16
votes
Was California named after a Moorish ruler called Queen Calafia?
No, that doesn't seem a likely explanation, not after 750 years of reconquista. The answer is for now: we don't know.
From Wikipedia:
Spanish explorers in the 16th century, when they first ...
- 20.9k
15
votes
Accepted
What was the source of "presidium" as used by the Soviets?
The observable evolution seems to be
Latin → French → German → Russian → English
The Russian source is Latin with perhaps a detour via usage in German organsational forms.
The precursor to the ...
- 80.8k
11
votes
Accepted
What was the flower of Empress Taytu?
Ascertaining details in legends might be a good thing. But it is a legend and curiously lacks detail, leaving open a huge space for projections and arbitrary symbols, to be filled by listeners. And ...
- 80.8k
10
votes
Novgorod means "New city". Given such name, what were the old cities in the region?
Well, it seems before IXth century there was a city Gorodishche (literally: eclosure). In IXth century a new fort "Novgorod" was founded nearby the old fort. It seems the name is meant to contrast the ...
- 32.5k
9
votes
What is a "barso"? (ref. Richard Cocks' diaries)
The meaning of "barso" is clearer than its origin. Samuli Kaislaniemi analyzed it in his PhD thesis Reconstructing Merchant Multilingualism : Lexical Studies of Early English East India ...
- 27.6k
9
votes
When did the word "Holodomor" appear?
When did the word Holodomor appear?
Wikipedia explains the etymology of holodomor as follows:
The word Holodomor literally translated from Ukrainian means "death by hunger", or "to kill by hunger, ...
- 1,900
7
votes
Accepted
Does the term Gododdin ultimately derive from the Norse god Odin?
Votadini is the Latin version of the name which dates at least to the 2nd century when the tribe appears on Ptolemy's map of Britain as the Otadini. The early middle ages spelling of Guotodin reflects ...
- 419
6
votes
Accepted
When names of these countries were first called
India
The classical Latin was "India" taken from the Sanskrit "Sindhu" and Persian "Hindu" possibly referring to any large river which formed a natural border. The Greeks ...
- 54.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Why was Ormond Castle in Scotland so called?
Ormond Castle was named after the hill it stood on, Ormond Hill. It is now impossible to trace how the name came about, but the Scottish antiquarian John Pinkerton says it was apparently an ancient ...
- 97.4k
6
votes
Accepted
How quickly did the term "nuclear fission" spread?
From the book, Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima there is this comment:
Bohr urged Frisch to write a paper with Lise Meitner as soon as
possible and promised to say nothing ...
- 1,764
5
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of the name Fallopian tubes?
The instrument referred to as 'tuba' in this context was simply the trumpet, rather than the modern instrument named tuba ('tuba' being the Latin word for 'trumpet').
In his book Obseruationes ...
- 77.3k
5
votes
When did the word "Holodomor" appear?
The December 26, 1925 issue of СВОБОДА (SVOBODA, "FREEDOM"), a Ukrainian language daily newspaper from Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, tagged "Official Organ of the Ukrainian National ...
- 1,743
5
votes
Accepted
What is the etymological origin of the Marsi, the ancient Italic people?
Ancient accounts for etymologies can be enlightening and at the same time be quite misleading. What's still true today: in all cases that involve folk etymology, the real, linguistic etymology may be ...
- 80.8k
5
votes
Novgorod means "New city". Given such name, what were the old cities in the region?
The Primary Chronicle of Kievan Rus' lists some of the early cities, fortresses or trading posts, including
Beloozero (Belozersk)
Murom
Novgorod
Polotsk
Rostov
Izborsk (though it is unclear whether ...
- 2,580
5
votes
Why in English do we say "Tsar of all (the) Russias"?
When Tzar Peter I. proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721, this was connected to a state ideology that saw Russia as a triune nation, one nation with three comprising regional sub-nations (Триединый ...
- 2,805
5
votes
What is the relationship (if any) between Skøyen and Skøyenåsen in Oslo?
It was two different farms with the same name (Bull, Akers historie, p. 11).
(The map shows the oldest names, from the Bronze age or earlier.)
So Skøyenåsen belonged to Nordre Skøyen in East Aker.
- 2,703
4
votes
What is the etymology of the word "Mehrgarh", one of the earliest Neolithic site in South Asia?
This reportage by Pakistani newspaper Dawn hints at a Balochi etymology for the name Mehrgarh:
In native Balochi, 'mehr' stands for love and 'garh' for heaven, translating Mehrgarh into ‘the heaven ...
- 5,829
4
votes
What is the etymology of the word "Mehrgarh", one of the earliest Neolithic site in South Asia?
This isn't a definitive answer, so much as a research dump, but perhaps it may help someone else come up with one.
It appears that the site was "discovered" (archeologically that is) in 1974 ...
- 118k
4
votes
What was the flower of Empress Taytu?
Though mostly recent works,several published books claim it was the bloom of the Mimosa Tree, also known as the Persian Silk Tree.
(image from The Mimosa Tree Complete Guide)
From the book
Ethiopia ...
- 38.7k
4
votes
What does the Vietnamese name "Nguyen" actually mean?
To quote a relevant article on Atlas Obscura:
Ruan itself might come from an ancient Chinese state of the same name,
or maybe from the ancient lute-like instrument also called a ruan. Who
knows?...
- 18.8k
4
votes
What is the etymology of the word "slave"?
Slavic slaves were very common in Europe in Medieval times. One standard rout was Islamic slave trade from Balcans were the slaves were taken to the markets in Europe as far as Spain. Another rout ...
- 38.5k
3
votes
Was the ancient Pontic city of Athenai (Ἀθῆναι) related to Athens?
Note: I contributed to a number of articles on the Trebizond Empire for Wikipedia, so while I do not claim to be an expert on this subject, I can speak with some authority on the available scholarship....
- 730
3
votes
Was the pigment minium (lead oxide) named after the river Minus in Iberia?
Abelardo Moralejo Laso addressed the etymology of the river's name in the 1980 article "Notas acerca de la hidronimia galega" (pp. 167-170). You are correct that there is no cinnabar near the Miño ...
- 27.6k
3
votes
What was the flower of Empress Taytu?
With the caveat that one arguably can't prove a negative, this doesn't seem to have gotten captured in historical records - or at least not those indexed by Google and Google Scholar. Seeing how there ...
- 23.2k
2
votes
Why in English do we say "Tsar of all (the) Russias"?
Before the Mongol invasion the words "Rus", and "Russian land" meant a neighborhood of Kyiv.
For example, in the Primary Chronicle, a person traveling from Vladimir to Kiev was ...
- 38.5k
2
votes
History of the Garani village in FYROM
It appears this may be based on Gorani, which are an ethnic group found throughtout the Gora Region. (Searching led to one site which stated Gorani as an alternate to Garani). The village name may ...
- 38.7k
2
votes
Was the ancient Pontic city of Athenai (Ἀθῆναι) related to Athens?
In short: probably yes.
Prokopios mentions the village only to refute the local tradition that it had been founded by its more famous namesake. Scholars have shared this skepticism and thus largely ...
- 80.8k
2
votes
What is the origin of the name Fallopian tubes?
The first mention of the structure is attributed to Herophilos of Chalkedon, a Greek doctor who taught in Alexandria around 300 BC. Further descriptions followed, but it was Gabriele Falloppio (1523-...
- 80.8k
1
vote
What is a "barso"? (ref. Richard Cocks' diaries)
My immediate assumption was that it was an anglicisation of Spanish vaso (pronounced /'baso/), meaning 'cup/glass/drinking vessel', since he also anglicises Spanish recado (message) as recardo:
“...
- 1,004
1
vote
Why was Ormond Castle in Scotland so called?
From Illustrated guide to Fortrose and vicinity
By Angus John Beaton (1885)
Apparently it was also called 'Lady Hill". Another source discusses this:
This castle of which only the foundations can ...
- 38.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible