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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 148-157 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Names |
Volume | 64 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2 Jul 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Australia
- cape
- lake
- mount
- New Zealand
- placename generics
- placename specifics
- point