Users of Neo-Latin have taken the Latin language to places the Romans never went; hence a need arose to make that did not exist when Latin was a living language.
The first places that needed Latin names were encountered by Bible Translators , who had a need to figure out what to call the many place names in the Bible in Latin. They either reworked the place names into Latin or Greek shapes; in one version, '' Yerushalem '' (tentative reconstruction of a more ancient Hebrew version of the name) becomes ''Hierosolyma'', doubtless influenced by Greek ιερος (''hieros''), "holy". Or, they adopted them directly, often treating the new place names as Indeclinable Noun s; here ''Yerushalem'' is brought over as ''Ierusalem'', with the Latin ''I'' being prononuced as an English ''Y'' sound and the /sh/ being transliterated to the closest Latin sound, /s/. {Link without Title}
Similar strategies are used with United States and North America and other place names that Latin writers needed to give Latin names to. A number of methods are used:
- A classical ending such as -''um'' or -''a'' is added or substituted on the end of the source word. Hence ''Baltimorum'' for "Baltimore," '' Albania '' for "Albany."
- The words already fit into Latin Declension s, as do ''Indianapolis'', ''Cincinnati'', and ''Atlanta''.
- Calque s are resorted to if the New World name is based on an Old World name; the various ''Parises'' in the United States are likely to become ''Lutetia'', and ''Novum Eboracum'' or ''Neo-Eboracum'' represents ''New York'', because ''Eboracum'' is the city of York in England.
- The words are respelled to eliminate non-Latin letters; hence ''Washington'' becomes ''Vasingtonium''. Note that "V" in Latin is pronounced as an English "W" There was no W in Latin.
- The words are adjusted to fit Latin declensions; ''Kansas'' appears as either ''Cansas, Cansatis'' or ''Cansa, Cansae''; ''Chicago'', ''Ohio'', and ''Idaho'' become consonant stems, with Genitives ''Chicagonis'', ''Ohionis'', ''Idahonis'', &c.
- The words are re-interpreted to fit Latin declensions; ''Illinois'' is treated as a third-declension noun.
- The words are treated as indeclinable, like some Biblical names; ''Connecticut'' is sometimes treated this way.
In many cases, there is no consensus as to how to treat any given names, and variants exist. If a University or an Episcopal See is in a town, the odds increase that there is a standard form hallowed by usage. Note that names of cities are usually Feminine in Gender in Latin, despite ending in -''us''. This rule is not always strictly observed in the New World
- There are latin forms of Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and other Oceanian-South Pacific communities as well.
- One example is London, Ontario which can be translateable to Londinium in Latin, while the rest of the other non-Latin languages like Greek and French for other Londons that are not London, England is spelt "London" (from English).
Here are the names that are listed in Latin and its modern meaning on the right for the world, except for Europe, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Kurdistan.
- This list includes Azerbaijan, Kurdistan southeast of Arbil, Abkhazia, Chechnya, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Malta and Pantelleria, and the whole of Kazakhstan, and Russia east of the ural mountains.
Latin being an Inflected Language , names in a Latin context may have different word-endings to those shown here, which are given in the Nominative case. For instance ''Roma'' (Rome) may appear as ''Romae'' meaning "at Rome" ( Locative ), "of Rome" ( Genitive ) or "for Rome" ( Dative ), as ''Romam'' meaning "to Rome" ( Accusative ), or indeed as ''Romā'' with a long ''a'', probably not indicated in the orthography, meaning "from Rome" ( Ablative ). Similarly names ending in ''-um'' or ''-us'' may occur with ''-i'' or ''-o'', and names ending in ''-us'' may occur with ''-um''. The words ''urbs'' and ''civitas'' may occur as ''urbis'', ''urbi'', or ''urbe'', and ''civitatis'', ''civitati'' or ''civitate''.
| '''English Name, name(s) , name(s) , [state ''' |
|---|
| Alexandria (Aegyptus)¹ | Alexandria (Al-Iskandriyah), Egypt |
| Alexandria (Colombia Britannica) | Alexandria, British Columbia |
| Alexandria (Ontario) | Alexandria, Ontario |
| Alexandria (Virginia) | Alexandria, Virginia |
| Algeris | Algiers , Algeria |
| Arae Flaviae | Rottweil , Germany |
| Arbela, Arbila | Erbil , Arbil |
| Ascalon | Ashkelon , Israel |
| Atlanta | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Augusta | Augusta, Maine |
| Baltimorum, Baltimori | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Bona Aera | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Bostonia | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Cansae, Civitas | Kansas City |
| Carolinapolis | Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island , Canada |
| Cantabrigia | Cambridge, Massachusetts , Cambridge, Ontario or Cambridge, England |
| Cincinnati | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Civitas Alphabetica | Alphabet City ( New York , New York ) |
| Civitas California | California City, California |
| Citivas Florida | Florida City, Florida |
| Civitas Oklahoma | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Citivas Panama | Panama City, Florida |
| Columbus | Columbus, North Carolina |
| Corpus Christi | Corpus Christi, Texas |
| Cultellus Flavus | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories , Canada
| | Damascus | Damascus (Dimashq), Syria |
| Edessa | Sanli Urfa |
| Equus Albus | Whitehorse, Yukon , Canada
| | Flumen Januarii | Rio De Janeiro |
| Fredericopolis | Fredericton, New Brunswick , Canada |
| Hippo Regius | Bone, Algeria |
| Hierosolyma² | Jerusalem |
| Indianapolis (4) | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Jericho² | Jericho , West Bank ( Palestine ) |
| Leptis Magna, Lepcis Magna | near Tripoli , Libya |
| Londinium, Africa Australis | London, South Africa |
| Londinium (Ontario) | London, Ontario |
| Ludovicopolis | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Marathon (Ontario) | Marathon, Ontario |
| Medaba | Mecca (Makkah), Saudi Arabia |
| Medina, Arabia | Medina, Saudi Arabia |
| Medina, Nova Eburaca | Medina, New York |
| Melburnium, Victoria (Regna) | Melbourne, Australia |
| Mons Regius, Marianopolis, Villa Maria | Montreal, Quebec |
| Minneapolis (4) | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Nova Aurelia, Novum Aurelium | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Nova Helvetia | Nueva Suecia (New Switzerland), Uruguay |
| Novum Baltimorum | New Baltimore, Michigan |
| Novum Hamburgium | New Hamburg, Ontario |
| Novum Eboracum | New York , New York |
| Nowum Glasgovium | New Glasgow, Nova Scotia , Canada |
| Oxonia | Oxford, England |
| Philadelphia¹ (America) | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Philadelphia | Amman , Jordan |
| Phoenix¹, Arizona | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Praetoria? | Pretoria, South Africa |
| Providenia? | Provideniya , Russia , west of Alaska |
| Providentia | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Urbs Quebecis | Quebec City, Quebec |
| Urbs Reginae | Regina, Saskatchewan , Canada |
| Regiopolis | Kingston, Jamaica |
| Regiopolis, ON | Kingston, Ontario |
| Sancti Spiriti | Sancti Spiriti, Argentina |
| Sanctus Johannes | Saint John, New Brunswick , Canada |
| Sanctus Johannes Terrae Novae | St. John's, Newfoundland And Labrador , Canada |
| Sanctus Paulus | São Paulo , Brazil |
| Sarnia | Sarnia, Ontario |
| Sicagum | Chicago, Illinois |
| Sinus Tonitralis | Thunder Bay, Ontario |
| Tempe (Arizona) | Tempe, Arizona |
| Tiberias | Tiberias (Teverya), Israel |
| Tingis | Tangier , Morocco |
| Tripolis¹ | Tripoli, Libya |
| Tunis | Tunis, Tunisia |
| Vasingtonium | Washington, DC |
| Victoria (Regna), Colombia Britannica | Victoria, British Columbia |
# Latinized form of the Greek-derived name.
# Latinized form of a Hebrew derived name
# Latinized form of an Amerindian languages-derived name.
# only polis is a Greek derived name.
|
