Place to word (eponyms)

It comes as no surprise to find that people often describe desirable imports as from the place they are made, and that over time the place name becomes the name for the object. This is particularly obvious in the names of fabrics, at a time when your clothes were one of the few ways of showing off wealth. Angora [E18th], although it now also refers to fluffy rabbits and cats, was originally made from the hair of goats in the Ankara region of Turkey, just as cashmere [E19th] is from goats from Kashmir. The highly prized Kashmir shawls inspired the cloth mills in Paisley, Scotland, to reproduce the Indian designs, giving us paisley [L18th] patterns. Calico [M16th] was originally from Calicut in southern India, and chambray and cambric, although nowadays different cloths, both take their name from the northern French town of Cambrai. Damask [LME] came from Damascus, and denim [L17th] was originally serge de Nim ‘serge from Nimes’. The jeans we associate with denim originally referred to cloth made in Genoa [M16th for the cloth, M19th for the trousers]. Another heavy-duty cloth was made in Duffel in Belgium, giving us the duffel coat [L17th], while hessian [L19th] gets its name from the German duchy of Hesse. Muslin [E17th] came from Mosul in Iraq, and a tabby cat gets its name from tabby [M16th], originally a striped silk fabric made in a district of Baghdad. The luxurious fur ermine [ME] gets its name via French for medieval Latin (mus) Arminius, ‘Armenian mouse’, referring to the weasel, whose winter coat supplies ermine. These things might have been sold by a milliner [M16th], originally a seller of the sort of fancy goods made in Milan.

 These fabrics need colouring, and again many colours get their names from abroad. Gamboge yellow [E17th] is a muddled form of Cambodia. The indigo [L16th] that used to dye denim is literally ‘of India’. Ultramarine [L16th] means ‘from beyond the sea’ and originally referred to lapis lazuli [LME], the first half of which is Latin for ‘stone’; the second half is more obscure but may contain an Afghan place name, and with the ‘l’ dropped gives us azure [ME] blue. In the mid 17th century the need for this expensive stone was replaced by the development of Prussian blue. Turquoise [LME] was considered the ‘Turkish stone’. Magenta [M19th] gets its name from an Italian town where the French were victorious just before the dye’s discovery.

 We import innumerable different foreign foods, some of which also come from place names, which we may consume on china [M17th]. Currants [ME] are raisins from Corinth; sardines [LME] probably from Sardinia, while the turkey [E16th] is just a mess. ‘Turkey’ originally meant a guinea fowl [L16th] (correctly identified as from the Guinea coast of West Africa by the Portuguese); when guinea fowl came into use, the name turkey was transferred to the larger bird, despite the fact that it comes from North America. English is not alone in this muddle. Several languages, including French dinde, name it as an Indian bird, while the Portuguese call it peru. The ubiquitous burger [M20] was originally the Hamburger steak from a supposed connection to the German city of Hamburg, just as the frankfurter references Frankfurt and the wiener Vienna [all L19th]. Mayonnaise [E19th] is also confused. It was traditionally identified with Mahon in Minorca, but the early spellings are very varied and include bayonnaise, and it may be from the French port of Bayonne, in which case it probably shares a root with the bayonet [L17th]. The drinks cognac [L17th] and Armagnac [L18th] also come from France, while mocha coffee [L18th] gets its name from a port in Yemen. Surprisingly, the Martini [L19th] probably comes from the Californian city of Martinez, the form changing under the influence of the Italian drinks company.

 See also badminton, balaclava, bedlam, bible, bikini, canary, derby, guinea pig, jet, laconic, lawn, lesbian, marathon, meander, peach, varnish.