About Andrew Cusack
Writer, web designer, etc.; born in New York; educated in Argentina, Scotland, and South Africa; now based in London. read more
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Quadriliteral Toponyms
A list of four-letter place names
Since the plague of psychology unleashed itself unto the world, we now know that everyone who is X is actually a “frustrated” Y. Thus the excellent schoolteacher is really “just” a frustrated actor, etc. etc. ad infinitum.
If your humble and obedient scribe is a frustrated anything, it is a frustrated toponymist. The study of place names is a fascinating realm, and one in which supposition, guesswork, and pure balderdash thrive alongside — indeed, inextricably intertwined with — genuine scholarship.
An odd idée fixe developed in my head in the past month or two — first in a Soanian apartment in the Borough, then in a café in Madrid, finally this past weekend in Wiltshire — of coming up with a list of four-letter place names (quadriliteral toponyms, if terminological exactitude is your thing).
Sunday night in the West Country we took a discarded envelope and wrote down as many as we could think of, or find when visually perusing the maps of the 1920 Times Survey Atlas of the World.
There was no gazetteer, and had there been we probably would have considered that cheating. We also decided amongst the three of us that at least one of us would have had to heard of the place, and that rivers and bodies of water did not count. (Sorry Aral Sea and Sea of Azov! No admittance!) Countries, however, do count.
Excitement grew as we neared 100 places, and I was very proud to have topped off the century with Tuam in the motherland, but further examination reveals our calculations had been faulty and we came up with 110 places. (Drink had been taken, the reader will not be surprised to learn.)
Anyhow, here is the list we came up with, in the order in which the names were summoned by collective thought.
- Hull
- Eton
- Sark
- Herm
- Bari
- Perm
- Iona
- Zion
- Albi
- Alba
- Mere
- Caen
- Lyon
- Sylt
- Gozo
- Deal
- Kent
- York
- Avon
- Bonn
- Bern
- Bath
- Cork
- Penn
- Rhyl
- Skye
- Uist
- Eigg
- Mull
- Oslo
- Kiev
- Lwow
- Omsk
- Rome
- Pisa
- Bali
- Iraq
- Iran
- Chad
- Lamu
- Aden
- Suez
- Wien
- Buxi
- Xian
- Bank
- Gent
- Luik
- Iver
- Orly
- Lund
- Lynn
- Mann
- Fife
- Ness
- Teck
- Utah
- Fiji
- Oahu
- Holm
- Togo
- Bude
- Oran
- Metz
- Pool
- Wick
- Cuba
- Looe
- Cobo
- Laon
- Lyme
- Wool
- Yuma
- Ryde
- Waco
- Lydd
- Giza
- Gaza
- Holt
- Juba
- Rock
- Ross
- Cobh
- Boma
- Elie
- Jave
- Faro
- Agra
- Siam
- Swat
- Nice
- Oman
- Baku
- Elba
- Noto
- Pera
- Buda
- Pest
- Gyor
- Pula
- Pecs
- Arad
- Pale
- Acre
- Yafo
- Brno
- Saye
- Seal
- Linz
- Tuam
Further contributions are most welcome, with the proviso that you must have heard of them (seeing on a map counts) rather than just looked them up or searched for them.
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On Twitter, a number of people have supplied some good contributions including:
Homs
Guam
Edam and
Riga
If foreign language versions of Lyons and Ghent are allowed (and they ought not to be) then so should Prag. Also: Laos, Oudh, Iowa.
Nome, Ohio, Cobb, Leix, Cheb, Rain, Berg, Cork, Troy, Ware, Avon, Vail, Bond, Ward, Pine, Lead, Mold, Metz, Pula, Peru, Kent, Linz, Graz
Matt we’ve got seven of yours already on our list!
Croy, France.
Luss, Leon, Ross, Croy, Cork…
Bury, Lancashire; Read, Lancashire; Duns, Scotland
The wonderfully named GORE in New Zealand’s South Island.
Tory
Gola
And from Australia:
Bega (NSW)
Eden (NSW)
Sale (Victoria)
Roma (Queensland)
From the Dingle Peninsula, Glin,Reen,Drom,Maum,Camp, Inch. Of course every rock ,and field, hill,and valley has a name, but these are towns, and townlands.