09-06-2022, 04:05 PM
A lot of us enjoy inventing our own fictional universes: I myself have invented several . But, when we do that, we need to come up with names for the places within our universe (whether they be cities, countries, or even planets). So, how do we do that? The above video, by 'Hello Future Me', gives some tips:
- Place names usually tell us about the geography, the history, or the people. The place name will be derived from a natural or man-made feature (e.g. a river); a historical or legendary event (e.g. a battle); or after an important individual (or the people group themselves). It can be helpful to construct your own language to give yourself words and affixes that can be used in these place names (e.g. words for 'mountain' or 'castle'), but that's a matter for another thread .
- Furthermore, place names will often be derived from something meaningful to the inhabitants. For example, the city of Boston used to be known to the Europeans as 'Trimount' (after the three hills), and to the native Americans as 'Shawmut' (derived from 'place to ferry across'). The land was what the Europeans most valued - but the ability to ferry across was what the native Americans most valued.
- Another important thing to bear in mind is how place names change over time. Language evolves: pronunciations change, and sometimes original meanings are lost (for example, 'Avon' just means 'river', but this meaning was lost over time, so we have to refer to this river as the 'River Avon' (even though this technically means "River River" ).
- Also, consider that names are a reflection of who is in power. When a new regime takes over, it might choose a new name for the place in order to assert itself, and its enemies might carry on using the old name (Just look at how Constantinople became Istanbul: the Turks took over in 1453, but Europeans carried on using the old Greek name right through the 1900s!).
- Finally, name places reflect migration patterns. Even if a people group no longer lives in a given region, they might leave behind a linguistic legacy in their place names. For example, large parts of eastern England used to be controlled by Vikings in the 800s - and even today, a large number of towns and cities there (e.g. Durham, Skegness, Grimsby) have names that are derived at least in part from Old Norse!
So, does this give you any ideas at all? And, if you enjoy creating your own fictional worlds, how do you come up with your place names?
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