Antecedent generics: how capes, lakes, mounts, and points are named in the Antipodes

Abstract

Toponymic literature often mentions that the names of geographic features generally have the structure: specific + generic. While this is often the case, there are a set of geographic features that regularly do not follow this sequence. These are capes, lakes, mountains, and points. Their order of elements is often the reverse: generic + specific. By using toponyms from the Gazetteer of Australia and the New Zealand Gazetteer, this article shows there is indeed a distinct and suggestive pattern to the names that these features bear, explores this phenomenon and attempts to discover reasons for this trend.