Etymology of meanings. Brief etymological dictionary of planetary toponyms. At the origins of civilization
our Don River, deep bottom and river bosom. Once I received an angry comment in my email. A young lady wrote that the name of the city of London comes from the Latin “Londinium”, so there is no need to compose any nonsense and mislead students. At first I wanted to respond to her and even recorded my response on video. But there was no dialogue or feedback.
Indeed, there was a period when London was called “Londinium” according to Latin grammar. But this place was named before the Romans – the Celts called it “Londin”, in turn inheriting this toponym\place name, as the encyclopedias say, from the local inhabitants. Who these natives were? History is silent. But when they named this area, they proceeded from the semantic morphemes of the ancient protolanguage. Those who replaced them did not know this language any more and inherited only the form of the toponym\place name, without understanding its meaning.
In general, almost all toponyms\place names in the UK, as well as the word “Britain”, become clear when the ancient roots and the Russian language come to the rescue. All names have a deep meaning, reflecting the features of the landscape. I will not say that these words are Russian toponyms\place names, although this suggests itself. But one thing is certain: those who gave the names of the area, were good friends with the ancient and possibly Russian language. If you listen to that Professor Anatoly Klesov tells you, Europe used to be inhabited by tribes that were later displaced to its Eastern part. These tribes gave the names of the locality, which are so easily corresponded with the Russian language. With all the changes, the toponym\place name “London” clearly retained its “native” root, and I would say “russian” basis. The consonantal sounds, “l-n-d-n” are the keepers of meaning, and they have been clearly heard in the London’s fog for centuries.
But the secret of the name of London will help us understand… the German city of Kel`n (Cologne). Its name comes from the Latin word “colony”, and Kel`n was once part of the Roman Empire. Later, the peoples who inhabited it changed, the name was pronounced in a new way, with distortions, but the root basis remained the same: “K-l-n”. This word also goes back to the ancient prepositions “k” and “o”, which are well understood in Russian. The combination of these prepositions has the meaning “to round” or “round”. A “colony” is a “bosom around”, a wasteland, an open area without dense vegetation – taken, mastered, satisfied, fertilized. Once people of the same kind – tribe, settling around, developed new and better areas of land, often capturing them from other tribes and establishing their own beginning. Such words as “koloniya” (colony), “pokolenie” (generation), “koleno”—“degree” (including Israel’s) knee, “klan” (clan), and others originate from the ancient prepositions “k” and “o”.
If in the word “koloniya” (colony) instead of protoroot “ko” (round, around) include another protoroot, the ancient preposition “po”, we get a different meaning of the word “lono” (bosom) —it will stretch “along”, capturing all new territories. This combination of protoroots formed many words: Poland, “polyana” (meadow), “polyy” (open\empty), “poleno” (log), “palenyy” (scorched), “polyn`ya” (thawed patch), “plen” (captivity), etc. But at the heart of everything is the “lono”. What does it mean? “No” is a negation, an objection, “l” is something pleasant, loved, giving pleasure. In relation to the area and its geographical features, the sound “l” also denoted vegetation, forest. Therefore, the “lono” is a plot without vegetation, land without forest, a place of rest from a dense stand of trees, a sunny meadow. By the way, the word “leto” (summer) is also a combination of protoroots: “l” is for vegetation and “to” is for place, presence. This is the time when everything blooms and grows.
Finally, the word “lono” has another meaning, which is related to fertility and serves as a feminine principle. For thousands of years, people have been reclaiming land plots from the forest, plowing and throwing grain into them, hoping that they will sprout and give a rich harvest. So the womb (“lono”) of a woman served for the seed laid in it to give offspring. Not to tell you about another meaning of the combination of these protoroots. This is the word “nol’” (zero). A word with its roots rearranged in a different order, but with the same meaning. Zero is empty, null space, nothingness!
However, returning to the foggy Albion, we can look at London itself differently—“lono” and “dono”—an open, beautiful, fertile place by a deep river…
Calais, Caledonia, Dongola and Baikal
On maps of the planet, you can often find names that include a combination of one of the derived breath sounds “ga” and “ka” with a soft sound “el’”. It is an amazing combination! On the one hand, It is a hard road, a long way with a hard exhalation in the end; on the other hand, it is something loved, pleasant, desired. “ka-el’”—“pleasant movement”, a desired and even favorite way. This combination became the basis of place names indicating the most convenient ways. Along them, for example, Alexander Dumas moved to the “musketeer” port of Calais, to comfortably move from the dear old France to the no less old and dear England.
The port of Calais is not the only “transshipment” toponym\place name. In the Northern part of Great Britain there is a province Caledonia. A strange name, consisting of four protoroots: “ka”, “el’”, “do”, “no”. If we take it literally, as an ancient ancestor would have done, we get this meaning: “a convenient, favorite and desired way along the bottom.” And that’s right! The fact is that in ancient times, hundreds of thousands of years ago, an island in the North of England broke— and along the mountains, along the rocks, along the forests formed a crack that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea, crossing the entire island. In places, the crack has formed deep Loch Ness, Loch Linne, Loch Lochy, in places it is shallow and even has crossings. At the same time, the Scottish “Loch” is a “lake”, akin to our Russian “ovrag” (ravine). The British call this fault Great Glen themselves, which, in fact, has the same meaning. Only if the more ancient Caledonia literally translates as “a good, convenient way on the bottom”, then Great Glen—“a good, convenient way between the mountains”. And the word “Glen” itself is a corruption of “Calais”.
There is another ancient toponym\place name, which is absolutely related to Caledonia, but in which the combinations of protoroots are rearranged: not “ka-le-dono”, but on the contrary —“dono-ka-le”. This is an ancient place of Dongola, which is located in Sudan on the banks of the Nile River. The bottom line is that Dongola is located between the rapids of the Nile River. This means that we can assume that in ancient times this place was designated as a “convenient river crossing”, as it was geographically.
There are many toponyms\place names with the meaning “convenient and good way” in the world. So much so that your head may spin. This is the Kalka River, and the Kalya River, and the ancient river, of which only one name remains – the Galilee River. This is the Permian Galia, and the famous Rubicon-cut Gallia. These are the Kal`nukha River, the Kal`yok River, the Kaleva River, the Kalets River, the Kaler River, the Kal`mius River, the Kal`chik River, the Kalitva River, the city of Kaluga, the Kal`va River, Golstein district, the Kalaly River, Karmyskaly Pond, Dzhambas-Kala, Enikale (Kerch), the city of Gelsinfors (Helsinki), Kilimanjaro, the city of Calcutta, the city of Ramigala. This is the legendary river named by the Turks – Galis, Dzhalinda, the city of Dzhalal-Abad, all kinds of Dzhalili and the resort Gelendzhik. This is the famous Karelo-Finnish epic “Kalevala”. Here, not only the Israeli Dzhelabun is appropriate, but also the name of the famous count Cagliostro and even the name of ancient coins – sikel and shekel. The warm Gulf Stream also flowed out of this story.
Even the name of the German magazine “Spiegel” has the same roots. “Spiegel” is a mirror – a mirror surface of the frozen river, which was a beautiful road, convenient and easy.
The “toponymic mechanism” of naming has also moved to the names of tribes. For example, what can we say in general