Walt Whitman Speaks!

Edison cylindar recording of (apparently) Whitman reading Whitman. I read on IMDB that Daniel Day-Lewis based his accent in Gangs of New York in part on recording(s) of Whitman (for that mid-19th-century native New York twang).

Gua Gua Gua!

A friend, after some longstanding scrutiny of her map-of-the-world shower curtain, emailed to ask, basically, whence cometh all the gua/gui/guays in various country names. I'll paste in my response right ... now:

OK, here be etymologies:

For each I've started from my shelf copy of Place-Names of the World (Adrian Room, 1974), and then added bits from wikipedia etc.


Guadalquivir River (southern Spain) - From Arabic Wadi-al-kebir = 'river of great water' (Guada- is common 1st element of many Spanish names, from Arabic wadi = 'river, ravine').

Guadeloupe - named after monestary on Guadelupe R. in Spain ... same 'wadi' as above.

Guam - sighted by Magellan's men on St. John's day 1521. Present name native verison of 'Juan/John'. [currently Guáhán in chimorro, Guaján in Spanish).

Guatemala - Spanish version of Indian (probably Tuendal) uhazmala = 'mountain that gushes out water', though earlier explanation of origin had been from Aztec [nahautl?] quauhtemellan = 'land of the eagle' [spanish wikipedia has it meaning "place of many trees"]

Guyana, French Guiana (la Guyane; in French, Guyana is le Guyane), Guayana Esequiba (Venezuelan territorial ciaim) - explored in 1499 by Vespucci and Hojeda, latter naming territory after people, the Guaizas, whose own name = 'respected' (ie 'we who must be respected').
But en.wikipedia: Guyana is an Amerindian word meaning "Land of many waters".
And fr.wilipedia: The term "guyane" is of indigenous origin. In the guanao language, which is spoken by the indians of the Orinoco delta, GUAI means 'name', or 'denomination', UANA is a negation. ... thus Guyane means 'that which can't be named' or 'sacred ground ' or 'the house of the supreme being' (referring to the "italien" [indian?] name for the guyana massif)

Guinea, Equitorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea - probably from Berber aguinau = 'black (-skinned people)'.
Guinea hen = fowl from Guinea. Guinea pig - 1664, native to South America and is so called either because it was first brought back to Britain aboard Guinea-men, ships that plied the triangle trade between England, Guinea, and South America; or from confusion of Guinea (q.v.) with the South American region of Guyana.

[N.B. I always found it interesting that when you jigsaw Africa and S. America back together, guinea and guiana match up!]

Nicaragua - discovered 1522 by explorer Gil Gonzalez, named territory after Indian chief who owned it. Chief's name of uncertain meaning. [es.wikipdia has the Nicarao tribe emigrating south from Teotihuacan (the classical civilization near present Mexico City). The Nicaraguan government cites unnamed etymologists to say that the name has Nahuatl [ie Aztec-lang-family] origins -- some say it can be divided ni-can-atl-hua, 'the lords of water are here' or 'place where there are great deposits of water'. Others suggest that nic-atl-nahuac' means 'here together on the water'. es.wikipedia quites that, but also suggests that the -agua is from the Spanish 'water'.

Paraguay - country after river, after native tribe, Paragua, with name derived from Indian [sic] para = 'water' en.wikipedia has this: The literal translation from Guaraní is Para=great river or sea; Gua=from or belonging to or place; Y=water or river or lake. This could lead to:
* "Water or river belonging to the sea" (the Atlantic Ocean).
* "Water or river that belongs to a great river" (the Paraná River).
* "Water or river that comes from a sea" or "water or river from the place where the sea is" (the Pantanal wetland).
The fourth version states that it could be a corruption from Pajaguay, "river of the Pajaguás", a tribe that inhabited the right bank, opposite from the Guaranís.

Uruguay - country after river, origin perhaps in Indian [sic] guay = 'tail' + uru = 'bird', referring to species of bird w/remarkable tail living in forests here. Or perhaps connected with guay = 'river', common element in South American names.
both wikipedias have: The name "Uruguay" comes from Guaraní. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are:
* "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urú, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water")[4]
* "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds) [sic? I can't find any refernces, Spanish or English, to chinchillas that aren't the soft-furred Andean rodents, apart from a city called Chinchilla in Spain]": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San Martín.
* "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of Félix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water")[4]
* "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton.

Escher Lives ... in Canada!

While talking with an old friend in Toronto yesterday afternoon, I opened up Google Maps to see just where he was. Afterwards, I decided to have a look around. Click-and-dragging down Bay St. (thinking of the Ron Sexmith song "Dragonfly on Bay Street") I stopped short at Toronto City Hall trying to make the perspectives resolve, before finally realizing that it must be where two aerial photos are stitched together:

Dubai Design Downpour

The Gulf News came up with a witty wet-ink cover treatment in its coverage of the torrential rain they've had in the United Arab Emirates this week -- note how the smudges run down into the article text.

Alphabet Geography

I keep a 1977 London Times Atlas open on my bedroom dresser. Every morning, as part of my getting-ready ritual, I flip the page to see the next map-plate, and play a little game, scanning the map to find a city or other feature that starts with a letter of the alphabet. I jot it down in my little notebook. The next day, I turn the page and set about finding something that starts with the next letter. So on through the atlas, across the globe, and down the alphabet from A to Z and all over again. And now that little notebook's become a blog: Alphabet Geography. It's still, three days in, finding its feet as I discover what, and how much, additional info, links, and sketches to add. The goal is not to take any posting-impetus from this site, but rather to make public something I was already doing anyway, a day and a letter at a time.

Mapping Man/Woman/Boy/Girl

I finally got all my sketches from the Man/Woman/Boy/Girl project plotted on a Google Map. They're best viewed in the Google environs, but I've also set up a separate blog, with the map and the initial sketchbook-slideshow here.


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