{"id":41692,"date":"2019-05-21T16:38:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T11:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/?p=41692"},"modified":"2019-05-24T13:00:32","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T07:30:32","slug":"9-surprising-literal-translations-of-u-s-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/9-surprising-literal-translations-of-u-s-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Surprising Literal Translations of U.S. Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In many countries, they\u2019re named after famous heroes, saints, or even military dictators. Some cities are named after points of interest, or even literal words of the area around it, like \u201cBoulder\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with the U.S. as one of the most diverse countries in the world – someone from every country<\/a> lives in the U.S. – it makes for tons of languages that are foreign to your average citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With over 50 million<\/a> U.S. citizens traveling internally, it\u2019s good to know a bit of history before you go to a new city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This infographic from Reservations.com<\/a> highlights some of the most surprising literal translations of city names throughout the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few of the from the article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Chicago, IL \u2013 Translates to \u201cStinky Onion\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ok, we have to start with our favorite. Chicago\u2019s name is a mashup of French and Algonquian (Native American), that roughly translates to \u201cstinky onion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical records show a wild variety of onions grew naturally in this area of the state and thus influence the onion lasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s still much debate about the origin of the word, but through our research we found this name to be the most compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Palo Alto, CA – Translates to \u201cTall Stick\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"literal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early California was founded by Spanish missionaries, and thus, they got first dibs on naming the cities as they were born. While California has a rich cultural influence from the Spanish and Mexican settlers, a good amount of the citizen probably couldn\u2019t translate \u201cPalo Alto\u201d \u2013 or at least never thought about it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, what\u2019s interesting about this one is the place Palo Alto has held in Silicon Valley as the seat of the headquarters of many tech companies. It\u2019s also interesting to think of the world of difference there is in the culture between the modern tech world and the historical impact of the California missions on the region. Cultures mix and collide, and create fascinating results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Des Moines, IA – Translates to \u201cOf the Monks\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"literal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

De Moines, IA doesn\u2019t strike you as a hub of French culture, but this region was battleground for French and English influence in the early days of the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a strong French influence in certain pockets of the U.S., but overall there\u2019s a limited number of cities and regions in the French language. Compared to Canada, it\u2019s a small percentage of the U.S. Des Moines, is one of those anomalies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region was originally settled in part by Trappist monks (Moines de la Trappe) who established a monastery at the mouth of the Des Moines River. These French-speaking monks had an influence on the region that we still have today, although we normally don\u2019t think of Iowa as a hot-spot of international cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other part I love is that the origin of the city name is up for debate, another hallmark of some of the challenges of translation. The Native American Algonquian name for the river was Moingona, which may have had an influence on the final city name. We can agree that language is beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Hilo, HI – Translates to \u201cTo Twist\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"literal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hawaii has an exotic place in the hearts of many travelers, and worldwide it has an aura of paradise and unique history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the light side of things, the \u201chula\u201d and \u201chula hoop\u201d have very strong connections to Hawaii. Connected to that idea is the name of Hilo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The translation of Hilo is \u201cto twist\u201d, which may refer either the twisting of humans (seen above) or twisting in the sense of \u201cbraiding\u201d or \u201cthreading\u201d. Either way, it\u2019s one of our favorite translations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawaiians are very proud of their language, and extensive information has been recorded about Hawaiian place names and their literal translation. The Hawaiian Electronic Library<\/a> is a fascinating online database with more names than you can memorize. Definitely worth perusing before your next Hawaiian vacation! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are so many interesting translations of cities across the U.S. and the world \u2013 this is just a summary of some of the best. Check out the full infographic<\/a> to read the rest \u2013 and let us know your favorites!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many countries, they\u2019re named after famous heroes, saints, or even military dictators. Some cities are named after points of interest, or even literal words of the area around it, like \u201cBoulder\u201d. But with the U.S. as one of the most diverse countries in the world – someone from every country lives in the U.S.…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> 9 Surprising Literal Translations of U.S. Cities<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"Layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"9 Surprising Literal Translations of U.S. Cities #Infographic #UnitedStates #Translation #USA","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4609],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/Literal-Names-American-Cities.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsilike.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}