The Portland daily press., 1872-03-19
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE

Is transmtted IN four Clos. The war god
dess, under her Latin name of Minerva, pre-
sldes over the destnes OF her four namesakes.
Two Odins are the only REPRESENTATIVE of
the Scandinavian mythology except one Val
halla. the home of all their gods. Ten Phoa-
mixes perpetuate the symbol of the sours Inn
mortality, and Vestal virgins still kindle fires.
lin vulgar base-burners) in the remote Ne
braska. Names of this character, are, how
ever, not SO numersus as In the classes before
given, orin others still to be mentioned. In
dians appellations are still more unfrequent,
although they are more abundent in naming
lakes and rivers, this liberation of the musical
sounds of the aborigines being due, perhaps,
to the fact that the name of waters are con-
sidered of less consequence than those OF
towns and villages. nHur, l.Ifu.
Compound names are perhaps more hume
rous than all other classes combined, and are
particularly abundant In the south and west.
In these the descriptive, or leading word,
may be found sometimes as q prefix and some
times as n sufiix. The prominent suffixes,
generally used, however, as a terminal word,
are bank, bayou, bluff, bush, creek, cove, run
ford. grove, mill, center, store, station, port,
springs, city, hill, trse, orchard, valley, and,
above all, vile, The prefixes may be class
ed under the generic terms of trees, fruits,
fish, animals, birds and colors, while there are
over 500 towns with the prefix netc, and
south, east, and west. Mill Is used rs pre-
fix in about 100 cases, with some Of the sut-
fixes mentioned BY the union of these two
elements we find ten Plum, four Olive, thirty
Hickory, sixty Pine, three Pawpaw, thirty
eight Maple, eleven Beech, twenty-five VIII
low, sixteen Orange, forty Walnut and about
100 Oak, all used as prefxes in various COM
binations. Hickory Is used six times, Olive
four and Orange fourteen, without any addi-
ton. As prefixes, Rock occurs over 100 times,
and Rose about sixty Fairplay ought TO be
found in eight villages of that name among
eighty other Fairs. A midding kind Of peo-
pie are 10 be found in ninety-seven towns or
villages where the prefix, middle, has sand
wiched them between port and 4 town, or
bury, or something. To show that springs
are abundant In our broad domain, the name
Is used as prefix In 140 instances. The
saints will not be forgotten, while 200 post
offices spread their names through the land,
while one ambitious town (which does not ap-
pear, however, in the last register) honors It.
self with the name of Ali-Saints-in-the-Cal-
endar. The horse leads off in thirteen names,
the deer in thirty-two. the panther In four,
the bear In twenty-five, the beaver in forty,
the raccoon or raccoon in six, the wolf in six
teen and elk in forty-eght. Among the birds,
the raven lends itself to seven names, the pig
con TO nine, the turkey to five, the goose to
two, the duck TO seven, the owl to four and
the eagle to thirty-nine. Among the precious
stones, the onyx graces one town, the ruby
two, the emerald three and the diamond
twelve. From the colors used as prefixes we
have about 170 greens, about 140 whites, six
ty reds, forty-five blues and seventy blacks,
and all colors in one Rainbow in the Nutmeg
state.
Besides all these, We have a large number
of pure oddities, some of them playful, some
sentimental and some ridiculous. Thus we
have (by name) a Dirt Town in Georgia,
(candid-who shall tell how many others, q,
fact elsewhere p Hell Gate in Montana, Ia
thousand of them not mentioned, nearer
home,) a Funny Louis in Louisiana, Fuss
vile in Wisconsin, (candid again. and Cad
fly in Missouri Glad Tidings may be heard
of in Oregon, and Michigan claims the sole
Model City in the Union. We find a Travel
er's Repose and the three Travellers Rests, a
Bachelors Hall and Bachelors Retreat, a
Romance, a Joy (forever), Hope, a Memory
and a Pmjaub, from the Hindoo. Six Homes
and three Sweet Homes solicit settlers.
There are Doctor Town and Social Circle
in Georgia, Success in New York and a
Novelty in Missouri. Baptist-town and Bap-
tist Valley are the only towns having the
name of religious denomination. There Is
almost every Big but Big Bug, which would
not be so far out of the way, since we have a
Quality Valley in Kentucky, two Gentry
yilles and one Bnsinessburgh in Ohio, salary
eio'vVl, o'1u,. our EnPne 0'ys' one HrosPerity
aur NV swo ..s' ouoill,'i,les. ol1 l, ,.e. ,,..
ups anu aVwns s y, p.-. e S,e ihuS.la'ou ~ az
beams upon the west. Taylor and Jackson
are remembered in their sobriquets of Rough
and Ready, Fire and Two Old Hickorys.
There are four Equalities and three Young
Alnerieas' .ia:e e Gne Miu hSe .I hai,ens ans. anu
Iaen .Sn oappa'u ness ~
.,n " ssiiia, an aInr ~ Wisconsin,
ns,,a,s omarter in Wissnr; and nd
a Shinbone i'm PENNSYLVANIA. There are four
Hurricanes at the west fwhere thew sbould
bel Paddv,s RIM fTam O'Sbanter il NOT in
tended a Padoan Ioood namel- n pillow
two Pickwicks. of blessed memory. fonr Al,
phas and five Omegas. Whatever country
NAV boast of its populous cities. we can al
WAYS find a Parallel in Kansas. and Pennsyl-
vania has the honor of possessing the perma-
nent residence of the king of Prussia. And
now let the oriental nondescripts. All. Zif and
Zig bring up the rear of our motley host,
There is class of names not very numer-
Gus indeed, which are obnoxious to fair criti-
cism, of which Minneapolis is specimen,
composed of two words OF different languages
Minnesota is unobiectionable. being a pure
Indian compound, signifying cloudy water.
But in the former we have an Indian word
Minnie (waterl and a Greek. polls Ia citv.l
All such nomenclature should be discourae.
ed. There was a village on Long Island by
the name of St. GEORGES Manor which was
good. Nv degrees II became Abbreviated 10
The Manor-which was better. But when
the modern villa was afterwards added IN give
elegance, then 1t was like adding buzzard 10
Turkey. a decided loss in beauty. force and
odor. Without attempting to account for the
fact there is in the minds of the cultivated
decided preference for proper names, and es-
pecially those of towns and villages, of Anglo
Saxon origin. And not only this but to con-
form to the old custom. the two compounds
should form but one word. Thus there may
be Watermill but not Water Mill, as the
word satnds on the list. The Anglo-Saxon
and Celtic roots are quite ample enough to
construed all the names without borrowing
from the French or the classics. Thus the
various forms. burg. borough. burrow. bury.
borrow and berry nFreneb bouro signifv a
hin or fortified nlace or town. az Newburo
Marlborough. Hambnrp From burn. borne
born and bone. a brook or fountain. we have
Burnham. a home by the brook. and Mary-le-
bone. ST. Marv,s at the fountain. Caster. ces-
ter and chester. the Anelo-Saxon Corruption
of the Roman castrun. a camp or fortress.
gives us MANY of our names of English origin.
From comb. a valley. we have Wycomb. the
valley of the WV. den. a valley or rayine.
furnishes Denham. a home in the valley
Dover. a ferry and drufF-a thicket. as in
Woodr1ff are usefill and not unfreouent
Ford. furt. furth and fort. all varied forms of
our ford. furnish substantial generic roots for
specific prefix, as Stratford, strait or mar
ro., ford ar5 Eraobfort n ford oF tha