Re: OT: Place name constituents

* paul-bennett@EARTHLINK.NET said on 2006-05-19 18:50:11 +0200
> * From: Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...>
> > One of the spiffiest bits of place-name conlangery is the name of a
> > ford in _The Phoenix Guards_ by Steven Brust.  I can't cite it
> > because my copy is loaned out; basically the aboriginals called it
> > simply "ford" in their language, and each people who came along and
> > grabbed the land after them took the previous name, perhaps mangled
> > it to fit their own language's phonology, and added their own
> > language's word for "ford".  I think the final name was something
> > like "Bengloalafurd", but I suspect I'm misspelling it because this
> > only gets on Ghit.
>
> This actually happened in England, with the hill now known as
> Torbenfalls Hill.
Torpenhow Hill, actually. "how" is probably from Danish/norse as it
reminds me of the Norwegian word "haug" (pile, low hill, small
mountain).


t.

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