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A review by innatejames
Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States by Matt Weiland, George R. Stewart
3.0
It's a little dry. But in a 1950's tv program kind of way. We're used to whistles and bells in our culture nowadays. I know SEVERAL people who won't attend a movie on the basis of monotony if it doesn't have at least one explosion or murder in it.
This book is not for them. I kept having to remind myself that the book was written 50 years ago. As a textbook. And apparently a very well respected one. George Stewart has a mild humor as he writes. He passes the silly, the overly complicated, and the mundane stories of how we named the New Land mostly in a hurry and mostly without having done it for thousands of years.
I'm a name nerd. So I liked it. I learned the 6 basic ways people name places. I learned that most of the 'Indian' names I grew up around in Michigan were really just badly heard Sioux/Algonquin filtered through badly translated French. Same is true for most of the 'Indian' names of the states. I learned the spelling of Arkansas vs. the pronunciation of Ar-kan-saw caused a lot more furor than one modern reader could believe. Same is true for Mt. McKinley. I learned the county I was born in (Genesee County, Michigan) was named after the county and town in New York state. The Geneseo Indians probably never lived in Michigan. That shoots down a lot of childhood daydreams I had. Alot of the west (west of Appalachia, that is) was named to get people to move there and buy land. That explains all the Mt. Pleasants, the Oak Brooks, the Springfields. I learned that most of the states after the original 13 had been chosen from several different names (i.e. Washington was almost Columbia after the river, Missouri was almost Jefferson, Minnesota was almost Mississippi).
This book is not for them. I kept having to remind myself that the book was written 50 years ago. As a textbook. And apparently a very well respected one. George Stewart has a mild humor as he writes. He passes the silly, the overly complicated, and the mundane stories of how we named the New Land mostly in a hurry and mostly without having done it for thousands of years.
I'm a name nerd. So I liked it. I learned the 6 basic ways people name places. I learned that most of the 'Indian' names I grew up around in Michigan were really just badly heard Sioux/Algonquin filtered through badly translated French. Same is true for most of the 'Indian' names of the states. I learned the spelling of Arkansas vs. the pronunciation of Ar-kan-saw caused a lot more furor than one modern reader could believe. Same is true for Mt. McKinley. I learned the county I was born in (Genesee County, Michigan) was named after the county and town in New York state. The Geneseo Indians probably never lived in Michigan. That shoots down a lot of childhood daydreams I had. Alot of the west (west of Appalachia, that is) was named to get people to move there and buy land. That explains all the Mt. Pleasants, the Oak Brooks, the Springfields. I learned that most of the states after the original 13 had been chosen from several different names (i.e. Washington was almost Columbia after the river, Missouri was almost Jefferson, Minnesota was almost Mississippi).