Names on the land : a historical account of place-naming in the United States / by George R. Stewart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stewart, George R., 1895-1980.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Names, Geographical--United States.

Names, Geographical.

United States--History, Local.

United States.

Genre:

Local history.

Physical Description:

ix, 418 pages ; 22 cm

8vo.

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House, [1945]

Summary:

George R. Stewart's classic study of place-naming in the United States was written during World War II as a tribute to the varied heritage of the nation's peoples. More than half a century later, Names on the Land remains the authoritative source on its subject, while Stewart's intimate knowledge of America and love of anecdote make his book a unique and delightful window on American history and social life. Names on the Land is a fascinating and fantastically detailed panorama of language in action. Stewart opens with the first European names in what would later be the United States--Ponce de León's flowery Florída, Cortés's semi-mythical isle of California, and the red Rio Colorado--before going on to explore New England, New Amsterdam, and New Sweden, the French and the Russian legacies, and the unlikely contributions of everybody from border ruffians to Boston Brahmins. These lively pages examine where and why Indian names were likely to be retained; nineteenth-century fads that gave rise to dozens of Troys and Athens and to suburban Parksides, Brookmonts, and Woodcrest Manors; and deep and enduring mysteries such as why "Arkansas" is Arkansaw, except of course when it isn't. Names on the Land will engage anyone who has ever wondered at the curious names scattered across the American map. Stewart's answer is always a story--one of the countless stories that lie behind the rich and strange diversity of the USA. Amazon.

Contents:

Of what was attempted in this book

Of the naming that was before history

How the first Spaniards gave names

Of the English, Spanish, and French in the same years

Of Charles Stuart and some others

How the Massachusetts General Court dealt with names

How the people began to give names

How names were symbols of empire

The history of New York

Of the French

How the Spaniards named another kingdom

When King Charles came to his own

How the names became more English and less English

How they took the names into the mountains

Of the years when they fought the French

Of a pause between wars

How the Leather-Jackets rode north

Of new names in the land

America discovers Columbus

Of the last voyagers

Of ancient glory renewed

Of the new nation

Yankee flavor

How they took over the French names

Of Mr. Jefferson's western lands

Of the dry country and the farther mountains

Of a new generation

Of patterns for street-names

Flavor of the New South

Melodrama in the forties

"Ye say they all have passed away ..."

How the tradition of the states was broken

Of the cities of the fifties

How they fought again

How congress took over

Of the last flourishing

"Change the name of Arkansas

never!

Of rules and regulations

Flavor of California

Of modern methods

Cause célèbre

Unfinished business

Heritage.

Credits:

Maps on lining-papers.

Notes:

Maps on lining-papers.

"First printing."

Other Format:

Online version: Stewart, George Rippey, 1895-1980. Names on the land.

OCLC:

186315156