I'm a bit of a dunce

[winterbadger]

I've heard of the city of Veracruz, Mexico, many times over the years. I played many times the wargame Veracruz about the 1847 US invasion of Mexico through the port of Veracruz. I've listened to Warren Zevon's 'Veracruz', about the US occupation of Veracruz in 1914. (And let me say in passing that I object in general to the idea of a song written when I was in high school being classified as an 'oldie'.)

I've also a passing familiarity with Spanish. I don't speak it as such, but I took 4-5 years (can't remember which) of Latin in school which allows me nodding acquaintance with Romance language vocab.; I've lived for 20 years in a city where Spanish rivals English for most spoken language; and I follow futbol which, in the States, means watching a good many broadcasts in Spanish.

So why was it that only today, when reading an article in one of the Lardy specials about the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s, that it finally dawned on me that 'Veracruz' means 'True Cross'? It's not as if naming towns and cities for religious identifications is particularly uncommon in Spanish.

I'm kind of a slow badger...

Comments

[reasdream.livejournal.com]

I'd never made that connection either - probably because I only studied a little spanish and I'm used to thinking of Cruz as a last name (hence Veracruz becomes "Vera Cruz"

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're just not used to thinking of placenames as having meanings? It was obvious to me the first time I saw it (reading your post), but then to me "Cambridge" means "bridge over the Cam", and it's obvious that a town of that name will have a river, whereas I gather that to Americans, it means "place named after somewhere in England that we rather liked".

[winterbadger]

No, I'm pretty used to the idea that place names mean something (though often in the area I grew up they were named for people and places elsewhere: Jamestown named for James VI/I, Williamsburg named for William III, Warwick named for the 2nd Earl of Warwick, Hampton named for the 3rd Earl of Southampton. Poquoson, OTOH, means "big marsh" in the local NA language, which is pretty much what that town is, a big swamp. :-)

But then, a lot of the places I've been in the UK, it's a dead giveaway. After all, 'Bridge of Allan' is no great mind-teaser. :-)

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I've always rather liked creating descriptive place names in the local language when doing RPGs and other creative fantasy things. It sounds terribly romantic until the players realise what you're doing (works better if their knowledge of said language is limited). So the main city was called Abermawr, and was, perhaps not surprisingly, at the mouth of a big river (the Avon Mawr, in fact). A town called Llanycoed had a church, and was in the woods. And so on... I never actually named anywhere Tyddraig, but if I had, that should have been taken as a warning.

[winterbadger]

Indeed! I'd expect the inhabitants to be a bit... scaley. :-)

[verdandiweaves.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief - I hadn't realized either, but it's so bl88dly obvious.