Your finger you fool!

[Wild Weasel]

In The Light Fantastic , Terry Pratchet gave us 'the only forest in the universe to be called - in the local language - Your Finger You Fool. It's the idea of miscommunication between natives and foreigners, where the intrepid explorer would grab a bewildered local, point at a distant landmark and demand loudly to be told what it was called. In the book this meant landmarks all over the Discworld (on which the story is based) were called things like 'Just a hill', 'I don't know, what ?' and of course 'Your finger you fool'.

This, of course, is supposed to exist on our world. Supposedly 'Yucatan' means 'I don't understand you', and whilst it's not exactly the same thing, I was suprised to learn on last night's The Weakest Link that Montevideo means 'I can see a mountain from here' in Portugese.

So, is this true ? Are there many place names that sound so exotic to the ears of anglophones merely exclamations of confusion or statements of plain fact in the local tongue ?

 

[Zwelgje]

Originally posted by Wild Weasel
This, of course, is supposed to exist on our world. Supposedly 'Yucatan' means 'I don't understand you', and whilst it's not exactly the same thing, I was suprised to learn on last night's The Weakest Link that Montevideo means 'I can see a mountain from here' in Portugese.

So, is this true ? Are there many place names that sound so exotic to the ears of anglophones merely exclamations of confusion or statements of plain fact in the local tongue ?

The Montevideo story is confirmed here: The Solis fleet sailed another twenty leagues south and legend says that a Portuguese mariner on seeing a hill, cried "Monte vi eu" (I saw a hill) and this is the origin of the name Montevideo
Didn't find a more reliable source so far.

 

[allan2]

I heard somewhere once that "Canada" came from Kanata, a local Native American term (forget which tribe) that meant "small village". Apparently Cartier or some other explorer asked some locals what was over that way (pointing), and they replied "kanata."

 

[ainwood]

I heard that America was named after Americus Vespucci. However, documents found show that he spelled his name Emericus.

It therefore follows that the good ol' US of A should in fact be the US of E.

 

[napoleon526]

Originally posted by ainwood
I heard that America was named after Americus Vespucci. However, documents found show that he spelled his name Emericus.

It therefore follows that the good ol' US of A should in fact be the US of E.

His name was Amerigo Vespucci, and he was the second major explorer to come to the new world. He was also the guy that figured out that the place he had traveled to was another continent, not India as Columbus thought. A mapmaker working to record Vespucci's travels had to think up a name for the newly discovered continent, so he called it "America".

 

[duke o' york]

Damn! I was just about to say that!

 

[ainwood]

Reference:

At his baptism the navigator Vespucci was called Emericus, or in Italian, Amerigo. In the 16th century Americus Vespucius gave the two continents known as North and South America his name. The word 'America' is derived from 'Americus' a Latin form of Emeric.

Baptised as "Emericus", went by "Americus" or "Amerigo"???

Not sure. I have found references to Emericus, Amerigo and Americus (and varients on his last name too!). One thing is certain - they are all talking about the same person.

 

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by ainwood
Baptised as "Emericus", went by "Americus" or "Amerigo"???

Just a bilingual names. Emericus is Latin (church Latin) Amerigo is Italian.

compare with

Christopher Columbus
Christephoro Columbo
Cristobal Colon

 

[Becka]

Originally posted by civ1-addict
The Montevideo story is confirmed here: The Solis fleet sailed another twenty leagues south and legend says that a Portuguese mariner on seeing a hill, cried "Monte vi eu" (I saw a hill) and this is the origin of the name Montevideo
Didn't find a more reliable source so far.

Awww, now all my junior high knowledge is for naught!


We had vocabulary cards of words that had Latin and Greek roots in 7th and 8th grade. They said that Montevideo means "mountain view"

 

[Zwelgje]

My Latin isn't that great but...
monte = mountain
video = I see
Someone correct me if I'm wrong though, it has been 9 years already since my last class of Latin.

 

[Becka]

Originally posted by civ1-addict
My Latin isn't that great but...
monte = mountain
video = I see
Someone correct me if I'm wrong though, it has been 9 years already since my last class of Latin.

Well, my cards could be wrong. I woudn't be surprised after the awful definition they gave of photosynthesis.

 

[Supernaut]

I don't know about Yucatan, but Kangaroo means 'I don't understand' in Aboriginal.

 

[polymath]

Yeah, I heard the Kangaroo one, but I heard it as 'I don't know'. Pretty similar anyway.

 

[damunzy]

Here's my finger

 

[Ohwell]

Palehorse Spammed! SPAM!

I find it interesting to see these... you should see the list of Canadian town names

 

[allan2]

There was a big construction job going on up in Deadhorse, Alaska, once, and my buddy and I thought of going up there....

Well, we looked at a map, and figured out a possible theory of why the place got its name. It's way up near the top of Alaska (near Prudhoe Bay), and so some poor sucker probably rode up there once and his horse died of the cold--hope the guy had enough meat for the winter then!

Anyway, the job was going on in January of some year, and they were setting people up in man-camps, so--we didn't go.... (If it were in the summer it might have been nice though.)

 

[allan2]

Another funny name--Deeth, Nevada.

Not "Death", but DEETH. Might as well be "Death" though....

 

[mrog]

This may be apocryphal, but apparently Australia's capital city "Canberra" means "breasts" in the language of the people indiginous to the area.

The story is that the locals named the area after what the surounding hills looked like.

 

[Switch625]

Originally posted by mrog
This may be apocryphal, but apparently Australia's capital city "Canberra" means "breasts" in the language of the people indiginous to the area.

The story is that the locals named the area after what the surounding hills looked like.

I can believe that. After all, the United States has the "Grand Teton" mountains. That's slightly corrupt Spanish for "Large Breasts."

 

[Becka]

This may be apocryphal, but apparently Australia's capital city "Canberra" means "breasts" in the language of the people indiginous to the area.

The story is that the locals named the area after what the surounding hills looked like.

Originally posted by Switch625
I can believe that. After all, the United States has the "Grand Teton" mountains. That's slightly corrupt Spanish for "Large Breasts."

Egads!!! What is it with you men? Sex can't be your entire life. Why couldn't Canberra or Grand Teton be "Big Fluffy Cloud Mountain" or something nice like that?

Goodness gracious, I'll never understand them.