- Latin names of cities
Users of
Neo-Latin have taken the Latin language to places the Romans never went; hence a need arose to make Latin names of cities that did not exist when Latin was a living language.trategies for constructing Latin names
The first places that needed Latin names were encountered by Bible translators, who had a need to figure out what to call the many place names in the
Bible in Latin. They either reworked the place names into Latin or Greek shapes; in one version, "Yerushalem" (tentative reconstruction of a more ancient Hebrew version of the name) becomes "Hierosolyma", doubtless influenced by Greek ιερος ("hieros"), "holy". Or, they adopted them directly, often treating the new place names asindeclinable noun s; here "Yerushalem" is brought over as "Ierusalem", with the Latin "I" being prononuced as an English "Y" sound and the /sh/ being transliterated to the closest Latin sound, /s/. [http://www.cwru.edu/univlib/preserve/Etana/SMITH.JERUv1/SMITH.JERUv1.250.273.pdf]Similar strategies are used with
United States andNorth America and other place names that Latin writers needed to give Latin names to. A number of methods are used:
* A classical ending such as -"um" or -"a" is added or substituted on the end of the source word. Hence "Baltimorum" for "Baltimore," "Albania " for "Albany."
* The words already fit into Latindeclension s, as do "Indianapolis", "Cincinnati", and "Atlanta".
*Calque s are resorted to if the New World name is based on an Old World name; the various "Parises" in the United States are likely to become "Lutetia", and "Novum Eboracum" or "Neo-Eboracum" represents "New York", because "Eboracum " is the city ofYork in England.
* The words are respelled to eliminate non-Latin letters; hence "Washington" becomes "Vasingtonium". Note that "V" in Latin is pronounced as an English "W;" there was no W in Latin.
* The words are adjusted to fit Latin declensions; "Kansas" appears as either "Cansas, Cansatis" or "Cansa, Cansae"; "Chicago", "Ohio", and "Idaho" become consonant stems, with genitives "Chicagonis", "Ohionis", "Idahonis", &c.
* The words are re-interpreted to fit Latin declensions; "Illinois" is treated as a third-declension noun.
* If the city is named for a specific thing, and especially if its name is a Romance language word or phrase, it may be directly translated into Latin. For example, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is called "Diocesis Angelorum" in Latin, "Diocese of (the) angels"
* On the other hand, in some dioceses the church chose to simply to apply a Latin locational suffix to the existing name; the diocese of Des Moines, Iowa is simply "Dioecesis Desmoinensis".
* The words are treated as indeclinable, like some Biblical names; "Connecticut" is sometimes treated this way.In many cases, there is no consensus as to how to treat any given names, and variants exist. If auniversity or anepiscopal see is in a town, the odds increase that there is a standard form hallowed by usage. Note that names of cities are usually feminine in gender in Latin, despite ending in -"us". This rule is not always strictly observed in the New World
*There are Latin forms of Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and other Oceanian-South Pacific communities as well.
*One example is London, Ontario which can be translatable to Londinium in Latin, while the rest of the other non-Latin languages like Greek and French for other Londons that are not London, England is spelt "London" (from English).Here are the names that are listed in Latin and its modern meaning on the right for the world, except for Europe, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Kurdistan.
*This list includes Azerbaijan, Kurdistan southeast of Arbil, Abkhazia, Chechnya, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Malta and Pantelleria, and the whole of Kazakhstan, and Russia east of the ural mountains.Note on word endings
Latin being an inflected language, names in a Latin context may have different word-endings to those shown here, which are given in the
nominative case. For instance "Roma" (Rome) may appear as "Romae" meaning "at Rome" (locative ), "of Rome" (genitive ) or "for Rome" (dative ), as "Romam" meaning "to Rome" (accusative), or indeed as "Romā" with a long "a", probably not indicated in the orthography, meaning "from Rome" (ablative ). Similarly names ending in "-um" or "-us" may occur with "-i" or "-o", and names ending in "-us" may occur with "-um". The words "urbs" and "civitas" may occur as "urbis", "urbi", or "urbe", and "civitatis", "civitati" or "civitate".List of names
Latin Name English Name, [other name(s)] , [older name(s)] , [province] , [state] Aarhusium Århus ,Denmark Alexandria (Aegyptus)¹ Alexandria (Al-Iskandriyah), Egypt Alexandria (Columbia Britannica) Alexandria, British Columbia Alexandria (Ontario) Alexandria, Ontario Alexandria (Virginia) Alexandria, Virginia Algeris Algiers ,Algeria Aquae Sextiae Aix-en-Provence ,France Arae Flaviae Rottweil ,Germany Arbela, Arbila Erbil ,Arbil Ascalon Ashkelon ,Israel Atlanta Atlanta, Georgia Augusta Augusta, Maine Baltimorum, Baltimori Baltimore, Maryland Berytus Beirut ,Lebanon Bona Aera Buenos Aires ,Argentina Bostonia Boston, Massachusetts Botrus Batroun ,Lebanon Byblos Byblos ,Lebanon Camulodunum Colchester Cansae, Civitas Kansas City Carolinapolis Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island ,Canada Cantabrigia Cambridge, Massachusetts ,Cambridge, Ontario orCambridge, England Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Civitas Alphabetica Alphabet City (New York , New York)Civitas California California City, California Citivas Florida Florida City, Florida Civitas Oklahoma Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Citivas Panama Panama City, Florida Columbus Columbus, North Carolina Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, Texas Cultellus Flavus Yellowknife, Northwest Territories ,Canada Damascus Damascus (Dimashq), Syria Dublinum, Eblana Dublin, Ireland Eboracum York ,England Edessa Sanli Urfa Equus Albus Whitehorse, Yukon ,Canada Flumen Januarii Rio de Janeiro Fredericopolis Fredericton, New Brunswick ,Canada Gevalia Gävle (Gefle),Sweden Hafnia Copenhagen ,Denmark Heliopolis Baalbeck ,Lebanon Hippo Regius Bone, Algeria Hierosolyma² Jerusalem ,Israel /Palestinian territories Indianapolis (4) Indianapolis, Indiana Jericho² Jericho ,West Bank (Palestinian territories )Leptis Magna, Lepcis Magna near Tripoli ,Libya Londinium, Africa Australis London, South Africa Londinium (Ontario) London, Ontario Ludovicopolis Louisville, Kentucky Marathon (Ontario) Marathon, Ontario Massalia Marseille ,France Medaba Mecca (Makkah),Saudi Arabia Medina, Arabia Medina, Saudi Arabia Medina, Nova Eburaca Medina, New York Melburnium, Victoria (Regna) Melbourne, Australia Mons Regius, Marianopolis, Villa Maria Montreal, Quebec Minneapolis (4) Minneapolis, Minnesota Nova Aurelia, Novum Aurelium New Orleans, Louisiana Nova Helvetia Nueva Suiza (New Switzerland),Uruguay Novum Baltimorum New Baltimore, Michigan Novum Hamburgium New Hamburg, Ontario Novum Eboracum New York , New YorkNovum Glasgovium New Glasgow, Nova Scotia ,Canada Novum Londinium* New London, Connecticut Olympia (Vasingtonia) Olympia, Washington Oxonia Oxford, England Philadelphia¹ (America) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Amman ,Jordan Phoenix¹, Arizona Phoenix, Arizona Praetoria? Pretoria, South Africa Providenia? Provideniya ,Russia , west ofAlaska Providentia Providence, Rhode Island Urbs Quebecis Quebec City, Quebec Urbs Reginae Regina, Saskatchewan ,Canada Rubricobacilensis Baton Rouge, Louisiana Regiopolis Kingston, Jamaica Regiopolis (Ontario) Kingston, Ontario Sancti Spiriti Sancti Spiriti, Argentina Sanctus Johannes Saint John, New Brunswick ,Canada Sanctus Johannes Terrae Novae St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador ,Canada Sanctus Paulus São Paulo ,Brazil Sarnia Sarnia, Ontario Sicagum Chicago, Illinois Sidon Sidon ¹,Lebanon Sinus Tonitralis Thunder Bay, Ontario Tempe (Arizona) Tempe, Arizona Tiberias Tiberias (Teverya),Israel Tingis Tangier ,Morocco Tripolis¹ Tripoli, Lebanon Tripolis¹ Tripoli, Libya Tunis Tunis, Tunisia Tyre Tyre, Lebanon Vasingtonium Washington, DC Victoria (Regna), Columbia Britannica Victoria, British Columbia Vigornia Worcester, England Vigornia Worcester, Massachusetts # Latinized form of the Greek-derived name.
# Latinized form of a Hebrew derived name
# Latinized form of an Amerindian languages-derived name.
# only polis is a Greek derived name.ee also
*
Latin names of islands There are major synergies with:
*Names of European cities in different languages
*List of city name changes External links
* [http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/contents.html Graesse, Orbis Latinus]
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/hofmann.html Hofmann: Lexicon Universale]
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