California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names

Gudde, Erwin G.; revised and Enlarged by William Bright

ISBN 10: 0520242173 / ISBN 13: 9780520242173

Published by University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1998

About this Item

Originally published in 1949, this is the 1998 Fourth Edition of one of the primary works on place names in origin. Focuses on current place names, but does list some historical place names. Identifies the county in which the place is located, and generally offers a paragraph or two on the history of the place name. The book's focus on current place names that a lot of historical names no longer in use are not included. Still, this is usually the first place to look for information on a place name in California. In very good condition, with the following exceptions: some curling to the outer edge of the cover, and about 3 inches of the upper right rear cover has been creased; pages 213-222 have a crease in the outer right page edge, where something was apparently jammed into the book; p. 257-258 has a long (about 2 inch) dog ear to the upper outside corner; and there some impressions on the top edge of a number of pages that look like a plastic paper clip may have been present at some time. Text block appears to be clean and unblemished, other than the flaws listed above. 7 x 10 inches, 467 pages.

Seller Inventory # 001332

Bibliographic Details

• Title: California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names
• Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520242173
• ISBN 13: 9780520242173
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Edition: 4th Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Reference
  • Californiana
  • Atlases/Gazetteers

About this title

Synopsis

Absco, a Southern Pacific station, was coined in the 1920s from the name of the American Beet Sugar Company, which had a factory in Oxnard.

Pochea is an Indian village site in Riverside County, said to mean "where the rabbit went in."

Siskiyou was the Chinook word for 'bobtailed horse,' originally taken over from the Cree language. From Abadi Creek to Zzyzyx Spring, thousands of discoveries await the reader of California Place Names. This is the fourth edition, extensively revised and expanded, of a classic work of Californiana. The curious traveler or resident, as well as the serious student, will find a wealth of description and history in these names, as rich and various as the California landscape itself.

Like its predecessors, this edition concentrates on the origins of the names currently used for the cities, towns, settlements, mountains, and streams of California, with engrossing accounts of the history of their usage. It has been updated to incorporate the latest research on California place names published by regional historians and to include new names that have been added to the California map since 1969. Readers will appreciate the local pronunciation of place names with unusual spellings; anyone curious about how to say La Jolla or Weitchpec can find the information here, in phonetic transcriptions. Finally, the many California place names of American Indian origin―such as Yreka, Shasta, Napa, Sonoma, Tamalpais, Yosemite, Lompoc, Mugu, Coachella, or Poway―receive particular attention from editor William Bright. The dictionary includes a Glossary and a Bibliography.

About the Author

Erwin G. Gudde, at his death in 1969, was an emeritus member of the University of California faculty. William Bright is Professor Adjoint in Linguistics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and author of numerous books including A Coyote Reader (California, 1993). He supplied a new foreword plus maps and itinerary for the Fourth Edition of Up and Down in California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer (California, 2003).