List of tautological place names

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

A place name is tautological if two parts of it are synonymous. This often occurs when a name from one language is imported into another and a standard descriptor is added on from the second language. Thus, for example, New Zealand's Mount Maunganui, where maunga is Māori for mountain. The following list is of place names often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English name elements have originally come.

Since there are sometimes many similar names in one area in many cases where two languages are in common use, this should be noted with one exemplar case.

Contents 1 Rivers 2 Lakes and other bodies of water 3 Mountains and hills 4 Islands 5 Other 6 References 7 See also

[edit] Rivers

• River Avon, various in England and Scotland (River River - Brythonic (spelled Afon in modern Welsh), or Goidelic abhainn)^[1]
• River Avonmore, County Wicklow, Ireland (Big River River - Irish: Abhainn Mór)
• River Avonbeg, County Wicklow, Ireland (Small River River - Irish: Abhainn Beag)
• River Awbeg, County Cork, Ireland (Small River River - Irish: Abhainn Beag)
• Connecticut River, United States (Long Tidal River River - Algonquin)
• Cuyahoga River, Ohio ("Cuyahoga" means "crooked river" in a Native American language.)
• Fishkill Creek, New York, USA (small waterway small waterway - kill comes from Dutch)
• Río Guadix, Spain (River River River - Río is "river" in Spanish, guad comes from Arabic wādi 'valley' or 'river', and ix is "river" in Phoenician)
• Río Guadalquivir, Spain (Great River River - from Arabic al-wādi al-kabīr 'The Great Valley (or River)'.
• Hatchie River, United States (River River - "hatchie" meaning "river" in Muskogean languages)
• Heilongjiang River, an alternative name for the Amur River, China (Black Dragon River River - Mandarin Chinese)
• River Humber, England, and Humber River, Ontario, Canada (River River - Brythonic)
• Kymijoki, Finland (River River)
• Mississippi River, United States, and Mississippi River, Ontario, Canada (Big River River - Algonquin)
• Paraguay River, Guarani (From the Great River River)
• Rillito River, southern Arizona, United States (Little River River - Spanish)
• Schuylkill River, eastern Pennsylvania (Hidden River River - the suffix kill in Dutch meaning "river")
• Skookumchuck River, Washington, United States - the suffix chuck in Chinook Jargon meaning "river"
• River Tyne, England (River River - Brythonic)
• Uruguay River, Uruguay and Argentina (River of the painted birds River - Guaraní Language)
• Vaslui River, Romania - uj meant "body of water" in Cuman
• Walla Walla River, Washington, United States (Little River River; Walla means "river" in Sahaptin, repeated to express the diminutive ("little river"))
• Latsa erreka (tributary of the Nive), France (Brook Brook - Euskara)
• Šešupė River, Lithuania (Sixth River River - Lithuanian)

[edit] Lakes and other bodies of water

• Dal Lake, Kashmir (Lake Lake - Balti)
• Gaube Lake, Hautes-Pyrénées (Lake Lake - French and Gascon)
• Hayle Estuary, Cornwall (Estuary Estuary - Cornish Heyl "estuary")
• Jaurajärvi and Jaurakkajärvi, Finland (Lake Lake - Sami javri "lake", Finnish järvi "lake")
• Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria - 'lagos' is Portuguese for 'lakes', and 'lagoon' derives from Latin 'lacus' "lake, pond"
• Laguna de Bay, Philippines - also referred to as Laguna Lake (Lake Lake - Spanish)
• Laguna Lake, California (Lake Lake - Spanish)
• Lake Chad, Chad (Lake lake - Bornu word tsade: "lake")
• Lake Ellesmere, New Zealand (Ella's lake lake - Old Norse. Several English lakes, such as Windermere, are often incorrectly referred to using the incorrect "Lake -mere" form, but New Zealand's has this form as its official name)
• Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan (Lake Hot Lake - Kyrgyz)
• Lake Lagunita, Stanford, California (Lake Little Lake - Spanish)
• Lake Nyassa (now called Lake Malawi), Malawi/Mozambique (Lake Lake - Yao)
• Lake Rotorua, New Zealand (Lake Lake Second - Māori. Many other New Zealand lakes have the tautological "Lake Roto-" form)
• Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California (Lake the lake - Washo Native American Tribal language)
• Lakeville Lake, Michigan, USA - The village is Lakeville, the adjacent lake is Lakeville Lake.
• Loch Loch, Scotland. Not to be confused with Loch Lochy.
• Loch Lomond Lake, near Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
• Loch Watten, Scotland, from Gaelic loch, plus Norse vatn
• Loughrigg Tarn, from Gaelic loch, plus Norse "ridge", and "tarn" meaning a body of water
• Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, USA (Thousand Lakes Lake - French)
• Østensjøvann is a Norwegian lake name that concatenates sjø ("lake that is not as narrow as a fjord") and vann ("lake"). Similarly Møsvann in Telemark, Norway combines mjøsa meaning lake with vann meaning lake.
• Tal-y-Llyn lake, Wales (End-of the-lake lake - llyn is Welsh for lake)
• Vatnshlíðarvatn, Iceland (Lake-slope-lake - The farm Vatnshlíð (Lake-slope) named after the lake, which in turn is named after the farm.)
• Vatnvatnet, Norway (Lakelake - Norwegian), a lake near Bodø
• Wast Water, England - 'water's valley water' from Old Norse "vatns dalr" (= Wasdale) and Old English "wæter"

[edit] Mountains and hills

• Bergeberget, Norway (The Hill Hill - Norwegian)
• Bredon, England (Hill Hill - Celtic/Saxon)
• Bredon Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill - Brythonic/Old English/Modern English)
• Breedon on the Hill, England (Hill Hill on the Hill - Celtic/Saxon)
• Brill, England (Hill Hill - Celtic/Saxon) - also once known in documents as Brill-super-montem (Hill Hill on the Hill - Celtic/Saxon/Latin)
• Brincliffe Edge, Sheffield, UK (Burning Hill Hill Welsh/English)
• Bryn Glas Hill, Wales (Blue Hill Hill - Welsh/English)
• Brynhill, Wales (Hill Hill - Welsh/English)
• Djebel Amour, Algeria: (Arabic & Tamazight)
• Eizmendi: Haitz Mendi 'mount mount' (Euskara)
• Filefjell, Norway (The mountain mountain - Norwegian)
• Fjällfjällen, Sweden (The mountain mountains - Swedish)
• Garmendia: Garr- Mendi(a) (fossil & modern Basque)
• Hill Mountain, Pembrokeshire, Wales
• Knockhill, a common placename in the Scottish Lowlands, deriving from either Scottish Gaelic, cnoc meaning a "hill" or a similar word originating in either Danish or one of the West Germanic languages that predated Old English.
• Montcuq, Lot, France: Mont Kukk 'mount mount'
• Mongibellu, Sicilian name of the volcano Etna, in Sicily, Italy (Mountain Mountain, from Romance monte and Arabic žabal).
• Mount Katahdin, Maine (Mount The Greatest Mountain - English/Penobscot)
• Mount Lushan, Jiangxi, China: Mount Lu Mountain.
• Mount Maunganui, New Zealand (Mount Mount Big - Māori)
• Ochil Hills, Scotland (Hill hills)
• Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England. (Hill Hill Hill) - "Pen" -(Cumbric language) and the suffix "dle" from the Old English language.
• Pic de la Munia in Piau-Engaly, France: Pic Muño (Romance & Euskara)
• Pinnacle Peak (Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S.) and Mount Pinnacle (southwestern Virginia, U.S.). Both English. Other locations have the same names. The redundancy is not exact ("pinnacle" could be interpreted as descriptive of the shape of the peak) but the phrase sounds funny to an ear attuned to place-name redundancy
• Picacho Peak (Arizona, U.S.) (Peak Peak - Spanish)
• Summit Peak, New Zealand (Peak Peak - both English) - also the U.S. has five hills called Summit Peak.
• Slieve Mish Mountains and Slieve Bloom Mountains, Ireland - (Mish Mountain Mountains, Bloom Mountain Mountains - from sliabh, the Gaelic word for mountain)
• Table Mesa, Colorado (Table Table - Spanish)
• Torpenhow Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill Hill - SW-British (Tor) / Brythonic (pen = "head") / Anglo-Saxon hōh = "spur of high ground" / English (hill))
• Tuc de la Pale, Ariège, France: Tuk Pal 'mount mount'
• Vignemale, Pyrenees: Went- Mal 'mount mount'

[edit] Islands

• Canvey Island, UK (Cana's island island - Anglo-Saxon)
• Dodecanese Islands, Aegean Sea (Twelve Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Dodecanese)
• Faroe Islands, North Atlantic (Sheep Islands Islands - Faroese); usually just called "The Faroes" by the locals.
• Gili Islands, North-west of Lombok, Indonesia (Small Island Islands - Sasak)
• Indonesian Islands, usually just called Indonesia
• Isle of Sheppey, UK (Island of sheep island - Saxon)
• Lundy Island, UK (puffin island island - Norse)
• Melanesian Islands, Pacific Ocean (Black Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Melanesia)
• Motutapu Island, New Zealand (Island Sacred Island - Māori)
• Orkney Islands, UK, (Boar Island Islands), suffix ey means island
• Polynesian Islands, Pacific Ocean (Many Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Polynesia)

[edit] Other

• Ardtornish Point, Scotland (High/Heights Tor Point Point) - "Aird" from Gaelic, "Nish" from the Norse Ness and Point from English - all referring to some form of cape, point or headland).
• Barna Gap, Ireland - (Gap Gap - Barna is the Irish word for a mountain gap)
• Beechhurst Holt Wood, England (beech wood wood wood - Anglo-Saxon)
• Beqaa Valley - biqāʻa, plural of buqʻa^ht, is Arabic for 'plain' (another "Valley Valley")
• Carmarthen, Wales (Welsh : Caerfyddin) - (Fort fort by the sea - "Caer"/"Car" = Welsh for fort (from Latin castra), "marthen"/"m(f)yrddin" is Welsh name derived from Latin Moridunum, which itself derived from Brythonic "môr" (sea) and "din"/"dun" (fort))^[2]
• Cartagena, Spain - (New New City - from Latin Carthago Nova, 'New Carthage'; but Carthago itself is from Phoenician Qart-ḥadašt, 'New City')
• Châteaudun, France (Castle Stronghold - French and Gaulish)
• Col de Port, Ariège, France (Pass Pass - French and Occitan)
• Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France (Coast of Coast - French and Breton)
• Eas Fors Waterfall on the Isle of Mull in Scotland (waterfall waterfall waterfall)
• East Timor, (East east - from the Malay word timur)
• El Camino Way in Palo Alto, California (The way way - Spanish)
• El Puente de Alcántara, Toledo, Spain, (The Bridge of the Bridge - Puente from Spanish, Alcántara from Arabic al-qanṭara^ht 'the bridge')
• Forumtorget in Uppsala, Sweden. Forum being the Latin word for square and torget also meaning square. Thus, Square-square.
• Glendale - Anglicisation of the Gaelic Gleann Dail. Gleann simply means "valley", and dail is a borrowing from the Norse for "valley", which in Gaelic specifically means a valley containing fertile arable land, or any low-lying farmland. The anglicised form appears more tautological as the word dale in English is used to describe any valley.
• Gobi Desert, central Asia (Very large and dry desert, Gobi means 'very large and dry' in Mongolian)
• Jiayuguan Pass - (Jiayu Pass Pass - Mandarin Chinese)
• Kaieteur Falls in Kaieteur National Park, Potaro-Siparuni Region, Guyana - (Kai falls Falls - Patamona language)
• The La Brea Tar Pits, California (The The Tar Tar Pits - Spanish)
• Lee Mead - (Meadow Meadow)
• Milky Way Galaxy (Milky Way milky way — Greek; for this reason some scientists, such as the late Isaac Asimov, have argued that the Milky Way should be renamed the "Home Galaxy" or some such.)
• Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota (Waterfall Falls - Lakota)
• Nathu La Pass, Indo-China border, (Listening Ears Pass Pass- Tibetan)
• Nesoddtangen, Norway - (The Cape cape cape, Norwegian, from nes (promontory or cape), odde (promontory or cape) and tange (promontory or cape))
• Nyanza Lac, Burundi - ("Nyanza" and "Lac" are the Bantu and French words for "lake" respectively. Interestingly, Nyanza Lac is not a lake - it's a city)
• Sahara desert, Africa (Deserts desert - Arabic)
• Sharm Old Harbour (a common English name for the old harbour at Sharm el Sheikh) (harbour old harbour - Arabic)
• Skarðsskarð, Iceland (Pass's Pass: A mountain pass named after a farm which in turn is named after tha pass to begin with.)
• Staðarstaður, Iceland (Staður means "a pastor's farm" and is a common suffix to the names of such farms -- this means "Pastors farm which is a pastor's farm")
• Timor-Leste, East Timor, (East East - Indonesian/Malay, Portuguese) - Note: this is the eastern half of an island that is the easternmost major island in its chain.
• Trendle Ring earthwork in Somerset, England (Circle Circle)
• Val d'Aran, Spain (Valley Valley - Gascon and Euskara (Basque))
• Vista View Elementary School, Minnesota (View View Elementary School - Spanish)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Pleonasm
• RAS syndrome