List of tautological place names
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A place name is tautological if two parts of it are synonymous. This often occurs when a name from one language is imported into another and a standard descriptor is added on from the second language. Thus, for example, the Sierra Nevada Mountains (sierra is Spanish for mountains) or Mount Maunganui (maunga is Maori for mountain). The following list is of place names usually or often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English name elements have originally come.
Since there are sometimes many similar names in one area in many cases where two languages are in common use, this should be noted with one exemplar case.
This list is [Incomplete listsincomplete]; you can help by [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ expanding it].
Rivers
- Río Guadix, Spain (River RiverRiver - "Río" is river in Spanish, "Guad" is river in Arabic and "Ix" is river in Phoenician)
- River Avon, England (River River - Welsh)
- Aghidhel River, Bashkiria (White River River - Turkic)
- Connecticut River, United States (Long Tidal River River - "Algonquin" Native American language)
- Danube River, Central Europe - *danu meant river in Proto-Indo-European
- Mekong River, South East Asia (Kong River River - Thai)
- Mississippi River, United States (Big River River - "Algonquin" Native American language)
- Rillito River, southern Arizona (Little River River - Spanish)
- Skookumchuck River, Washington State - the suffix "chuck" in Chinook Jargon meaning river
- River Tyne, England (River River, Brythonic)
- Vaslui River, Romania - uj meant "body of water" in Cuman language.
- Walla Walla River, Washington State, - Walla is a Sahaptin phrase meaning "river". Repeated,it means "little river," so the Walla Walla River is the little river river.
Lakes
- Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan (Lake Hot Lake - Kyrgyz)
- Lake Rotorua, New Zealand (Lake Lake Second - Maori. Many other New Zealand lakes have the tautological "Lake Roto-" form)
- Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California (Lake the lake - Washo Native American Tribal language)
- Lake Windermere, England (Vinund's lake lake - Old Norse. Several other English lakes have the tautological "Lake -mere" form)
- Lake Nyassa (now called Lake Malawi), Malawi/Mozambique (Lake Lake - Yao)
- Lakeville Lake, Michican, USA — The village is Lakeville, the adjacent lake is Lakeville Lake.
- Tâl-y-Llyn lake, Wales (End-of the-lake lake - llyn is Welsh for lake)
- Østensjøvann is a Norwegian lake name that concatenates sjø lake that is not as narrow as a fjord and vann meaning lake. Similarly Møsvann in Telemark, Norway combines mjøsa meaning lake with vann meaning lake.
- Wast Water, England - 'water water' from Old Norse "vatn" and Old English "wæter".
Mountains and hills
- Bredon, England (Hill Hill - Celtic/Saxon)
- Breedon on the Hill, England (Hill Hill on the Hill - Celtic/Saxon)
- Brill, England (Hill Hill - Celtic/Saxon) - also once known in documents as Brill-super-montem (Hill Hill on the Hill - Celtic/Saxon/Latin)
- Mount Maunganui, New Zealand (Mount Mount Big - Maori)
- Sierra Nevada Mountains, California (Mount Snowy Mountains - Spanish)
- Torpenhow Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill Hill - SW-English (Tor) / Celtic (pen = "head") / Anglo-Saxon hōh = "spur of high ground" / English (hill)
- Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England. (Hill Hill Hill) - "Pen" -(Cumbric language) and the suffix "dle" from the Old English language.
- Mongibello, another name of the volcano Etna, in Sicily, Italy. (Mountain Mountain, from the Latin "Mons" and the Arabic "Gebel")
- Summit Peak, New Zealand (Peak Peak - both English)
Islands
- Faroe Islands, North Atlantic (Sheep Islands Islands - Faroese)
- Motutapu Island, New Zealand (Island Sacred Island - Maori)
- Orkney Islands (Whale islands islands - Old Norse. Several other British islands have the tautological "-ey Island" form)
- Gili Islands, North-west of Lombok, Indonesia (Island Islands - Sasak)
- Dodecanese Islands, Aegean Sea (Twelve Islands Islands - Greek)
- Polynesian Islands, Pacific Ocean (Many Islands Islands - Greek)
- Melanesian Islands, Pacific Ocean (Black Islands Islands - Greek)
Other
- The La Brea Tar Pits, California (The The Tar Tar Pits - Spanish)
- Sahara desert, Africa (Deserts desert - Arabic)
- Gobi Desert, central Asia (Desert desert, Gobi means "very large and dry" in Mongolian)
- Eas Fors Waterfall on the Isle of Mull in Scotland (waterfall waterfall waterfall)
- Beechhurst Holt Wood, England (beech wood wood wood - Anglo-Saxon)
- Vista View Elementary School, Minnesota (View View Elementary School - Spanish)
- Redruth, Cornwall, UK (red red - Cornish)
- Muirfield Village, Golf Course, US (village village - Scottish)
- Vall d'Aran, Spain (Valley Valley - Catalan and Euskera (Basque))
- The Rock of Gibraltar - (The Rock of The Rock of Tariq - Arabic)
- Townsville, QLD Australia, (Town's Town - French)
- East Timor, East Timor, (East East - Bahasa Indonesia/Malay) - Note: this is the eastern half of an island that is the easternmost major island in its chain.
- Sharm Old Harbour (a common English name for the old harbor at Sharm el Sheikh) (harbor old harbor - Arabic)
- Nathu La Pass, Indo-China border, (Listening Ears Pass Pass- Tibetan)
Disputed
- Table Mesa, Colorado (Table Table - Spanish)
- Though it is true that "mesa" in Spanish does mean "table", and the word was figuratively applied by locals to flat-topped geological formations, the term "mesa" in English refers strictly to these formations and never to tables. "Mesa" here is therefore an English word meaning "flat-topped mountain", not a misunderstood Spanish name.
See also
Pleonasm
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