The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-12-16
.Ritllmond 1ispatth.
FRIDAY...........DECEMBER 18,1s7o-
I THE CIRCULATION OF THE DIsPATCH
Is LARGER THAN THE COMBINED CIR
CULATIoN OF ALL THE OTHER DAILY
NEWSPAPERS OF THE CITY. sse.,l -
Foreign Names.

; We should probably be not little sur
prised, to find, on taking up a Chinese,
Bengalese, or Portuguese map, that the
foreign map-maker had persisted In desig-
mating the United States of America as Co.
lumbia, or Virginia, or NieuW Nedter-
landts, or KnicKerbocker, or Verezzano,
or some other such name, because in the
fifteenth or sixteenth century some early
navigator had given us that cognomen. And
yet the entire system on which our own
maps Of other nations are constructed
must present an equally absurd anomaly to
the people Of those nations.
I Europe and America, for instance, en-
gage periodically In discussing the interests
Of the Turkish Empire. But there is no
Turkey or Turkish Empire In existence, so
far as the people who inhabit it are aware.
The term "Cherokee Nation," would ap-
ply to the United States nearly as well as
the term "Turkey" applies to Osmdni
Vilatets pronounced Os.man'-Eee Ve-la-
Eyet'ee) or the Osman Empire, sometimes
corrupted into the Ottoman Empire. The
Ottoman and Turcoman races are not iden-
tical, and there seems no other reason than
habit, inherited from our ancestors, why
the Osman Empire should be known us
Turkey throughout Western Europe. Its
|chief city we style Constantinople, after a
medieval custom, though it's inhabitants
know 1t as Stamboul. Z
Adjoining Tur key, we apply the Latin
term Austria to the empire of OesterTetch-
pronounced, nearly, oster-rike. If, we
should call the empire of Francis Joseph
something between an oyster-rake and
"you strike" we should not have hit it ex-
actly, but we should have come much
nearer than we do. Its capital is word of
one syllable, which we should pronounce
Veen. We invent a new word Of three syl-
lables, Vienna. The Germans exercise the
same usurpation over the empire of France,
which they designate Frank-reich, equiva-
lent to Frank-kingdom. Right adjoining
Austria is Deutchland pronounced Doitch-
lant), to which we, without the least sane
ton, apply name Germany, which we
inherit from the Latin Germania, though
having lost its Latin pronunciation, 1t is
really, as pronounced by Englishmen. O
new-coined word which never belonged to
any race or country. The French recog-
nize their present enemies by o name
which is neither Detttsch nor Latin-yiz.,
Allemagne, or descendants Of the ancient
AlldmGn. Spain is to us word Of one
syllable, while, in fact, it has three while,
on the contrary, we make three sylIables
(Switzerland) of SchaDetz or Swiss. We
take the Deutsch name Sweden for SUerage,
pronounced ara'aveekd.5 We designate
Egypt by name to which it is stranger,
and to its capital, Ez Masr, we give the
name Cairo, corruption Of the Arabic
title.
A mere mispronunciation of foreign
names is an inevitable necessity. But we
fail to see why, In this age of rapid inter-
communication and travel, we should des-
ignate nations, races, towns, and every
subject of geographical knowledge by names
or which have long since ceased to be borne
by them. 1t would be commendable en-
terprise if some of our publishers Of text
books on geography should at least inform
their students of the true names of the To-
calities of which they treat, rs well as those
which have obtained currency in foreign or
Enslish-speaking countries. ..--... =