What's In a Name...or Where did you go?

Every translator will tell you that names of places do not get translated. They just stay as they are.  There are however, some linguistically curious, not to mention challenging names that do get translated. Sometimes it is not so much the difficulty of pronouncing those names in their original languages - which are usually rare -  that justifies the translation, but the wish to convey the beauty of a name to a wider audience. Let us take a look at just a small sample of some interesting geographical names.

According to the 2009 Guinness Book of Records, there is a hill in New Zealand in the Hawke's Bay region which has the longest name on the world.  It is called:

Taumatawhakatancichancakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimauncahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

– which in the Maori language means " The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one". This name is frequently shortened to Taumata.

Other parts of the world have their gems as well. There is a village whose name is the longest officially recognized place name in the United Kingdom. That name is:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. The village is located in Wales on the island of Anglesey. The shortened version is Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll. The meaning of the name is: "ST. MARYS CHURCH IN THE HOLLOW OF THE WHITE HAZEL NEAR TO THE RAPID WHIRLPOOL OF LLANTYSILIO OF THE RED CAVE."

Not as long, but nicely sounding is the Pino sulla Sponda del Lago Maggiore. It is a village and municipality in the Italian region of Lombardy.

How about hyphenated names? The longest hyphenated name of a place in the United States in Winchester-on-the-Severn in the state of Maryland.

In Mexico, there is this small village in the state of Michoacan.  It is called Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro and is situated near the Paricutin volcano. Shorter, unofficial names are used to refer to this village, like "San Juan" or "Nuevo San Juan", among other.

There is also a lake in the state of Massachusetts called Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, now its name is:  Chargoggaggoggmancogmanhoggagogg, also known as Lake Chaubunagungamaug or Webster Lake. Its name comes from the Algonquian Indian language and means: "Fishing Place at the Boundaries – Neutral Meetings Ground".

There must be something about giving lakes lengthy names because the longest name of a place in Canada is…a lake.  It is: Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik, located in Manitoba and Nunavut and its name literally means: "where the wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks." Lovely!

But there is also a hill in Australia called: Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill. It is believed that this name in the Pitjantjatjara language means: "where the devil urinates". How about that for a vacation destination?  "I am going hiking to the place "where the devil urinates". It's going to be grand!

Now, if you were planning a trip to Bangkok, instead of saying so, why not just say: "I have relatives in Thailand and I will stop in Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit for a couple of days." Actually, this is the official name of Bangkok which translates as the poetic and invitingly intriguing: "The great city of angels, the supreme unconquerable land of the great immortal divinity (Indra), the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city with plenty of grand royal palaces and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity." How about that? Makes me want to pack a bag and catch the next airplane to Bangkok.

Well, long names can make great conversations, but maybe the thing to do is to just keep it short and sweet and say: "hey, I'm going to Sé" – central borough in Sao Paulo, Brazil.