The Atlas of True Names

[ravells]

Here: Atlas of True Names

Will be of interest to those Toponomists out there!

[Timo]

i was hoping this would pop up at some point! all i ever managed to find was the same three tiny sample pics scattered around the webs so this is pretty cool!

i particularly like "important place at the remote farms" and "awesome mountain"!

[waldronate]

My wife got me the original one a few years back. I was sad to see that it was a tiny thing, maybe 11"x17" (maybe 18x24, but it was still small). It looks like the 28"x40" format of the new ones might be more useful.

Americans have such delightfully imaginative names like "Long Beach", "Palm Springs" and "Bakersfield" (named after the field owned by Mr. Baker). Maybe it's just Californians...

[ravells]

There are more than a few earthy names in Britain. Someone told me a few days ago (have not checked it yet) that the word 'Combe' (variants such as Coombe, Comb, etc.) meaning a Valley has the same root of a four letter word describing a woman's naughty parts and beginning with a C. - Which makes sense although I haven't verified the truth of it yet.

[Azélor]

Well, names seems to be much more boring this way. But it's very interesting to know where the names come from.

edit: some are very funny too.

[Maezar]

I LOVE these maps and now want a printed atlas of them.

One thing I try to do in my projects is keep names strictly true-name or strictly fantastic. In other words, "Empire upon Distant Shores" : Yes. "Muru Arga" : Yes. "Empire of Muru-Arga" : No. I'll also make up political entities before using familiar ones. Ex: Bequestry of Balsheyr : Yes. Barony of Balsheyr: No. None of my imagined peoples speak english as we know it, so I prefer to think of myself as transliterating their maps or translating their maps, but not both at the same time if I can help it. True names do sound a bit Tonto-ish though, and I can appreciate the blended feel that admixture brings.