The Portland daily press., 1872-03-19
TILE PRESS.
TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 10, ,7s.
Among the Post.Ofices.

office robbers, he will be disappointed. We
propose rather to make raid upon the ono
matology of modern Americans. What is
that? In this case I am afraid it means the
questionable taste displayed not by you, kind
reader, but by your neighbors over the way,
in naming the town in which you had the
good or bad fortune to be born. Out of the
$4,000 post-ofices in the United States, vast
number of the names are unworthy of our
commentator or respect in regard to appro-
priateness and euphony. If this charge APP
pears too sweeping, an examination Of the
official list, to be found in every post-ofiice
will be satisfactory evidence of its justice. As
matter Of mere curiosity even, the examin-
alton win amply repay one; and in this arti-
Gle we propose to give a partial analysis Of the
names in use, and perhaps add some sugges-
tions in respect to the formation of new ones
as these are demanded. ''' ''t'-' 'n"
The first great source Of our piebald mo-
menclature Is the mother country from
whence the English colonists brought, with
their families, fortunes and language; also the
names of their native towns, We cannot
quarrel with that instinct of human heart
that seeks to perpetuate on a new soil the
familiar name of the old birthplace. And
yet there may be objection 10 that, as when
one wishes to baptise village among the
mountains with the name of Bayport, or to
attach the name of London toa grocery at
x roads or to a log hut by quagmire. These
names, introduced by the English colonists,
are generally of Arglo-Saxon origin-they
smack OF the soil, and generally carry some
dignity inherent in the name itself. Thus,
Shoreham, a town in Vermont on the borders
of Lake Champlain. tells. of its situation, a
home by the shore. Litchfield, originating
in England, Is field of the dead, where were
buried the bodies Of Christians martyred in
the reign Of Diocletian. The first syllable Is
merely different form of the Obsolete Anglo
Saxon lie, or lick, corpse, seen in the Ger
may never have been seen In Birmingham
lot, but the name meadow home Of the
broom) tells of its origin in England That
the name of Julius Caesar was not monopo-
Used In the United States by southern negroes,
appears from an analysis of Jersey and Chel-
sea, both of which signify C@sar's island. BY
some process of corruption, the Roman name
dwinded into Jer and Chel, and connecting
was added to the Anglo-Saxon forms, sy
and ca, both signifying an island. From the
varying forms wald, walt, wold and would,
CApiCcciiS WIN uliCultiNltcu iduus anu dcO
a wood, we get many combinations, as Walt
ham, a home by the wood, and Southold,
where the W has disappeared. Ham, mean
ing home, (Gerham helm ,as we have seen,
enters largely into the composition of proper
names, and is frequently found with another
Saxon word, ton, or tun, town,as in Hamp-
ton, the home town, An additional combina-
ton gives us Northampton, Southampton,
and We may suppose also, with ben or bin, Ia
I'D. Kill
casion to speak of these Anglo-Saxon names
again, and now proceed to the next class,
Modern names, taken bodily from Europe,
Asia and Africa. Who would suppose the in
ventive genius of Americans was so poor as
to compel them to borrow from every country
in the old world? And yet such is the fact.
Other countries of the western continent even,
have been robbed to give us name. We
have all had one laugh at the artist mentioned
by Artemus Ward, who studied the art of
painting in Rome, that is, in Rome, N. Y.
But why not Rome of Georgia or Illinois, or
of nine other states where the eternal city
has been transplanted, but happily without
kaiser or pope? We need not cross the At
lantic to find Paris-they are manufactured
here at short notice, chiefly in the West,
where they will show you dozen, besides
three in the north, and one Parisville. If we
find no Tuilleries or hotel de vile in ours,
neither viii they across the water. Asia has
one China, but we have two, and Seven Pc
kins to boot. We have eight Cubas, but not
the gem of the Antilles-as yet. We need
not travel to Palestine to find Damacus six
times repeated, and still cannot boast of hav-
ing within our borders the most ancient city
of the world. Neither the Danes nor the
NorwegiaNs have eXpatriated themselves, yet
we have eight Denmarks and six Norways.
With all our i ur Scotlands, how many clans
of highlanders in kilt and tartan have BRAN
dished their claymores in our battles? Chris
topher Columbus and our western squatters
have moved Ultima Thule from the do
main of Britain to the wilds of Arkan-
sas. Is there anything peculiarly fascinating
in the name of Mexico that we should repeat
it six times, or in Lima that not less than
eleven of the name should satisfy us? The
nice little city of Berne is reproduced three
times, but, alas the Alps were forgotten on
moving day. Our sturdy German cousins
may have their choice in their adopted coun-
try, between seventeen Berlins and sixteen
Viennas, all doubtless fine and prosperous
cities, (where are they, dear readers p
though the Prussian university, with its
army of professors speaking all different lam
guages, and the Austrian prater, the familiar
Volksgarten and the immense art treasures
will be sought after in vain on this side of the
Atlantic. From Afric's burning sand we get
seven Egypts, eight Cairos and one Timbuc-
too, and that is sufficient; but they are not to
be supposed to be inhabited by Arabs, Copts
or Catfres-indeed, any such imputatation
would be promptly met with scorn, as the in
habitants make some pretentions to belong to
the Caucasian race and to speak the English
language as their vernacular. And when we
add twelve Etnas to this list, it must not be
supposed that Sicily has lost her volcano, or
that Eureladus has become a Yankee; we
have stolen the name without the thing. We
could enlarge this list but-enough is suff-
cient. The whole custom of going abroad for
our names is to be deprecated as in bad taste
and unnecessary. The post-ofiice depart
ment is understood to hold casting vote on
the veto power in the choice of new name,
but that Is varying fac tor in the question
subject to quadrennial change.
That placid old humbug, Rollins's Ancien t
History, must be responsible for another long
list of grievances. If one lad from each town
were compelled to learn the history of the an
cient city whose name has been bestowed up
ON his birthplace, from their collected knowl-
edge universal history of antiquity might
easily be compiled. That there is but one
Babylon among these is perhaps owing to the
bad odor in the Revelation in st. John. And
the intelligent and cultivated portion of in
habitants of that representative of the Assy-
rian capital has been endeavoring long, but
in vain, to change its name to something less
offensive. No other walls than a ten-rail
snake fence are to be found about the four
Ninevahs, which flourish on American soil.
Juno plotted and Arolus blew in vain-Ae-
meas was mistaken in his pathetic "fuite
Ihum''-there are no less than nineteen
Troys in the land, which Seneca mentions
beyond the sea, besides three Troy
Centers and Troy Grove, Troy Mill, Troy
Station and Troy Store. Our only pantheon
is an Olympus and an Olympic; but whether
they are fit habitation for the gods is more
than deponent can say. Greece had her Cas-
Italia, with the fount sacred to the Nine; we
have tripled the number, but our founts are
somehow associated with soda or lager beer.
1t is quite possible that the name Pactolus
may grace village in the auriferous regions
of North Carolina, as well as the famous river
of Lydia. Athens and Palmyra each live In
fourteen different states, and hundred-gated
Thebes, shorn of her walls and her temples,
flourishes in the luxurient cornfields OF the
Illinois prairies. The great city OF upper
Egypt, Memphis, reappears in eight OF our
States, one Pharsalia tells Of the scene of
Pompey's overthrow, and five Corinths are
compelled to vie with the brilliancy andsplen-
dor Of the capitol of the famous peninsula.
From sacred history we get six Paradises,
eleven Edens, six Jerichos, twelve Canaans,
two Ophirs, nine Mt. lions and four Jerusa-
lems-and comment is superfuous. These
are but a fraction, and they are more than
enough. 1t is a great pity to burden prom
ising little village with such grand old names.
The inconguity is so palpable that the un-
fortunate bearer of the historic name often
gets undeserved contempt. Plain George
Smith, as criminal, gets justice merely, but
al. . Alxz"1 eskx.