name of _Persis_ to the region (of which the capital was _Persipolis_)
originally overrun by a wild branch of the Ayrian race called the
Parsa, meaning, in the native tongue, “the Tigers” [_see_ PARSEES]. The
suffix _ia_, wherever it occurs in a geographical sense, expresses the
Celtic for land or territory. Hence, Persia signifies the territory
of the Parsa or Parsees; =Arabia=, the country of the Arabs, “men of
the desert”; =Abyssinia=, that of the Abassins, or “mixed races”;
=Kaffraria=, that of the Kaffirs, or “unbelievers”; and =Ethiopia=,
the “land of the blacks,” according to the two Greek words _aithein_,
to burn, and _ops_, the face. =India= denotes the country traversed by
the =Indus=, or rather the _Hindu_, which name is a Persicized form
of the Sanskrit _Sindhu_, “a great river,” rendered _Hindus_ in the
Greek. Synonymous with the Celtic suffix just discussed is the Persian
_stan_: consequently =Hindustan= signifies the territory traversed by
the river _Hindu_, and peopled by the Hindoos; =Turkestan=, the country
of the Turks; =Afghanistan=, that of the Afghans; =Beloochistan=, that
of the Belooches; and =Kurdestan=, properly =Koordistan=, that of the
Koords. The term =China= is a western corruption of Tsina, so called
in honour of Tsin, the founder of the great dynasty which commenced in
the third century B.C., when a knowledge of this country was first
conveyed to the Western nations. It was this Tsin who built the Great
Wall of China (or Tsin) to keep out the Barbarians. The Chinese Empire
bears the description of the =Celestial Empire= because its early
rulers were all celestial deities. =Siberia= is a term indicative of
_Siber_, the residence of Kutsheen Khan, the celebrated Tartar prince,
recognized as the ancient capital of the Tartars, the ruins of which
may still be seen. Here again the Celtic suffix _ia_ has reference to
the surrounding territory.
=Russia= constituted the country of the Russ, a tribe who overran it
at a very early period. The Russian Empire was founded by Ruric, or
Rourik, a Scandinavian chief whose death took place in the year A.D.,
879. =Circassia= denotes the country of the Tcherkes, a Tartar tribe
who settled in the neighbourhood of the river Terck. The =Crimea=
received its name from a small town established in the peninsula by the
Kimri, or Cymri, and known to the Greeks as _Kimmerikon_. =Finland=
is properly Fenland, “the land of marshes.” =Sweden= is a modern term
made up of the Latin _Suedia_, signifying the land of the Suevi, a
warlike tribe of the Goths, and the Anglo-Saxon _den_, testifying to
its occupation by the Danes. Norway shows the result of a gradual
modification of the Anglo-Saxon _Norea_, and the original _Nordoe_,
being the Scandinavian for “north island.” It is easy to understand in
this connection how the old Norsemen, deterred by the intense cold of
the Arctic Sea, took it for granted that the great northern peninsula
was surrounded by water, without actually determining the fact. The
native name of this country in modern times is _Nordrike_, _i.e._, the
north kingdom.
=Britain= was known to the Phœnicians as _Barat-Anac_, or “the land
of tin,” as far back as the year 1037 B.C. Some five hundred years
afterwards the Island was alluded to by the Romans under the name of
Britannia, which subsequently became shortened into Britain. =England=
was originally _Engaland_, the land of the Engles, or Angles, who came
over from Sleswick, a province of Jutland. Prior to the year 258,
which witnessed its invasion by the Scoti, a tribe who inhabited the
northern portions of the country now known as Ireland, =Scotland= bore
the name of =Caledonia=, literally the hilly country of the Caels, or
Gaels. The word Cael, or Gael, is a corruption of _Gadhel_, signifying
in the native tongue “a hidden rover”; while Scot, derived from the
native _scuite_, means practically the same thing, _i.e._, a wanderer.
The Caledonians were the inhabitants of the Highlands, the termination
_dun_ expressing the Celtic for a hill, fort, stronghold; the Scots
were the invaders from =Scotia=, who appropriated the Hebrides and the
Western Islands; whereas the Lowlanders were the Picts, so called from
their description by the Romans, _picti_, painted men. These Picts were
eventually subdued by the Caledonians and Britons from their respective
sides. The Gaelic designation of what is now =Ireland= was _Ierne_,
indicative of the “western isle.” Ireland is commonly styled =The
Emerald Isle= owing to its fresh verdure.
Wales was originally =Cambria=, so called on account of the Cymri, or
Kimri, who peopled it. The modern title of =Wales= was given to this
province by the Anglo-Saxons, because they regarded it, in common with
Cornwall, as the land of foreigners. Traces of the Wahl or Welsh still
present themselves in such names as Wallachia, Walcheren, Walloon,
Wallingford, Welshpool, &c. Thus we see that the prenomen _Wahl_,
subject to slight modifications in the spelling, denotes any foreign
settlement from the Saxon point of view. The Saxons, by the way, whose
original settlement is determined by the little kingdom of =Saxony=,
derived their name from the _seax_, or short crooked knife with which
they armed themselves.
France was known to the Greeks as _Gallatia_, and to the Romans as
_Gallia_, afterwards modified into =Gaul=, because it was the territory
of the Celtiæ, or Celts. The modern settlers of the country were the
Franks, so called from the _franca_, a kind of javelin which they
carried, who in the fifth century inhabited the German province of
=Franconia=, and, travelling westwards, gradually accomplished the
conquest of Gaul. =France=, therefore, signifies the country of the
Franks, or, as the Germans call it, _Frankreich_, _i.e._, the Kingdom
of the Franks. All the western nations were styled Franks by the Turks
and Orientals, and anything brought to them from the west invariably
merited a prenomen descriptive of its origin, as, for example,
FRANKINCENSE, by which was meant incense brought from the country of
the Franks. =Normandy= indicates the coast settlement of the Northmen,
or Danes; while =Brittany= comprised the land appropriated by the kings
of Britain.
=Germany= was in ancient times known as Tronges, or the country of the
Tungri, a Latin word signifying “speakers”; but the Romans afterwards
gave it the name of Germanus, which was a Latinized Celtic term meaning
“neighbours,” originally bestowed by the Gauls upon the warlike people
beyond the Rhine. =Holland= is the modern acceptation of _Ollant_,
the Danish for “marshy ground”; whereas =Belgium= denotes the land
of the Belgiæ. The fact that the term =Netherlands= is expressive
of the low countries need scarcely detain us. =Denmark= is properly
Danmark, _i.e._, the territory comprised within the _marc_, or boundary
established by Dan, the Scandinavian chieftain. =Jutland= means the
land of the Jutes, a family of the Goths who settled in this portion
of Denmark. =Prussia= is a corruption of _Borussia_, the country of
the Borussi; and =Bohemia=, the country of the Boii, just as =Hungary=
was originally inhabited by the Huns, a warlike Asiatic family, who
expelled the Goths from this territory in the year 376. These Huns were
first heard of in China in the third century B.C. under the name of
_Hiong-nu_, meaning “giants.” =Poland= is an inversion of _Land-Pole_,
the Slavonic for “men of the plains,” who first overran this territory.
=Servia= was styled by the Romans _Suedia_, the district peopled by
the Suevi before they were driven northwards to their final settlement
in the territory now called Sweden. =Montenegro= literally indicates
“black mountain.” =Bosnia= is the country traversed by the river Bosna;
=Moldavia=, that traversed by the Moldau; and =Moravia=, that traversed
by the Morava. =Bulgaria= is a modern corruption of _Volgaria_, meaning
the country peopled by the Volsci; while =Roumania= was anciently
a Roman province. =Turkey= is more correctly written _Turkia_, the
country of the Turks. This country also bears the style of the =Ottoman
Empire=, in honour of Othman I., who assumed the government of the
empire about the year 1300. =Greece= is the modern form of the Latin
_Græcia_, from the Greek _Graikoi_, a name originally bestowed upon the
inhabitants of Hellas.
=Austria= is our mode of describing the _Oesterreich_, literally the
Eastern Empire, in contradistinction to the Western Empire founded by
Charlemagne. =Italy= was so called after Italus, one of the early kings
of that country. =Switzerland= is an Anglicized form of the native
Schweitz, the name of the three forest cantons whose people asserted
their independence of Austria, afterwards applied to the whole country.
=Spain= expresses the English of _Hispania_, a designation founded upon
the Punic _span_, a rabbit, owing to the number of wild rabbits found
in this peninsula by the Carthaginians. The ancient name of the country
was _Iberia_, so styled from the Iberi, a tribe who settled in the
vicinity of the river Ebro =Portugal= was the _Portus Cale_, literally
“the port Cale” of the Romans, the ancient name of the city of Oporto.
=Algiers= is a modified spelling of the Arabic _Al Jezair_, meaning
“the peninsula.” =Tunis= was anciently known as Tunentum, the land
of the Tunes; =Morocco= signifies the territory of the Moors; and
=Barbary= that of the Berbers. The term =Sahara= is Arabic for
“desert”; while the =Soudan= denotes, according to the Arabic
_Belad-ez-Suden_, the “district of the blacks.” =Egypt= expresses the
Hebrew for “the land of oppression,” alluding to the bondage of the
Israelites. =Senegambia= was originally so named owing to its situation
between the Senegal and Gambia rivers. The =Gold Coast= is that portion
of Guinea on the West Coast of Africa where gold is found. =Guinea= is
a native West African term meaning “abounding in gold.” In =Zanzibar=,
properly written _Zanguebar_, we have an inversion of the Arabic
_Ber-ez-Zing_, the “coast of the negroes.” =Zululand= is the country of
the Zulus. By the =Transvaal= is meant the territory beyond the river
Vaal; just as in Europe the Hungarians call a portion of their country
TRANSYLVANIA, from its situation “beyond the wood.” =Natal= received
its name from Vasco di Gama because he discovered it on the Feast of
the Nativity. The settlements of the Dutch Boers in South Africa are
designated the =Orange Free States= from the circumstance that their
original settlers were emigrants from the Principality of Orange,
in Holland. =Cape Colony= is the British colony in South Africa, so
called after the Dutch settlement at Cape Town, which dates from the
year 1652. The =Cape of Good Hope=, discovered by Bartholomew de Diaz
in 1487, was so named (_Cabo de Bon Esperance_) by John II., King of
Portugal, who, finding that Diaz had reached the extremity of Africa,
regarded it as a favourable augury for future maritime enterprises.
The most southern point of South America was called Cape Hoorn
(or, according to the English, =Cape Horn=) by Schonten, who first
rounded it in 1616, after Hoorn, his native place in North Holland.
=Patagonia= was so styled by Magellan in accordance with the Spanish
word _patagon_, meaning a large, clumsy foot. It was from the fact of
seeing the impressions of the large shoes (not, as he imagined, the
feet) of the aborigines that he at once concluded the country must be
inhabited by giants. =Chili= is a Peruvian word denoting the “land of
snow.” =Argentina=, now the =Argentine Republic=, owes its name to
the silvery reflection of its rivers. =Brazil= is a Portuguese term
derived from _braza_, “a live coal,” relative to the red dye-wood with
which the country abounds. =Bolivia= perpetuates the memory of General
Simon Bolivar, “the Liberator of Peru.” =Uraguay= and =Paraguay= are
both names of rivers; the former meaning “the golden water,” and the
latter “the river of waters,” referring to its numerous tributaries.
=Peru= likewise received its name from its principal river, the Rio
Paro, upon which stands the ancient city of Paruru. The Brazilian
term _Para_, however modified, is at all times suggestive of a river.
=Pernambuco= means “the mouth of hell,” in allusion to the violent surf
always distinguished at the mouth of its chief river. =Ecuador= is
Spanish for Equator, so called by virtue of its geographical position.
=Columbia= was named in honour of Christopher Columbus. =Venezuela=
expresses the Spanish for “Little Venice,” which designation was given
to this country owing to the discovery of some Indian villages built
upon piles after the manner of the “Silent City” on the Adriatic Sea.
The term =Panama= is Caribbean, indicative of the mud fish that abound
in the waters on both sides of the isthmus. =Costa Rica= is literal
Spanish for “rich coast”; while =Honduras= signifies, in the same
tongue, “deep water.” The name of =Nicaragua= was first given by Gil
Gonzales de Arila in 1521 to the great lake situated in the region
now called after it, in consequence of his friendly reception by the
_Cacique_, a Haytian term for a chief, whose own name was Nicaro, of
a tribe of West Indians, with whom he fell in on the borders of the
lake referred to. The =Mosquito Coast= owes its name to the troublesome
insects (Spanish _mosca_, from the Latin _musca_, a fly) which infest
this neighbourhood. =Yutacan= is a compound Indian word meaning
“What do you say?” which was the only answer the Spaniards could
obtain from the natives to their inquiries concerning a description
of the country. =Quatemala= is a European rendering of the Mexican
_quahtemali_, signifying “a decayed log of wood”; so called by the
Mexican Indians who accompanied Alvarado into this region, because they
found an old worm-eaten tree near the ancient palace of the Kings, or
_Kachiquel_, which was thought to be the centre of the country.
=Mexico= denotes the place or seat of Mexitli, the Aztec God of War.
The name of =California=, derived from the two Spanish words, _Caliente
Fornalla_, _i.e._, “hot furnace,” was given by Cortez in the year 1535
to the peninsula now known as Old or Lower California, of which he
was the discoverer, on account of its hot climate. =British Columbia=
is the only portion of North America that retains the name of the
discoverer of the New World; but originally the whole of the territory
now comprised in the United States bore the designation of =Columbia=
in honour of Christopher Columbus. The term =Canada= is Indian,
indicative of a “collection of huts”; =Manitoba= traces its origin from
Manitou, the Indian appellation of “The Great Spirit.” =Ontario= comes
from the native _Onontac_, “the village on the mountain,” and chief
seat of the Onondagas; while =Quebec= is an Algonquin term signifying
“take care of the rock.” =Labrador= was originally denominated _Tierra
Labrador_, the Spanish for “cultivated land,” as distinguished from the
non-fertile though moss-covered =Greenland=. =New Brunswick=, colonized
in 1785, received its name in compliment to the House of Brunswick.
=Nova Scotia=, otherwise New Scotland, was so called by Sir William
Alexander, a Scotsman who obtained a grant of this colony from James
I. in 1621. =Florida= was named by Ponce de Leon in accordance with
the day of its discovery, to wit, Easter Sunday, which in the Spanish
language is styled _Pascua Florida_.
The first British settlement in North America was claimed by Sir Walter
Raleigh on the 13th of July, 1584, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and
called =Virginia= in her honour. =Maryland= was so denominated by Lord
Baltimore (who gave the name of =Baltimore= to a neighbouring State),
in honour of Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I. =Pennsylvania=
denotes the colony founded “in the wood” by William Penn, the son of
Admiral Penn, in 1681. This is usually alluded to as the KEYSTONE
STATE, from its relative position to the other States. =Georgia= was
named after George II., in whose reign this state was colonized; and
=Carolina= (North and South) after Carolus II., the Latinized style of
Charles II., by whom this state was granted to eight of his favourites.
=Louisiana= was so called by M. de la Sale in the year 1682, in honour
of Louis XIV. of France; while =Maine= and =New Orleans= received the
names of existing French provinces. The title of =New Hampshire= was
given to the state granted to him in 1629 by John Mason, in compliment
to his native county in England; =New Jersey= complimented the scene
of action whereon Sir George Carterat distinguished himself in the
defence of Jersey Island against the Parliamentary forces in 1664;
and =New York= (State) was denominated in honour of James, Duke of
York, afterwards James II. [For =Michigan= see the great lake of
the same name.] =Indiana= derived its name from the great number of
Indians found here. =Alabama= in the native tongue, signifies “Here
we rest”; =Nebraska= means “water valley”; =Ohio= is “beautiful”;
=Massachusetts=, “about the great hills”; =Wisconsin=, “wild rushing
channel”; =Kansas=, “smoky water”; =Tennessee=, “river of the great
bend”; =Kentucky=, “at the head of a river”; =Mississippi=, “great and
long river”; =Missouri=, “muddy river”; and =Minnesota=, “white water.”
=Arkansas= conveys the same meaning as Kansas, with the addition of
the French prefix _arc_, a bow. =Illinois= is a compound of the Indian
_illum_, men, and the French suffix _oix_, a tribe. =Oregon= received
its name from the Spanish _oregano_, wild majoram, which grows in
abundance on this portion of the Pacific shore. =Texas= means “the
place of protection,” in reference to the fact that a colony of French
refugees were afforded protection here by General Lallemont in 1817;
=Vermont= is, more correctly, _Verd Mont_, so called in testimony
to the verdure-clad mountains which traverse this state; =Colorado=
expresses the Spanish for “coloured,” alluding to its coloured ranges;
while =Nevada= is Spanish for “snowy,” indicative of the character of
its mountain ridges, the _Sierra Nevada_. =Connecticut= presents itself
in the native Indian form _Quinnitukut_, meaning “the country of the
long river”; =Iowa= is a French corruption of a Sioux term, signifying
“drowsy,” or “the sleepy ones,” applied to the Pahoja, or Gray-snow
tribe; =Astoria= was founded by John Jacob Astor, of New York, as a
fur-trading station in the year 1811; and =Delaware= received its name
from Thomas West, Lord de La Warre, Governor of Virginia, who visited
the bay in 1610, and died on board his vessel at its mouth.
=Lake Superior= denotes the uppermost and chief of the five great lakes
of North America. =Lake Erie= is the Lake of the “Wild Cat,” the name
given to a fierce tribe of Indians exterminated by the Iroquois. =Lake
Huron= owes its name to the French word _hure_, a head of hair; in
reference to the Wyandots, whom the French settlers designated Hurons
owing to their profusion of hair. =Lake Ontario= bears the denomination
of the Canadian territory already discussed. =Niagara=, or rather, to
give it its full name, _Oni-aw-garah_, expresses the West Indian for
“the thunder of waters.” =Lake Michigan= signifies in the native tongue
“a weir for fish”; and =Lake Winnipeg=, “lake of the turbid water.” The
=Great Bear Lake= is indebted for its name to its northern situation
[_see_ ARCTIC OCEAN]; and the =Great Salt Lake=, to the saline
character of its waters.
Having disposed of the different countries, let us now consider the
nomenclature of the principal seas and islands.
The =Arctic Ocean= received its name pursuant to the Greek _arktos_,
a bear, on account of the northern constellations of the Great and
Little Bear. The =Antarctic Ocean= denotes the ocean _anti_, against,
or opposite to, the Arctic Ocean. The =Atlantic Ocean=, known to the
Greeks by the name of _Atlantikos pelagos_, was originally so called
from the Isle of Atlantes, which both Plato and Homer imagined to be
situated beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The =Pacific Ocean= was
so named by Magellan, owing to its calm and pacific character, in
striking contrast to his tempestuous passage through the Straits of
Magellan, from which he emerged November 27, 1520. The =Caribbean Sea=
washes the territory of the Caribbs, whose name means “cruel men.”
The =Mediterranean Sea= expresses the Latin (_medius_, middle, and
_terra_, earth) for the sea between two continents, viz., Europe and
Africa. The =Adriatic Sea= indicates the Sea of Adrian or Hadrian. The
=Baltic Sea= denotes, in accordance with the Swedish _bält_, a strait,
a sea full of belts, or straits. The =North Sea=, the =German Ocean=,
the =Indian Ocean=, and the =Irish Sea=, are names indicative of the
positions of these respective seas. The =White Sea= is so called from
its proximity to sterile regions of snow and ice; the =Black Sea=,
because it abounds with black rocks; the =Red Sea=, on account of the
red soil which forms its bottom; the =Green Sea=, owing to a strip of
green always discernible along the Arabian shore; the =Yellow Sea=,
from the immense quantity of alluvial soil continually poured into it
by the Yang-tse-Kiang river; and the =Dead Sea=, because no fish of
any kind has ever been found in its waters. The =Caspian Sea= preserves
the name of the Caspii, a tribe who originally formed a settlement on
its shores. The =Sea of Marmora= owes its designation to a small island
at its western extremity which has long been famous for its marble
(Latin _marmor_) quarries. The =Gulf Stream= is a warm current of
water that issues from the mouth of the Amazon, immediately under the
Equator, and after traversing the coast of South America, the Caribbean
Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the coast of the United States, makes
its way across the Atlantic directly for the British Isles, raising
the temperature of the water through which it passes. The =Horse
Latitudes=, situated between the trade winds and the westerly winds of
higher latitudes, and distinguished for tedious calms, received this
name because it was in this portion of the Atlantic the old navigators
often threw overboard the horses which they had undertaken to transport
to the West Indies. The southern banks of the West India Islands, and
the water extending for some distance into the Caribbean Sea, were
formerly known as the =Spanish Main=, from the fact that the Spaniards
confined their buccaneering enterprises to this locality.
=Hudson’s Bay= and =Hudson’s Strait= were named after their
re-discovery by Captain Henry Hudson while searching for the north-west
passage in 1610. Prior to this date the Bay and the Strait had not been
navigated since their original discovery by Cabot in 1512. =James’
Bay= honours the memory of James I., in whose reign it was completely
explored. Quite a number of straits, gulfs, and bays bear the names of
their respective navigators; therefore these need not detain us here.
An exception exists in the case of =Barrow’s Strait=, which was so
called by Captain Penny in compliment to John Barrow, the son of Sir
John Barrow the traveller and statesman, in 1850. =All Saints’ Bay= was
discovered by Vespucci on the Feast of All Saints in the year 1503. The
=Gulf of St. Lawrence= was first explored, and the navigation of the
long river of the same name commenced, on the Feast of St. Lawrence,
1500. The =Gulf of Carpentaria= preserves the memory of a Dutch captain
named Carpenter who discovered it in 1606. =Torres Strait= received the
name of the Spanish navigator, L. V. de Torres, to whom its discovery
was due, in the year 1606. =Botany Bay= was so called by Captain Cook
from the great variety of plants which he found growing on its shores
when exploring it in the year 1770. The =St. George’s Channel= was
named after the patron saint of England. The =Skagerrack= denotes
the “crooked strait between the Skagen” (so called from the Gothic
_skaga_, a promontory), which forms the northern extremity of Jutland
and Norway. =Zuyder Zee= expresses the Dutch for the “south sea,” in
relation to the North Sea or German Ocean. The =Bay of Biscay= takes
its name from the Basque or Basquan, _i.e._, mountainous provinces,
whose shores are washed by its waters. The =Strait of Gibraltar=
honours the reputation of Ben Zeyad Tarik, a Moorish general who
effected the invasion of Spain in the year 712 by obtaining possession
of the apparently impregnable rock which has ever since borne the
name, in consequence, of _Jebel al tarik_, the Mountain of Tarik. The
=Bosphorus= is a Greek term composed of _bous_, an ox, and _porus_, a
ford, alluding to the legend that when Io was transformed into a cow
she forded this strait. The =Dardanelles= derive their name from the
ancient city of Dardanus, founded by Dardanus, the ancestor of Priam,
where the castle now stands on the Asiatic side.