Place-Name Changes, 1900-1991 - Hardcover

Room, Adrian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810826003 ISBN 13: 9780810826007

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 1994

Synopsis

New in paperback! This new and revised edition of Place-Name Changes Since 1900, originally published in 1979, contains over 4,500 name changes worldwide, ranging from small villages to entire countries. Much has changed in the world in the 13 years that have passed since the original work appeared, and the new edition takes full account of recent developments in Germany, the former Soviet Union, and other East European countries such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. An appendix gives the official names of countries of the world as of January 1, 1992. The bibliography has been updated and enlarged. Now more than ever, the work will prove an essential reference tool for all those who wish to keep abreast with the latest developments on the world stage. Cloth edition previously published in 1993. Paperback edition available August 2002.

About this title

About the Author:

Adrian Room (MA, Oxford) is the author of about 35 popular reference books, mainly on the origins of words and names. He has taught English and modern foreign languages at a number of schools and colleges, and in 1984 left his post as Senior Lecturer in Russian with the Ministry of Defence to pursue writing full-time. He has long specialized in the field of place names, and his first book on the subject (and his first book overall) was Place Names of the World (David & Charles, 1974). His recent publications include Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles (Bloomsbury, 1989) and Street Names of England (Paul Watkins, 1992). He is currently working on two new dictionaries of first names, and his largest work ever on the subject of names will be published as Brewer's Dictionary of Names (Cassell, 1992). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the English Place-Name Society and the American Name Society.

From Booklist:

This update of the original (1979) gazetteer provides information for approximately 4,500 places that have had name changes since 1900. Beginning with essays on why place-name changes occur and how the author has identified the changes included here, the bulk of the book is an alphabetical listing of places, followed by an appendix of official country names (in the country's language), and an extensive bibliography of other books that provide place-names. Included are "officially decided or decreed" renamings, with most of the new entries for the former Soviet Union, China, and Africa. For example, more than a dozen places that changed their names from some form of Stalin- can be found.

Main entries are current names in English (former names and former variant spellings of names are cross-referenced to the present names), followed, if necessary, by foreign-language versions. Each main entry contains an identification of the type of place (e.g., city, village, mountain, island, capital); a broad locator (e.g., northern Brazil, suburb of Chicago, IL, USA); the former name or names; and the year in which the former name ceased to be used. Chinese names are transliterated via the Wade-Giles system; this means the main entry for Beijing is Peking.

Although much of the information here remains unchanged since the earlier edition, the updated information for all parts of the world makes this book useful even for those libraries that have the earlier edition. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0810826003
• ISBN 13: 9780810826007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 322