Help request -- wiki lists

[Dan Tilque]

I recently created three new wiki-lists:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geographic_names_derived_from_acronyms_and_initialisms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geographic_names_derived_from_portmanteaus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geographic_names_derived_from_anagrams_and_ananyms

Ananyms are what I've always called a reversal. That is, a name created
by spelling some other name or word backwards.

The distinction I make between acronyms and initialisms is that acronyms
are abbreviations of some specific multi-word term, while initialisms
are from sets of names that can be reordered as needed. That's the way I
used them, anyway, because I couldn't come up with a good term for the
latter group. Acrostic is close, but those are usually the first letters
of words, sentences, lines, or paragraphs of some kind of text (often a
poem), so it didn't seem to quite fit.

Anyway, the main problem with them lists is that there are very few
entries from outside North America. The bulk of them are from the US and
there's a fair number from Canada. But there's less than 10 total on the
three lists combined from the rest of the world. (I counted 7, but may
have missed one or two. There's none at all in the anagram/ananym file.)

So I'm asking if anyone has any additions. You can either tell me or
make the additions yourself.


PS Pakistan and Benelux are already there, so I'll save you bother of
looking for those.

PPS There's a couple initialisms in recent use for some subsets of
European countries (e.g. PIIGS = Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and
Spain) but those are economic rather than geographic terms.

--
Dan Tilque

[Erland Sommarskog]

Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
> Anyway, the main problem with them lists is that there are very few
> entries from outside North America. The bulk of them are from the US and
> there's a fair number from Canada. But there's less than 10 total on the
> three lists combined from the rest of the world. (I counted 7, but may
> have missed one or two. There's none at all in the anagram/ananym file.)

It might be because it is only in that part of the world, you get such
funny ideas. :-)

Or at least, such names are much more likely to be found in the New World,
than the Old, since places generally are younger and the history of the
name is known.

Over here, names have undergone transformation and reinterpreation
over the years. The most well-known example might be Constatinopel that
became Istanbul. Nearby where I grew up there is a place Åhus, which
you could read as "brook-house". However, I believe the original name
is Aros, which means nothing today, but originally meant "mouth of
brook". (Indeed, one arm of the province's biggest brooks runs to the
sea in Åhus.)

So there could be names that initially were for instance portmanteaus, but
you would easily recognize them as such.

I was able to think of one in list of Neighbourhood names. There is one
area in central Stockholm which sometimes is referred to as SOFO, which
would be "South of Folkungagatan". Maybe there also some relation to
Sofia, which is a church and a parish in that area. But it is not in general
use, and I have a sense it's mainly used by real estate agents, which
tends to come up with all sorts of chic names.

[Dan Tilque]

Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
>> Anyway, the main problem with them lists is that there are very few
>> entries from outside North America. The bulk of them are from the US and
>> there's a fair number from Canada. But there's less than 10 total on the
>> three lists combined from the rest of the world. (I counted 7, but may
>> have missed one or two. There's none at all in the anagram/ananym file.)
>
> It might be because it is only in that part of the world, you get such
> funny ideas. :-)
>
> Or at least, such names are much more likely to be found in the New World,
> than the Old, since places generally are younger and the history of the
> name is known.

Well, yes, I didn't expect a huge number of them from
Europe/Asia/Adfrica, but a few more than what I have. And maybe some
from Australia. That would be nice.

And I expect I'm missing some from Latin America. Don't have anything
from there except Mexicali, which is just across the border from Calexico.

>
> Over here, names have undergone transformation and reinterpreation
> over the years.

Yes, the preface of one book on place name etymology points out that New
World specialists work much like historians and hunt down primary
records, while Old World toponymologists (is that a word?) work more
like linguists reconstructing a dead language.

>
> I was able to think of one in list of Neighbourhood names. There is one
> area in central Stockholm which sometimes is referred to as SOFO, which
> would be "South of Folkungagatan". Maybe there also some relation to
> Sofia, which is a church and a parish in that area. But it is not in general
> use, and I have a sense it's mainly used by real estate agents, which
> tends to come up with all sorts of chic names.

Yeah, I've already rejected a couple such which seemed to be only real
estate hype. (Everyone has to copy SoHo in NY. And they copied Soho in
London, but that wasn't an acronym.) There's probably some more that I
should have rejected on that basis, but it's hard to judge unless you
live in that metropolitan area.


--
Dan Tilque

[Erland Sommarskog]

Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
> And I expect I'm missing some from Latin America. Don't have anything
> from there except Mexicali, which is just across the border from Calexico.

One could think there are some. Then again, they are not as terse as
you in the north, but they can gladly have towns called things Libertador
General San Martín.

I saw you had a few street names. I don't know about these; were the
abbreivation just created for the streets?

In Sweden I found two instances of Aseavägen (in Bollnäs and Robertsfors).
Asea is originally an acronym - Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget -
but it has since long been a name of its own. (Today you find it as the
A in ABB, ASEA-Brown Boveri.) So I would not really count it.

[Dan Tilque]

Erland Sommarskog wrote:
> Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:
>

> I saw you had a few street names. I don't know about these; were the
> abbreivation just created for the streets?

I asked for help in a different forum and others supplied them. I
haven't googled them, but I expect they're existing acronyms for the
utilities.

>
> In Sweden I found two instances of Aseavägen (in Bollnäs and Robertsfors).
> Asea is originally an acronym - Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget -
> but it has since long been a name of its own. (Today you find it as the
> A in ABB, ASEA-Brown Boveri.) So I would not really count it.

Age doesn't make a difference. I'll consider it.

--
Dan Tilque

[Erland Sommarskog]

Dan Tilque (dti...@frontier.com) writes:

> Erland Sommarskog wrote:
>> In Sweden I found two instances of Aseavägen (in Bollnäs and
>> Robertsfors). Asea is originally an acronym - Allmänna Svenska
>> Elektriska Aktiebolaget - but it has since long been a name of its own.
>> (Today you find it as the A in ABB, ASEA-Brown Boveri.) So I would not
>> really count it.
>
> Age doesn't make a difference. I'll consider it.
>

It occurred to me that there is an Agavägen on Lidingö, which is a city
adjacent to Stockholm. Aga comes from AGA, Allmänna Gasaccumulator,
a company stated by amongs others Nobel laureate Gustaf Dalén. Their had
their head office on that street. (The company as such no longer exists, but
is now now part of Linde AG.)

There is also an Agavägen in Kalmar and Sandviken, and I will have to assume
they are also named after the company. There is a Swedish word "aga",
but it seems unlikely that some would name a street "Corporal Punishment
Street".