Latin Names of Cities - Strategies For Constructing Latin Names

Strategies For Constructing Latin Names

The first places that needed Latin names were encountered by Bible translators, who had a need to figure out what to call the many place names in the Bible in Latin. They either reworked the place names into Latin or Greek shapes; in one version, Yerushalem (tentative reconstruction of a more ancient Hebrew version of the name) becomes Hierosolyma, doubtless influenced by Greek ἱερος (hieros), "holy". Or, they adopted them directly, often treating the new place names as indeclinable nouns; here Yerushalem is brought over as Ierusalem, with the Latin I being prononuced as an English Y sound and the /sh/ being transliterated to the closest Latin sound, /s/.

Similar strategies are used with United States and North America and other place names that Latin writers needed to give Latin names to. A number of methods are used:

• A classical ending such as -um or -a is added or substituted on the end of the source word. Hence Baltimorum for "Baltimore," Albania for "Albany."
• The word may already be in Latin or Greek form: Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta.
• Calques are resorted to if the New World name is based on an Old World name; the various Parises in the United States are likely to become Lutetia, and Novum Eboracum or Neo-Eboracum represents New York, because Eboracum is the city of York in England.
• The words are respelled to eliminate non-Latin letters; hence Washington becomes Vasingtonium. Note that "V" in Latin is pronounced as an English "W"; there was no W in Latin.
• The words are adjusted to fit Latin declensions; Kansas appears as either Cansas, Cansatis or Cansa, Cansae; Chicago, Ohio, and Idaho become consonant stems, with genitives Chicagonis, Ohionis, Idahonis, &c.
• The words are re-interpreted to fit Latin declensions; Illinois is treated as a third-declension noun.
• If the city is named for a specific thing, and especially if its name is a Romance language word or phrase, it may be directly translated into Latin. For example, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is called "Diocesis Angelorum" in Latin, "Diocese of (the) angels"
• On the other hand, in some dioceses the church chose to simply apply a Latin locational suffix to the existing name; the diocese of Des Moines, Iowa is simply "Dioecesis Desmoinensis".
• The words are treated as indeclinable, like some Biblical names; Connecticut is sometimes treated this way.

In many cases, there is no consensus as to how to treat any given names, and variants exist. A town which is the site of a university or an episcopal see is more likely to have a standard form hallowed by usage. Note that names of cities are usually feminine in gender in Latin, even if they end in -us. This rule is not always strictly observed in the New World.