Atlas of True Names

[Edric O]

Ever wonder what all the place names in the world actually mean? I think we all know that most names of towns, rivers, mountains and so on had some very specific meanings originally, but our languages have evolved and changed while the names stayed the same - with the result that we don't understand what the names mean any more.

Well, apparently, a team of cartographers wanted to solve this problem by creating an Atlas of True Names - an Atlas of the world with all the usual names replaced by translations of their literal, original meaning. You can see the British Isles and part of North America on their website - but unfortunately the rest of the world is only available in the print version that actually costs money:

http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html

Still, it's worth a look.

[MrFlibble]

As a linguist, I appreciate such an initiative :)

[Dunenewt]

I'm not quite sure how accurate this is, it seems like a mixture of actual translations and literal translations.  It shows a 'Cape of Strangers', which seems to encompass an area which doesn't really have a name as a whole as well.  Still, its quite accurate.