar islands as Franz Josef Land.

And there is another interesting example with the name of the sequoia.

It happened that the tree was honored with the name of the national leader. Giant pine tree was lucky, because the Iroquois Indian tribe from North America, which wanted to perpetuate the memory of their outstanding leader Seque, named that tree in his honor. Iroquois leader Seque led the liberation struggle of his tribe against the foreign invaders; he was the first popular educator from the group of the Iroquois, who invented the alphabet for the Cherokee tribe. The numerous attempts were made to change the name of the tree. So, after discovering of sequoia by Europeans they named it as the California pine, and later they called it the mammoth tree. It took some time, and the English botanist Lindley, who scientifically described this tree at first time, gave him a new name – Wellingtonia, in honor of the British commander of Wellington, who distinguished himself at the Battle of Waterloo. The Americans also have decided to make their own contribution, and rushed to call sequoia as Washingtonia, in memory of their first president George Washington. But the priority was left for the Iroquois.

During the talking about the origin of geographical names you must orient the students to read classical literature, which refer to the origin and further transformation of many names.

For that matter the Stevenson’s novel "Treasure Island" can be given as example. From the very beginning to the end this novel is the fruit of luxuriant imagination of the writer. Its writing began with the fact that Stevenson, who wants to bring joy to his stepson Lloyd Osbourne, drew a map of the desert island and marked with a cross one place, where the pirates hid the treasure. After that the writer began to invent and tell different exciting stories, which related to this island and its treasure. Later these stories turned into a book, which became a gift to the reading world. But one fact is still curious. Though the book was fictional, the island, which was described by Stevenson, actually exists. It is the Isle of Pinos, which is located in 35 miles southwest of Cuba. It is named so because of a big amount of pines on it ("Pinos" from Latin means pine). Stevenson's “Treasure Island” as two drops of water is similar to the Pinos by its shape, terrain, bends of the rivers, vegetation and animal life. The only difference was that the island in the book is much less than the real island. It is like a miniature copy of it. Now it's hard to say how it happened. It is either a coincidence or the writer had heard about Pinos. More likely that the second variant is true, because many people wrote about that island. It is possible that the description of the island Stevenson found in the records of F. Drake. The island was opened in 1494 by Christopher Columbus and named as San Juan Evanhelista in honor of Jesus Christ’s beloved disciple Evangelist Ioann. Since that time the island changed a lot of names until he became Pinos. But that name in our time the Cubans have changed on the Isla de la Juventud (Youth Island). Since the end of the XVI century the robbers have come to Pinos, who were the English, French and Dutch pirates. After Stevenson’s description of the island it gained a foothold into the literature with the name of Treasure Island.

Famous Belarusian traveler Y. Niemciewicz, who was a friend of T. Kosciuszko, was born in village Skoki of Brest district. During his stop in America at the end of the XVIII century he left such record in his writings.

“…At the site of the present Palace of Congress sessions of the USA there was a small stream, which was named by the owner of that land as the river that runs through Rome and bends around famous Capitol Hill - Tiber. The owner predicts the construction of the city there that will become the capital of new state and will be strong and glorious like ancient Rome…”

Later on this place the construction of the US capital was started, which initially was named as Federal City (now its name is Washington) and the Congress meetings Palace was named as the Capitol.

There is one more case when the well-known geographic place got its name in the following circumstances. Tit Livy, who was a famous historian of ancient Rome, wrote that the Romans were afraid of the Etruscans, who were the inhabitants of Tuscany, which were notable for their militancy. In ancient times they were called Tirrenians that means “awesome”. From this word the name of the Tyrrhenian Sea appeared.

As an epigraph the proposed manual to the section on geographical names in Central Asia we took the words of Alisher Navoi:

“… To Maveraphahre he flew like a smoke,

And Samarkand opened his gate in front of him…”

The name of Maverapnahre (now Mavranahr) was given to Samarkand neighborhood, which had such name in the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered the lands of ancient Sogdiana in that time. Today only few people know about Maverapnahre and Sogdiana, but thousands years ago these names were pronounced by millions people of the East. During the study of the Central Asia republics you cannot ignore these names, although you don’t find them on modern maps. These names are connected with one of the archaeological discoveries made by scientists two decades ago, which resulted in opening of Malyi Samarkand. The discovery was made in the Pamir, where at the altitude of 4000 m the legendary city stayed in the gorge of Bazardara river. Through this city the camel caravans with bales of silk, antimony, precious stones went to Bukhara and Samarkand ten centuries ago. People have composed legends about this city for many centuries.

In the sources of Middle Ages it has been written that Malyi Samarkand is the last point of Maverannahr, i.e. lands, which situated between the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya. The name of Miperannahr district means “on other side of the river” or “the area between rivers”. Malyi Samarkand is located on the rocky terrace of the Bazardara river. Deaf and extended gorge of the river, unapproachable mountains and considerable height securely hide the city from people’s eyes. It is such kind of Machu Picchu in the Pamir.

Why was the city built in this inaccessible place? What kind of works did its inhabitants? As a result of archaeological discoveries it has been found that around the city there are a lot of ancient workings and mine townships. The inhabitants were miners, who extracted silver and fluorite. Malyi Samarkand traded with many cities of Central Asia. Various wares made of precious and semi-precious stones were being brought from the Western Pamir. Only there the lapis lazuli and garnet were being mined. From distant Kashgar the nephritis was being brought. The jeweler masters lived there, too. Now it is clear that Malyi Samarkand was not an ordinary city on the Great Silk Road trade. This discover allows to add one more geographical name on the maps of Central Asia - Malyi Samarkand. Further researches of scientists and archaeologists will help to answer the question if where the famous Vahamskie silver mines are located, which location is unknown today. This episode, which can be given for students, will largely help to arouse their interest to the geography of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Complicated and unpronounceable place names from the language of the ancient Aztecs have remained in North America. The most famous volcano in Mexico, whose name is often repeated in other geographic sources, is Popocatepetl, what means "smoking mountain" (with the altitude of 5452 m). This volcano has been mistakenly considered as the highest point of the continent for a long time. At the north of Popocatepetl the mountain Istaksihuatl is situated, which name means "white woman". It is not a volcano, though the local inhabitants are afraid of the snow-white mountains. These two mountains left lasting impressions in anyone mind. If the veil of thick clouds, which constantly envelops mountains’ slopes, disappears, the two peaks come in sight of the observer in all their beauty and majesty of their mighty shapes, which are bathed into sunlight. Smoking and regular shape cone of Popocatepetl towers high in the sky. If you look carefully, you will notice that the long snow ridge of Istaksihuatl has the form of a female figure with loose hair, who lies on his deathbed and covered with a white shroud. It is that white woman who gave name to the whole mountain.

The ancient Aztecs came up with a wonderful legend of these peaks. Once upon a time two mighty warrior giants - girl and young man, who were full of energy and vitality, dared to challenge for the gods. But they were defeated in fierce struggle and the gods turned them into stone colossi. Now Istaksihuatl lies on his deathbed, chained by shackles, and her young friend shed tears of lava, shudders earth, seeking to break his stone shackles.

Mexican street musicians, who are called mariachi (maryachos), compose the ballads about extraordinary love between these two peaks and sing them in the squares of towns and villages. These ballads have words about soothing and peaceful Istaksihuatl in white mantilla, who admires with the anger of her Popocatepetl.

However, it is hard to remember and pronounce so complicated names for students. The teacher can write on the board both these names and break them apart to facilitate the task of memorizing the toponyms. Popocatepetl has two Aztec words: popoca + tepetl, where popoca means "smoking" and tepetl means "mountain". The name of Istaksihuatl should also be spread into two words: istaksih, which means "white (white)" + uatl, which means "woman". These methodological procedures will facilitate the memorization of complex Aztec names, which are still remained on the continent in a big amount (Tenochtitlan, Tehuantepec and others).

There are a lot of complex and difficult for pronunciation place names in Eurasia, too. For example, in the Alps Lake Lucerne (or Vierwaldstättersee) is situated. In this case it is appropriate to tell a common story that the great German composer, pianist and conductor Ludwig van Beethoven liked to relax at the evening time on the shore of Lake Lucerne. One day, when he sat on the shore, he was fascinated by the calm surface of the lake, which reflects the disk of the moon. This beauty and majesty of the night nature inspired Beethoven to write the world-famous "Moonlight Sonata." This story can help you to attract students' attention to the name of Vierwaldstät, which also includes three German words: vier - "four", Wald - "Forest" and the word Stät - "state, the county". Hence, the name of the lake means “four wood states”. The lake is actually located on the border of four cantons, i.e. districts. When you write this name on the board and show the location of the lake on the map and explain these three terms, students will be much easier to remember such unusual pronunciation of this name. Thus it is necessary to pay attention to the students that the French name is Lake Lucerne. There are several versions regarding to the etymology of Lucerne, according to which it is: 1) a beacon, 2) a boggy place, 3) the name of the monk.

The first question, that you have to face in the study of Asia geographical names, is their linguistic affiliation. For the group of so-called isolated or root languages ​​(Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and others) the construction of sentences in strictly institutionalized order plays a very significant role. In this regard the same word may assume very different roles in the sentence. For example, the combination of the words Zhen Hao in Chinese translated into Russian as "a good man". Everybody, who reads such expression, concludes that if “zhen” is a noun which means "man", then “hao” is an adjective. If we rearrange these two words, the expression will change its meaning, or it loses it.

So, if you swap the words Shan Tien in the geographical name of the Tien Shan (which means the Celestial Mountains), we get the meaning as "to the sky from the mountains." Or if we rearrange words in the Nan-Shan (which means the South Mountains) we get the meaning as "to the south of the mountains," and a permutation of words in geographical name of Hu-Nan (i.e. the South River) gives us a meaning "to the south of the river." From what mountains and from what river are?

The same situation is in Japanese language. Tokyo is translated as Eastern Capital and the city of Kyoto means “the capital of the West”. In the XV century on the site of the Tokyo Edo (Ieddo) Castle was built to the east of Kyoto, which name means in Japanese "the entrance to the gulf". In 1869 the official capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo, and the city of Edo was renamed to Tokyo, which means “the Eastern Capital” in contrast to Kyoto.

To explain the etymology of Japanese names we must be aware of fact that many Japanese terms have the opposite meaning in relation to Russian sense. The name of the famous volcano and the highest point in Japan's is Fujijama (or Fuji), which consists of two terms: "Fuji", which means "fire" or "flame", and the "jama", which means in Russian “pit”, means in Japanese "mountain".

During the study of toponymical variety of Eastern, Central and South-East Asia the teacher of geography can give students at least a superficial understanding of their languages and their features at extracurricular activities.

The teacher can mention the fact that the longest and the shortest geographical names of our planet are situated in Eurasia.

In Russian language the shortest geographical name is Э (or Eu in French), which is the town near Marseille (France). Even in Roman times the Gauls called by this sound the settlement, which is located in the vicinity of mineral springs. The ancient Romans pronounced the word "water" as "aque", and local residents reduced the term "aque" to the last sound. Hence the name “Eu” appeared. The word "water" sounded like "o" in Gaulish.

The capital of Thailand Bangkok has the longest place name. The full name of this city is Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit that roughly means "The Great City of Angels and immortal spirits, the treasure trove of heavenly jewels, the great capital of the world, granted by the God Indra, the throne of the lord of the kingdom of Ayutthaya, the city of glittering temples, magnificent palace and possessions of the king, the abode of Vishnu and other gods. " However, this is not the full name. According to the dictionaries the full name of the city is made up of 346 letters. Verbosity of names is dictated by the tradition of Asian nations.

When we talk about the toponymy of Scandinavia you should find out the etymology of the word “viking”. The homeland of vikings is Norway, which is characterized by severe nature - high mountains, rapid river and old-age forests along rivers. Since ancient times the life of these people has been connected with the sea. Cold North Sea made the vikings strong and hardy. In IX - XI centuries tall, strong and powerful vikings terrified many European countries, such as France, Britain and even Byzantium. During start-distant voyages the Vikings, who considered themselves as the kings of the sea, made daring raids at the towns and villages, which located on the coast of Poland, Denmark, Germany, France and Britain.

The word “Viking” originally meant "sea raid". It has a short form as “vic” (i.e. raid). There is no definite opinion about the true meaning of the word “viking”. Some experts connect it with the Old Norse “vik”, which means "bay ", believing that the viking is a "hidden man in the gulf." Others believe that the basis of this term is the Norse “vikia”, which means "to step aside (to hide)". During transitions Vikings, who were often prepared for robberies, could change course, i.e. fox, so they misled about their true intentions. In Russia people believed that the word “vik” comes from the Latin “vikus” - «strengthen trade camp". Therefore, the word viking can be interpreted as a robber or trader.

The Vikings, or the Normans (Northern people) as they were called by Europeans, ravaged the coast of France, terrorized the inhabitants of Britain, sailed in the Mediterranean, plundered feudal castles and traveled to Constantinople (Byzantium) through the sea route "from the Vikings to the Greeks". Squad singers (skalds) glorified their exploits in songs. In the depths of Russia, which they reached, the Vikings did not dare to earn one’s robbery, preferring to lead a peaceful commerce. So the Russian called them Varangians (from the Russian word “variazhit’”, i.e. "trade"). Some sagas contain mention of the Viking campaigns to the Ancient Russ, which was known them as Gardarika. Vikings often employed in the service to the Russian princes. The northern part of France, which was conquered by the Normans, is still called Normandy. By the way, the number of place names associated with the Vikings is vast in Europe and North America. The story of the Normans will interest students and will enable them to facilitate the study of life and living conditions of people and the nature of the Scandinavian countries.

When you describe the nature and wildlife of North America, you can pay attention to the term "cowboy", "mustang". There are several dozens of place names formed from the word mustang in North America. In addition, such names are given for the names of restaurants, various sports associations.

Mustangs are wild or born in the wild herd horses. The homeland of horses is America. Hence they went to Asia by the isthmus that connects the two continents, and they widely settled in the steppes. During the glacial period mustangs died out in America, and they were not here before the time of Columbus. The horses were brought here by the ships of Spanish conquistadors. When the Aztecs saw the riders at first time, they believed that the man and the horse were one strange, cruel and merciless creature. However, the Indians realized that the horse can serve them. Soon they became excellent horsemen even more nimble than the white men. But the horse strove to escape from under the saddle, harness and plow. And she was able to do it. And for one-two centuries it became a mustang. Cowboys, who are the professional riders, cope perfectly with the free herds of the prairies and deserts of Utah, Wyoming, Montana, California.

The term "cowboy" comes from the English language. It means a shepherd who guards a flock on a horse, who was tamed from wild herds of mustangs grazing in the prairies of the Great Plains of North America. The term "cowboy" is similar to the term "gaucho" (shepherd) in the South American pampas.

About one percent of the geographical names of Europe, Asia and North America contain numerals, usually odd. For example: Semipalatinsk (seven chambers), Pyatikhatki (five houses), Semirechye (seven rivers), Samgiri (three slides), Uchkuduk (three wells), Beshbarmak (five fingers), Jetysu (seven rivers), Panj (five rivers), Yuksi (one), Trinidad (three mountains), Shikoku (four provinces), Monaco (lone monk), Tu Wigwam (two tepee) and so on.

There is well known phenomenon in the toponymy of Eurasia when geographical names become the common words, so they lose their original meaning and use in everyday life. Few people link the etymology of these words with the names of cities, countries or other geographical objects.

In old times in the German city of Joachimstal (now it is called Jáchymov, which located in the Czech Republic), the large silver coin was minted, which was called joahimstaler. But the word was too long, and coin was very tradable, and it was reduced to "thaler". Modified by Dutch and then by American pronunciation the thaler became a dal-ler, or dollar. Similarly the word peach (“persik” in Russian) cames from Persia, buckwheat (“grechikha” in Russian) came from Greece.

Today champagne is known for everybody in the world. It is known that its birthplace is the province of Champagne in France, where in the last century the production of sparkling wines originated. Many of us use mayonnaise to prepare salad. In the group of the Balearic Islands, which belong to Spain in the Mediterranean Sea, there is an island of Menorca with the main town of Mahon. Mayonnaise came from this town. Earlier this sauce has been known as Provencal (under the name of the French Provence (from Latin “provincia”, “provicia”, which means colony, possession of Rome outside the Empire). Children and adults love ice cream (“plombir” in Russian). It is so called because of the name of the French town of Plombieres.

Garments, fabric items, shoes are also often named as the geographical names: cashmere woolen – for the name of Kashmir (Asia); fabric crepe de chine, which was popular in the past – as the French crepe de Chin, which means Chinese silk. Plaid material, which is popular nowadays, called tartan (“shotlandka” in Russian – for the name of Scotland). The material, which called boston, appeared in the city of Boston. The word “trousers” (“bryuki” in Russian) comes from the cloth bryukish, which was curried in Bruges in Belgium. But the suggestion exists that it comes from the Latin “bracae”, which means “pants, trousers”. The word “bryuki” comes to Russian language in the XVII century and it was borrowed from Western European languages. Wool cloth, which is known as tweed, takes its name from the river Tweed in England.

Some minerals are named by the names of the cities: bauxite – as the city of La Bosc (France), diamond kimberlite pipe – as Kimberley (South Africa).

Many crop plants got their names from geographical names. We can name the sort of small apples called Kitaika (from China, or Kitay in Russian), Hungarian plum (from Hungary), orange (which means "Chinese apple").

In last years the transfer of geographical names to the common nouns is particularly noticeable. Winter jacket with a hood and warm women's boots appeared, which have the name “alaska”; winter hat from Kuban – “kubanka”; light hats from Fez (Morocco) – “fezca”; cap “tyrolka” – by the name of the Austrian province of Tyrol in the Alps; light summer headdress “panamka” - by the name of the country Panama.

Usual word “tariff” appeared from the name of the small island of Tarif, which located in the outskirts of southern Spain in the Strait of Gibraltar. The Arabs took over the island in the beginning of the VIII century and organized a checkpoint to collect taxes from passing vessels. The island was named in honor of the warlord Tariq bin Malik, who was the commander of the Arab armies.

Several breeds of horses exist, such as “orlovskaya”, “donskaya”, “akhaltekinskaya” (by the name of Akhal oasis in Turkmenistan), “kabardinskaya”, “percheron” (by the name of Perche hill near Paris).

The names of breeds of cattle are also associated with place names: “kholmogorskaja” (the village of Kholmogory in Arkhangelsk region), “schwitz” and “simmentalka” (Simmental Valley in Switzerland).

The Olympic Games and the Olympian are associated with the name of Mount Olympus (which is the habitat of the Greek gods). It also exists a city of Olympia in Peloponnese. This ancient city was full of the sacred groves from yew trees. The sport competition of Hellas held every four years in one of these groves. Now archaeologists have found the ancient Olympia. In the English town of Rugby the game with oval ball was born - rugby. Alpinism, which is popular among young people, takes its name from the Alps system.

Architectural details of the attic and caryatids originate from the place names of Kariya and Attica (which are regions in ancient Greece). Word “bohema” (which is a part of the creative intelligentsia, which has carefree, idle life) comes from the French language, where “boheme” means the bohemian, Bohemia in Czech is an ancient, nearly forgotten name of the Czech Republic (hence the Bohemian glass means the Czech glass..). In the Middle Ages musicians and actors, who lived in Bohemia, preferred receiving, merry life.

Word “vaudeville” (a genre of light musical comedy) was borrowed in the last century from the French language (from the name of the valley val de vire in Normandy). This genre was born there. According to another version, the word “vaudeville” comes from the French voix de ville, which means "village voice" or "the song of the village." At the same time interpretation exists that vaudeville is a song of the valley of the river Vere (France).

Geographers widely used the toponymical vocabulary to describe different forms of the earth's surface. The term "karst" (karst topography) derived from the name Karst plateau in Istria peninsula (Balkans); Alpine relief, orogeny and meadows comes from the name of the Alps; the names of local winds has the names of geographical objects, e.g. “barguzin” in Baikal blows from the Barguzin Valley; sarma (north wind on Baikal) has the name of Sarma river.

Many figurative expressions were originated from historical sources. Now we can name the term "cross the Rubicon" (“перейти Рубикон” in Russian), which means “to make a final decision”. The Rubicon is a river in northern Italy, which flows into the Adriatic Sea. In ancient times it was the border between Italy and Gaul. In 49 BC the Rubicon was crossed by Julius Caesar, which was the reason of the war between him and the Roman Senate.

Using off these examples helps you to enrich the lesson and will cause great interest from the students during the study of one or another theme.

The Japanese have owned Sakhalin for forty years. In 1945 the island became Russian again. When the Russians looked over a new Japanese map cartographers noticed the names of Morudzi and Marauefuesiki, but in any Japanese dictionary these names and words were not found. Then they take the old Russian maps of the last century and they found that on the site of the island and mysterious names of Morudzi and Marauefuesiki the simplest Russian words “morzh” (walrus) and “muravievskoe” were.

When the famous Russian traveler with Belarusian roots N.M. Przhevalsky appealed to the Beijing government for permission to him to visit Tibet, in the response of the Chinese official papers he always was called "Merciful Mr. Pi-li-se-va-li-si-ki". Otherwise, the Chinese could neither speak nor write his name. The capital of the Republic of Belarus the Chinese is pronounced like “Mitsk”.

The process of morphological transformation can be traced at specific examples. The modern form of the name of a tribe of Huns is the result of centuries of word transformation: syunny - hyunny - Huns. The names of many cities in Eurasia and North America underwent the same transformation. For example: Camulodunum - Londinon - London; Eribuni - Erivan - Yerevan, Beydzin - Peytzin - Peykin - Beijing. On the coast of the Hindustan 400 years ago on the island of Bumba-Davey the eponymous town Bumba-Davy was found, which was called later as Bumba-Vie, Bumba and in our days - Bombay.

The current form of the name of the island of Sulawesi is an example of transformation of word Celebes, which was common for Western Europe since 1532 and took place from the Portuguese word “celebre” (famous). In its turn, the name of Celebes is a rethinking of the Portuguese form of the name of the Malay tribe Salabos, by the name of which the island was named in the Middle Ages. From all this fact it is possible to build a row of rethinking of this name: Salabos - Tsalabes - Celebes - Sulawesi.

On the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula the ancient Phoenicians founded a fishing village Alis-Baba (the Bay of Tranquility) and later the Arabs gave the settlement its name - Al-Osbuna, and the Portuguese called it Lishbua (the English form of the name is Lisbon).

Most of the toponyms are undergoing transformation during their lifetime. For example: Kovno - Kaunas; Debryn - Debriansk - Bryansk (from the Russian word “debri”, which means “wilds”); Dzhalita - Dzhalta - Yalta (Crimea); Olkerk - Olkerch - Kerch (Crimea).

It is also an interesting story about the name of the highest point of the Cascade Mountains in the Cordilleras of the United States, which is the Mount Shasta. On the high and rocky coast to the north of the city of San Francisco an old Russian castle Fort Ross is situated, which was built in 1811 by Ivan Kuskov by the order of the Count N.P. Ryazanov. To the east of the fort a snow-white cap of mountain peak towered, due to which the inhabitants of the fort could watch the sunrise. For Russian colonists it reminded their Motherland, which was on the other side of the ocean. So they called the snow-capped mountain as the Mountain of Happiness (or “Gora Schastya” in Russian). English-speaking neighbors called that mountain as Shaste. And in our time the name took the form of Shasta.

In 1875, Grete Gort who was born in California, wrote wonderful lines about Fort Ross that guides pronounced in our days:

Among the hills, close to the sea

Strange fortress stands.

There is abode of the Russians,

Which holds the memory of the past.

Large group of names in Eurasia have also undergone rethinking like Mount Shasta in North America. Rethinking is a classic example of the national toponymic creativity.

People have always sought to facilitate the names, to make them consonant with their native language. On the Kola Peninsula the name Sarah-Yoki, which means “black river”, turned into Soroki (in Russian language it means “magpies”) and the city, which appeared on its banks, also was called Soroki. Later, it was renamed to Belomorsk.

Before October revolution the name of the city of Volgograd was Tsaritsyn. But the origin of the name has nothing common with the royal dignity. First its name was Sary-Su (from Turkic this word means “yellow, cloudy water”). The name Sary-Su transformed in Tsaritsyn during the national toponymical process. Itelmen name Uutu (Kamchatka) was reinterpreted in Utka (which means “duck” in English). Russian Cossacks, trapped in the XVII century on the territory of Siberia, have altered the hard and unfamiliar name of Jonas River (Big River) into the Yenisei.

The toponymic rethinking often becomes curiosities. On Kunashir Island there is a volcano which is called Tsyatsya. On the language of the Ainu, who are the indigenous inhabitants of the Kuril Islands, the volcano is called Chacha-Napuri, which means "father-mountain", where chacha means "father" and napuri means "mountain". In Japanese pronunciation the first part of the name (chacha) has been redesigned to “tsyatsya”, and the term napuri was translated by Japanese word “jama” - "mountain". In fact, the title of the volcano was Tsyatsyajama. After the Second World War the formation of Russian toponymy of the island began. In new title Japanese word “jama” was rejected, and the rest part “Tsyatsya” was perceived in the ordinary meaning of the Russian word “otets” (father) which conveniently coincided with the meaning of the Ainu word “chacha”.

During the process of rethinking visible meaning connections differs with initial meaning of word in language, which is native for this word. Many geographic features of Asia have undergone not only a rethinking, but also the full change during the history of human civilization.

Good example of this transformation is the name of the island of Sri Lanka. Its original form was Singhal (in Sanskrit this word means “lion”). The word “Ceylon” is the form adopted by the West European linguists. As a result of a long chain of phonetic changes Singhal turn into Langka or Lanka (i.e. sacred or rich islands); hence the form Sri Lanka appeared (sacred or rich country of people Lanka). The ancient name of the island Sirandiba or Taprobane (Tamprapani) means "the country of precious stones”. Such Ceylon names can be found even in the verses of Petrarch. All these names are the rethought primordial form.

Many geographic names, which are similar in sound, often mislead the scientists. An example of such name can be the hydronym of Tatar Strait. According to the "Summary toponymical dictionary" of V.A. Nikonov the Tatar Strait is named by Europeans because all Asians are called Tatars in Europe. In fact, the name of the strait between the Asia mainland and the island of Sakhalin was given by the famous French seafarer J.F. La Perouse. In 1787 ships, which were under the command of La Perouse, came to the Far Eastern coast of Asia and discovered the strait between the mainland and the island. This trip was too heavy and dangerous for sailors. In documents La Perouse wrote: "There was a big storm. The waves reached several meters in height. Ships were given at the mercy of the waves and the wind. The sailors were exhausted from fatigue. They thought that it is just some more time and they will be in hell ...". The sailors, who had experienced such shocks and survivors, were thanked to God for the salvation and the strait, that they passed, was called Tartar. Over some time this name has been reinterpreted by the Russians and has been transformed into the Tatar Strait. And the name of La Perouse was subsequently given to the strait between Sakhalin and the Japanese island of Hokkaido.