Fifee

Glasgow in Scots Gaelic is Ghlaschu which is the Gaelic form of an older language. In reading this thread I've had a quick snoop around the web and found that many English names of locales around here are derived again from Scots Gaelic. Makes me wonder if any area names are just English rather than the English translation of Gaelic.

ptquilts

And when we do borrow a name, we change the pronounciation.

Vee-enna Austria -- VI-enna, VA.

Ber-LIN, Germany -- BER-lin, NH

Lee-ma, Peru -- LI-ma, OH.

Stootgart, Germany - Stuttgart, AR.

DogHouseMom

For those of you who are interested in the evolution of the English Language (up to and including "new" words added from the America's, Australia, and other "English" speaking nations) I highly recommend reading ...

The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg. Actually, I recommend listening to it on audio books as you can hear the changes the language underwent.

It was also made into a BBC tv series. One of these days I'm going to find a copy of it.

The book was excellent!!

My husband is an English immigrant and he and I constantly do battle over the language. He is often mystified how places with names like Macinac is pronounced Macinaw, and Illinois is pronounced Illinoy. I am befuddled how the English spell Grossvenor and pronounce it Grovenor, and they say "shedule" but not "shool" when they both have the same Sch beginning.

So just when you think what a travesty the American's have made of the English language, we come by it honestly as the English have managed to screw up a good bit of it all by themselves

Carol34446

I live in Homosassa, also an Indian name.

Dawnmarieodya

I lived in Oconomowoc Wisconsin named after a tribe of Indians who walked and walked to find a place to live and the lead Indian said he (can no more walk) so this is a true story as to the name of my home town. Really funny how towns are named.The Indians settled there on the spot.

purplefiend

The full name of the city of Los Angeles was: El Pueblo Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.
It was originally settled by Spaniards.
Sharon in Texas

Chester the bunny

Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick -- meaning "river of long tides"

maviskw

My husband has been telling this one for as long as I have known him. In Vermont (he thinks it's in Vermont), there is a lake called "Lake Sha-gug-a-gug man-chug-a-gug she-bunna-gunna ga-mog.
It means: "You fish on your side of the lake and I'll fish on my side of the lake and he who fishes in the middle gets an arrow in the back."
You can just imagine a small boy learning that and remembering that for the rest of his life.
It is actually in an atlas that he had. He gave it away.

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Alondra

Just south of Houston, there's a town originally settled by Danish, called Danevang. We also have many German, Polish, and Czech town names. On the 1850 census, San Antonio had more Germans than Mexicans. Even most San Antonians don't know that. English is an interesting language, because it has absorbed so many foreign words, which we hardly even recognize as foreign. We sit out on our patios in good weather and send our kiddos to Kindergarten; our teenagers drive us "berserk" (straight out of Old Icelandic); we sometimes enjoy eating Wienerschnitzel and kraut and dolmades and crepes Suzette and piroschki. On second thought, we don't seem to have a word for "patio" in English ("deck" doesn't quite do the trick). What would we sit out on if we didn't borrow "patio"? Oh, and I wear my mukluks and parka when it's cold and slushy, don't you?

Alondra

Lots of Indian names in Florida - Tallahassee, Mikosukee, Okeefenokee, and Atchafalaya in Louisiana. Then there's the Chattahoochee River. Most people think Texas comes from a Spanish word, but it doesn't - it's from the Tejas Indians.