Wikidata lists 'Kəngsargad' as the Azeri name of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States (click 'All entered languages'). Googling 'Kəngsargad' gets only Harrisburg-related results as well - such as Azeri-language weather forecasts for Harrisburg, or 'driving directions to Kəngsargad, PA, US', or even the Azeri Wikipedia article on Newt Gingrich, which notes his birthplace as being Kəngsargad. Notably, however, the az.wikipedia article on Harrisburg itself does not mention the name Kəngsargad anywhere, only Harrisburq.

It strikes me as quite strange that Azeri would have a name for an American town that bears so little resemblance to English one - especially when the town in question isn't even one that's particularly well-known outside the US (or even outside Pennsylvania). So I wonder, is this name even legitimate? The hypothesis that comes to mind for me is that perhaps someone put it into a toponymic database by mistake, intending to place it as the name for some other location (possibly one starting with "Kings-" or a cognate thereof). On the other hand, if that were the case, I'd expect to find references to Kəngsargad somewhere on the internet where it refers to whatever the intended referent was - and everything's all just pointing to Harrisburg. Anyone have any idea what's going on?

E.G Dartmouth college being named after the earl of Dartmouth William Legge is named after his earldom as opposed to his name (for instance calling it Legge college) or New York being named after the Duke of york, or Warwick in Bermuda being named after the earl of Warwick

Meanwhile, I don't see any other Ancient Greeks like Archimedes or Aristotle honored in the same way.

As the title says, I'm looking for any resources that list the elements of place names. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks! •~•

Hello! Looking at placenames in Northern Colorado, I noticed that the state has cities of Wellington, Windsor, and Westminster, all about an hour within one another. Given that the state was settled a hundred years after independence, I wondered if there was a historical reason for these cities to be given such strongly British names. Perhaps a wave of English immigrants made an ethnic community or land speculators hoped to attract British investors with familiar names, or perhaps at a height of Victorian power, it was fashionable to allude to Britain.

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In English all I can think of is how some people sometimes tongue-in-cheek call Marbella 'Marbs' or Ibiza 'Beefa'

So I'm wondering how widespread this is in other European languages!

This was inspired by this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Toponymy/comments/gxo9u7/oc_fully_anglicised_japan_based_off_actual/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

And I originally posted it on Twitter, where Kota Baru was Istana Baru: https://x.com/un_petit_mangue/status/1764679645293932748?s=20

https://preview.redd.it/yq8d1c1ycmmc1.png?width=1021&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a2e42e4926548a9b47642a97058ca4345f67916

Also related: r/malaysia

Hi folks, I am looking for publications/resources about Welsh-language names for places in England. This could take the form of a gazetteer or an etymology/linguistics article or book. I am an archaeologist who is interested in Wales and England in the Early Medieval period. Studying placenames is a big part of this research and I think that this topic is a goldmine of lost historical information. However, I am not a linguist and I am at a loss where to start researching this - I have not had much luck online. I would be grateful if anyone could give me pointers about how to go about researching this, especially if there are any Welsh linguists who might know more about this. Thank you!

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I'm writing a story and I need to know when place names in Britain changed from Latin to what they are today. For example, when did Londinium become London?

I understand, or at least think I understand, the Semitic consonant ‘ayn. It's a voiced h. Or the consonant equivalent of the vowel a, similar to the relationship between w and u. It's an open glottis, in contrast to a glottal stop. Practicing it in the mirror, I figured out it's using the muscles attached to my hyoid bone and thyroid, to pull down the back of my tongue. And really no other voluntary muscle movement.

Whilst learning beginning Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic, I've gotten used to ‘ayn between two vowels. But I still struggle with consonant clusters, for lack of a better term, involving (C + ‘ayn) + V.

When I see a place name like Bil‘īn (بلعين), my feeling is that I should be dropping the root of my tongue during, or immediately following, pronouncing the l, which then turns the following long i into almost a nasalized e sound. I imagine someone from Limerick, Ireland saying "I'd be lyin'...", except without the "I'd".

Do I have it about right?

The title, many European colony names were derived from monarchs and personal names and -ana(or something like that) seems to be a common suffix, at least in romance languages. Terra Mariana from Latin, Louisiana from French, Philippines from Spanish etc.

When I try to google it just shows me which names those toponyms are derived from (Mary, Louis, Felipe) and doesn't say anything about the suffix. Was it just random? Does it have a name? How would I even do it If I wanted to make up something similar from Fernando or Carlos? Fernandona? Carlosana?

I am aware of the "-ana" suffix as in "related to, shout out to" suffix as in (Mozartiana, Ottomana, Americana) but its wikipedia page doesn't even mention toponyms nor none of the examples I listed. Are they related or something? Cognates? Same suffix that I misunderstood?

My friend's grandma (Chinese) says she used to live in "丹绒芸林" in Sumatra, Indonesia. She couldn't provide further information. "丹绒芸林" sounds similar to "Tanjong Yunlin" in English, but I couldn't find anything related on Google. The only guess I can make is that this place might be a "埠", which means "port" or Chinese immigration center.

My friend and I are super curious as to where this place is. Plz help!