place name

place name
   James Boswell, in his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, says:
   There is a beautiful little island in the Loch of Dunvegan, called Isa. M’Leod said, he would give it to Dr Johnson…M’Leod encouraged the fancy of Dr Johnson’s becoming owner of an island; told him, that it was the practice in this country to name every man by his lands; and begged leave to drink to him in that mode: ‘Island Isa, your health!’ Sir Walter Scott also comments on this custom in Waverley.
   The Lowlanders call him, like other gentlemen, by the name of his estate, Glennaquoich; and the Highlanders call him Vich Ian Vohr, that is, the son of John the Great; and we upon the braes here call him by both names indifferently.
   This explanation is given to an ignorant Englishman. Another such needs to be put right in The East Wind of Love, by Compton Mackenzie: ‘Don’t call me Mr Macleod, young man. I’m not my own factor.’ John could not believe that he was meant to address this genially fierce old gentleman as ‘Macleod’ and went back to the ‘sir’ he had been using. ‘I didn’t mean that,’ he was told. You should call me Ardvore.’ The speaker here is laird of Ardvore. See also the quotation from Boswell at Muck.
   Telephone operators dealing with international calls sometimes address callers by the town from which they are calling: ‘Go ahead, London.’

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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  • Place name — Place Place (pl[=a]s), n. [F., fr. L. platea a street, an area, a courtyard, from Gr. platei^a a street, properly fem. of platy s, flat, broad; akin to Skr. p[.r]thu, Lith. platus. Cf. {Flawn}, {Piazza}, {Plate}, {Plaza}.] 1. Any portion of space …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • place name — n the name of a particular place, such as a town, mountain etc ▪ Many of the place names are Scottish in origin …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • place name — place′ name or place′ name n. the name of a geographical location, as a town, city, or village • Etymology: 1865–70 …   From formal English to slang

  • place name — ► NOUN ▪ the name of a geographical location, such as a town, lake, or mountain …   English terms dictionary

  • place name — noun the name by which a geographical place is known • Syn: ↑toponym • Hypernyms: ↑name • Part Holonyms: ↑troponymy, ↑troponomy * * * place name noun A geographical proper name …   Useful english dictionary

  • place name — toponym; name derived from the name of a place; name given to by geographical location …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Place name origins — The study of place names is called toponymy and is distinct from (but often confused with) etymology, the study of the origins of words. Rather than describing toponymy (as an academic discipline) itself, this article examines the origins of… …   Wikipedia

  • place name — noun /ˈpleɪs.neɪm/ the name of a geographical place Syn: toponym …   Wiktionary

  • place name — The name of a place incorporated in a trademark or tradename. 52 Am J1st Tradem § 66 …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • place-name — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun : the name of a geographical locality (as of a city or town) little trace … of the Celts survived except in place names Bavarian Palatinate …   Useful english dictionary

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