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Unique names of cities/town/villages in Poland


Nathan  18 | 1349  
12 Jul 2011 /  #1
I enjoy spotting the names of the places with some obvious unique meaning:

Zielona Góra (Poland) - "Green Mountain", Przylep - "Sticker"
Moose Jaw (Canada)
Salzburg (Austria) - "Salt Castle"
Kryvyj Rih (Ukraine) - "Crooked Horn", Zymna Woda - "Cold Water"
Moulins (France) - "Mills"
Piedras Negras (Mexico) - "Black Stones"

Do you know of others? At the end we will organize the voting for 3 the most unique.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
12 Jul 2011 /  #2
Nagikutas in Hungary is quite funny. Let's try to keep this more about Polish ones.

Nowa Huta is strange. It means New Foundry.
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
12 Jul 2011 /  #3
go to hel everyone.

kwidzyn. comes out like 'quids in'
Lyzko  
12 Jul 2011 /  #4
Brilliant, Wrocław! Hell, Michigan I presume-:)

Or how about Suddenly, California LOL
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
12 Jul 2011 /  #5
pity me
Seanus  15 | 19666  
12 Jul 2011 /  #6
Hel is on the peninsula in the north of Poland
pip  10 | 1658  
12 Jul 2011 /  #7
Puck--on the peninsula
Dildo Newfoundland- seriously.
Brodno- suburb of Warsaw--doesn't this mean "dirty"
Napanee -where Avril Lavigne is from
Lyzko  
12 Jul 2011 /  #8
Oh, is the spelling 'Hel' or 'Chełm'? I'm only familiar with the latter-:)

Oh yes, and of course leave us not forget ****, Austria LOL
And the name for an inhabitant? You got it.
gumishu  15 | 6176  
12 Jul 2011 /  #9
I haven't found it on any Polish map but long ago I found Hujsko in Przemyśl area in an old Czech auto-atlas

edit: seems they have changed the name some time ago
ShawnH  8 | 1488  
13 Jul 2011 /  #10
All in Newfoundland Canada:

Heart's Content
Heart's Desire
Heart's Delight

Wawa (Ontario, Canada) and Walla Walla (State of Washingtonm, USA)
isthatu2  4 | 2692  
13 Jul 2011 /  #11
The Bungle Bungle mountains in Australia,doubly funny if you remember rainbow.......
Kock in Poland,for obvious reasons...
Lyzko  
13 Jul 2011 /  #12
'Kock in Poland..'

Yes, of only when written, not pronounced, K - O - T - S- K

-:))))
wildrover  98 | 4430  
13 Jul 2011 /  #13
Oh, is the spelling 'Hel' or 'Chełm'? I'm only familiar with the latter-:)

Two different places....

Hel is on the Baltic coast...
OP Nathan  18 | 1349  
13 Jul 2011 /  #14
I haven't thought that a thread can be spoiled by a few five-year olds. The title clearly says

the places with some obvious unique meaning

Does Wawa, Brodno (doesn't mean "dirty", maybe "brudno" does), Napanee have an obvious meaning? Are the gray cells such a rarity nowadays that we have to dig **** in Austria which for Austrians has no corresponding meaning? Or Polish Puck is not a hockey puck and as far as I am aware has no obvious, direct meaning in Polish.

So, if a penis is taken out of imagination the thread will end up without posts? Do you dream of d*icks whenever geography or other subjects come to mind? The most amazing is the guys are the ones with c*ck-obsessions.
Bzibzioh  
13 Jul 2011 /  #15
Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada.

I was always partial to Pcim in Poland, just sounds silly :)
Wroclaw  44 | 5359  
13 Jul 2011 /  #16
noses point (uk)
modafinil  - | 416  
13 Jul 2011 /  #17
Most if not all areas in the England that end in bury such as Glastonbury and Canterbury were named so for having large burial grounds.
ShawnH  8 | 1488  
13 Jul 2011 /  #18
The title clearly says

Unique names of cities/town/villages in Poland and elsewhere
OP Nathan  18 | 1349  
13 Jul 2011 /  #19
Yes!!! With obvious meaning!!!

were named so for having large burial grounds.

Very interesting.

Another one:
Königsbrunn (Germany) - "King's Well"
ShawnH  8 | 1488  
13 Jul 2011 /  #20
Yes!!! With obvious meaning!!!

Well it would be obvious if you were of Native American descent! Walla Walla translates as Place of Many Waters!

Wawa can be translated as Wild Goose in Ojibway..
OP Nathan  18 | 1349  
13 Jul 2011 /  #21
Where was this information in your post below?

Wawa (Ontario, Canada) and Walla Walla (State of Washingtonm, USA)

As you can see in my original post all the names are explained as to what they mean. How is one supposed to know the meaning if you just post the name in Native American language providing no explanation?
PennBoy  76 | 2429  
13 Jul 2011 /  #22
Biała Ameryka-White America in Poland


  • biala.jpg
ShawnH  8 | 1488  
13 Jul 2011 /  #23
Where was this information in your post below?

It wasn't.

How is one supposed to know the meaning if you just post the name in Native American language providing no explanation?

You are right. Please forgive me.
beckski  12 | 1609  
13 Jul 2011 /  #24
Unique names of cities

I don't know if I would like to live in Intercourse, Pennsylvania!
ShawnH  8 | 1488  
13 Jul 2011 /  #25
It could be worse. You could live by Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. It is just south of Beaver Road.
Avalon  4 | 1063  
13 Jul 2011 /  #26
I have been to "Nowhere", its in Arizona. near Prescott.
gumishu  15 | 6176  
13 Jul 2011 /  #27
there is a small village Chotel in Pińczów area - it is pronounced exactly as 'hotel' in Polish - but still you don't say 'w Chotelu', 'do Chotelu' as in 'w hotelu, do hotelu' but 'w Chotlu', 'do Chotla'
boletus  30 | 1356  
13 Jul 2011 /  #28
Brodno (doesn't mean "dirty", maybe "brudno" does),

Exactly. It is not Brudno, but Brodno. It has the same root as Brodnica, both place names stemming from a word "bród" - "a river ford".

wola, in latin "libera villa" or "libertas" - a settlement established under a foundation of "wolnizna", which means that its settlers could use the land for some number of years free of charge. Depending on the conditions in the area being settled "wolnizna" could take up to 20 years. During that time the settlers had to be built cottages, often the church, and - above all - clear the assigned area, or dry it up, so it will be suitable for agriculture.

There are 10 villages "Wola" in Poland. But there are also about 100 place names or so, with an adjective preceding or following the name "wola", such as "Żelazowa Wola" - a birthplace of Frederic Chopin. The adjective usually indicates an owner of the settlement, or a name of original village where the settlers came from - such as "Zduńska Wola" (from Zduny) - but it may also mean something else.

Among many interesting "wola" names there are:
Boża Wola
Kotowa Wola
Kozia Wola
Wola Węgierska
Żabia Wola
Check the wikipedia: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wola
isthatu2  4 | 2692  
13 Jul 2011 /  #29
I haven't thought that a thread can be spoiled by a few five-year olds. The title clearly says

another humourless bugger.....................cri' sake mate,every bloody place name on the planet has its meaning you plum...................

...Thorpe...=the place of...
....caster/caistor....=walled town

Doncaster = Fort on the Don river
paris=place of the Parisee tribe
Stalingrad= Stalins town.............................

River names are a chuckle,especially in places like britain because it turns out that most names such as The Humber etc if written as the River Humber translate as the River River...........so many languages have simply named rivers "the river" that these days most are The River River....
boletus  30 | 1356  
13 Jul 2011 /  #30
Swornegacie (German: Swornigatz, Kashubian: Swórnëgace), Chojnice County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Modern Poles like to joke about this name, because it sounds like "tight long johns" or "tight underpants". Actually the name means something else.

Various spellings found in old documents:
Swornigac - 1272
Swornigat - 1275
Swornigacz - 1303
Sworngatz - 1354, 1382
Swornegacz - 1382, 1400
Sfornegac - 1653
Swornogac - 1664

In Old-Polish the word "sworny" means "compliant", "swora" once meant "a leash", "sworka" - "a union, connection, relationship", "sworność" - "unanimity, consensus". From the Old-Polish "swora" comes "sworzeń" - a pin, used to connect rotating parts of machines, as well as "zawór" (valve), "zawartość" (content), "zwornik" (fulcrum).

"Gać" means fascine, bundles of willow twigs, and also a dam or a dike. "Gacić" also meant to pad, to dress, to winterize lower part of a hut using various materials - such as moss or straw. The name Swornegacie can be thus variously explained as "locked dikes", an inlet between two lakes, or an isthmus - but definitely not "tight long johns".

The villages of the Chojnice Region are surrounded by "Bory Tucholskie", "Tuchola Forests". Many lakes of various size traditionally supported fresh water fishing.

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