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Thread: Toponomy, or How to Name Places!

  1. #21
    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Gidde's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dogzilla View Post
    I like to make a mini-language, just a few hundred words, making sure you have words for things like natural features, colors, Gods, common adjectives, etc. The you can convert your English names to more exotic-sounding names, but you have a pattern and a consistency you wouldn't have if you just made up random names.
    For maximum consistency, you'd have to have some Religion, Culture, and History developed before you name most of your places.
    Probably too much work for a quick map, but for a world you plan to spend a lot of time on, I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.
    Holly Lisle did a great (drm-free e-)book on a simple way of creating a realistic language that if you're into spending a few dollars on, I found really useful. It's a great addition to my (rapidly expanding) worldbuilding library.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Diamond View Post
    I do that as well. Just a simple lexicon, just enough to get me going. Then, as the map progresses and I find myself in need of new words, I add 'em in, making sure to check with consistency and 'feel' with the original group.

    For maps which are based on real-world cultures or nations, like France or Italy, I've found a couple of random name-generators which are very useful:

    http://direpress.bin.sh/tools/name.html

    http://www.squid.org/rpg-random-generator

    http://nine.frenchboys.net/

    I'm sure these are very widely known amongst this community, but hey, I like 'em.
    Thank you so so so so so so so so sooooooooo much.

  3. #23
    Guild Member Facebook Connected wisemoon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pegasos989 View Post
    While others have already mentioned that English, German, Japanese, etc. names form as they do, I'll add Finnish names to that list.<clip excellent post for space>
    I just wanted to add (for those few who may not know) that J.R.R. Tolkien based his Elvish Quenya language on Finnish. So, if you wanted a Tolkien-ish feel without completely ripping him off, using Finnish as a base would probably do it.

    Also...someone mentioned Holly Lisle's _Create a Language Clinic_, and I just wanted to add my props to that mention. Holly Lisle's writing instruction materials are all very well thought-out, and pretty clearly written. She makes no claim to "Ultimate Writing Technique Mystical TRUTH" but just gives her own methods as succinctly as possible. So if you are making maps for Roleplaying Games (which involve story) or for your own fiction, I highly recommend you give her site a look-over. She has a lot of stuff that totally free, as well as more detailed instruction that costs money. And even the stuff that you pay for has a range--some is very cheap for the amount of information she gives, and there are even more extensive works that cost more.

    And no--I am not getting paid for this or compensated in any other way (LOL). I have many of her "Clinics" though, and have also taken her "How to Think Sideways" course. Just thought I'd throw a plug out there for her, since I've gotten a lot out of her work.

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  4. #24

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    Just read through this, and found it interesting, so I'll add my own little tuppence.

    One of my favourite places, when it comes to looking at Toponomy has to be "Torpenhow Hill" in England.
    This name, as I understand it, basically means "Hillhillhill Hill"; "Tor", "pen", and "how" all meaning hill in different languages (Old English, Welsh and Danish I think) - I guess it goes to show, that when a new power arise in a region they may use old toponomy, but add to it themselves. And I find that rather interesting.

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    Now that's too darn funny; but very enlightening.
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    Guild Journeyer arakish's Avatar
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    Just read this thread and liked all posts. I also tend to create a whole new language for the people who created the names. One web site I found helpful that has been up for the last 13+ years: The Language Construction Kit. Holly Lisle's site seems good, but it also seems you have to buy the book to get all of it. The LCK is free.

    While my wife was still alive, she and I created the Vinyarik language with about 18,000 words. Alas, I no longer have the notebooks for this language like Holly Lisle suggested.

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  7. #27
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    On my map of Paidixira, the world is supposed to have a decidedly greek influence, so i kept a nifty greek translator site on bookmark at all times and translated a couple words together any time I needed a name. I went the same direction naming animals too: a hound with an axe shaped head is called a Xikouri combining the greek words for "axe" and "hound." I also recommend the site Behind The Name for anyone struggling to come up with forenames for characters. Not only do they have the etymology of thousands of names, but they also have tons of statistics and historical connections about names.

    I've found things to be decidedly easier when taking from established languages. Behind all of the names i've made, I recognize the whisper of a real city or country. Some of the names have come out looking very alien (for example, trying to name forests often uses the root "Xylo" for wood, which has the odd effect of obscuring the meaning of a name whenever I use it.) but i'm using a blunt tool and one can't expect too much. I'm interested in using some of the techniques mentioned in this thread, so i hope my two cents have at least a glimmer of the usefulness your suggestions did.

  8. #28
    Community Leader Facebook Connected tilt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by arakish View Post
    While my wife was still alive, she and I created the Vinyarik language with about 18,000 words. Alas, I no longer have the notebooks for this language like Holly Lisle suggested.
    rmfr
    very impressive - thats a lot of work
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    i wish you still had those notebooks... that would be a real piece of work...

  10. #30
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    For those who'd like to use french as a basis for your toponymy, there are a few facts that are worth knowing (especially if you plan to give it a medieval feeling).

    Lots of places are named (as in any language, I guess) after landmarks : rivers, hills,... or after what the place was used for in the first place.

    For example, if you want to use landmarks :

    - The french city of Bordeaux is named after the fact it is a coastal city. Bordeaux a contraction of "bord des eaux", which could be translated as "water side".
    - The town of Liège is named after a small river that crossed it before it was "forced" underground, the river Légia.
    - You can find a whole lot of places with names like Montrouge (red hill), Le Chesne ("chesne" is an old form of the word "chêne", which means "oak tree"),...

    Places named after what they were used for :

    - There's a neighborhood in the city I grew up in called La Bergerie (the sheepfold). Of course you won't find any sheep, but it's what it used to be.
    - There are villages called La Forge (the forge), Vieux-Moulin (old mill),...

    A lot of place are named using ancient words. This is what makes french medieval places sound "medieval"... You can use oldish versions of some words quite easily :

    - The word "château" (castle) used to be "castel" (as in Castelnaudary, the new castle of Ary, or in Castelsarrasin, the Saracen castle)
    - The word "royal" (related to the King) used to be "réal" (as in Montréal, the King's Hill)
    - The word "nouveau" (new) used to be "nau" (like before, in Castelnaudary, which we can decompose as "castel nau d'Ary", the new castle of Ary)
    - The word "libre" (free) used to be "franc" (as in Villefranche, free city)

    People who named the places liked to show how new they were :

    - Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Pope's new castle)
    - Villeneuve-d'Ascq (the new city of Ascq)
    - Neufchateau (new castle)
    - Funilly enough, the "Pont Neuf" (new bridge) in Paris is the oldest one in the city

    Of course, we also have more than a few names that come from other languages : latin, german, flemish, italian, spanish,...

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