When researching the Punjab region I had to pay attention to how that would affect Harappan city sites. This made me realise that all Indus Valley civilization cities currently have contemporary names, based on the villages and locations the ruins were found in modern times.
That's not optimal. Those names come from different languages (for example, Harappa is Punjabi, and Mohenjo-daro is Sindhi) and are evocative more of the current cultures living there than the ancient civilization.
Of course, the problem and reason for this is that the Indus Valley script has not been translated yet and we do not know anything about their language. Still, I think we can do better than what we have right now. For example, the wiki article for Mohenjo-daro mentions the proposed name Kukkutarma for the city, which from my understanding of the sources is based on analysis of its seal and connections to Old Tamil / Dravidian. I also found some opinions that associate the city/place Hari-Yupiya mentioned in the Rigveda with Harappa.
Those are obviously far away from definite names those places actually had, but in my opinion still preferable to modern place names. Anything that gets us closer to the time period and language of the IVC is an improvement in my opinion, even if it is from foreign contemporaneous sources. It would definitely be better than the current hodgepodge of Punjabi, Sindhi, and Hindi names we have right now.
I also like the approach taken by @Steb for his Olmec civ, another culture whose city names have been lost to time: taking modern city names and translating their literal meaning into the closest related language we know. In the case of the IVC, this would probably be an ancient Dravidian language (even though that connection is also still speculative).
Opinions? Would someone be willing to do further research into this? The list of potential Harappan city names isn't that long so if we could find approximate versions for them we could make a big step forward. Especially if it concerns the likely sites most players will settle.
That's not optimal. Those names come from different languages (for example, Harappa is Punjabi, and Mohenjo-daro is Sindhi) and are evocative more of the current cultures living there than the ancient civilization.
Of course, the problem and reason for this is that the Indus Valley script has not been translated yet and we do not know anything about their language. Still, I think we can do better than what we have right now. For example, the wiki article for Mohenjo-daro mentions the proposed name Kukkutarma for the city, which from my understanding of the sources is based on analysis of its seal and connections to Old Tamil / Dravidian. I also found some opinions that associate the city/place Hari-Yupiya mentioned in the Rigveda with Harappa.
Those are obviously far away from definite names those places actually had, but in my opinion still preferable to modern place names. Anything that gets us closer to the time period and language of the IVC is an improvement in my opinion, even if it is from foreign contemporaneous sources. It would definitely be better than the current hodgepodge of Punjabi, Sindhi, and Hindi names we have right now.
I also like the approach taken by @Steb for his Olmec civ, another culture whose city names have been lost to time: taking modern city names and translating their literal meaning into the closest related language we know. In the case of the IVC, this would probably be an ancient Dravidian language (even though that connection is also still speculative).
Opinions? Would someone be willing to do further research into this? The list of potential Harappan city names isn't that long so if we could find approximate versions for them we could make a big step forward. Especially if it concerns the likely sites most players will settle.
