A Clash of Names: The Terminological Morass of a Toponym Class

Abstract

There are place names all around the world formed by a combination of two elements, a specific and a generic, both of which refer to the same geographic feature type. A typical pattern is for an indigenous generic functioning as a specific to precede a matching introduced generic. For example: Ohio River <Iroquoian Ohio “Great River” + River; and Lake Rotorua < Māori roto “lake” + rua “two/second” (“Second Lake”) + Lake. Such toponyms, though not overall numerous, nevertheless occur often enough to warrant being recognized as a distinct class of place names. The literature provides no adequate or consistent term for this pattern: the various attempts clash with each other, and all fail to address the concept effectively. This article aims to address this situation.