Wednesday, January 11, 2006

"Wordplay Wednesday" #2!...

Good Wednesday to all of you, good journal people!  I decided that I am going to try and do "Wordplay" every Wednesday.  I will make it "Word Wednesday".   I am not the best at being counted on for posting, but I am going to try my darndest!  Here is today's installment:
 

                                       

What city, town do you live in Do you know what it is translated from Do you know why it is named thisWhat about the state you live in?

My answer:  I live in Bellefonte, PA.  "Bellefonte" means beautiful fountain or spring in French.  I live close to Spring Creek which is very pretty.  It is a famous fishing spot.  President Carter even fished here =).  Our water source comes from Artisian wells and the big spring produces 1.5 million gallons per minute and has been traced to Lake Superior and Lake Erie through dyes.  It drains into Chesapeake Bay.  Thanks, Roger, for this information!  "Pennsylvania" comes from Penn's woods.  William Penn made peace treaties with Indians and founded Pennsylvania.

What about your town/city and state?

24 comments:

  1. very interesting!  New Jersey here.  It comes from New.  and Jersey.  haha!  LOL

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  2. I'm not sure where my city name came from; I think it was one of the founding fathers that had it named after him. I don't want to post it, but I will post my state name - Montana - I believe that was named after an Indian tribe.

    good game, Val!

    betty

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  3. I live in Tucson, AZ.  It comes from the word, too SAHN or TOO sahn.  Tucson was orginally an Indian village called Stook-zone, meaning water at the foot of black mountain.  Life in the Tucson Valley begins ca. 10,000 B.C. with the migrations of Paleoindian and Archaic hunters and gatherers. Whether or not there was continuous habitation is unclear, though evidence of agricultural settlements along the Santa Cruz River have been found dating from ca. 1000 B.C.  Between A.D. 200 and 1450, the Hohokam culture thrives. The Pima and Tohono O'odham are the descendents of that advanced civilization, and have inhabited the region since the Hohokam decline.

    Arizona becomes the 48th state in the Union in 1912.  The origin from the O'Odham words "alĭ ṣon" ("small spring"), actually the name of a town which is called "Arizonac" in English. Arizonac is a small town about eight miles (12 km) south of the United States–Mexican border. Historically, it may have been "alĭ son" or even "alĭ sona".  

    xoxo ~Myra

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  4. Hi there Val - will have to find out the meaning of where I live, will probably have to be Buckingham as I doubt I can trace the meaning of the tiny village I live in, but will try. Have some info for you about the naming of Pennsylvania and William Penn, will try to do a write-up. Take care, I'll be in touch.
    Sylvia xxx

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  5. Hi Val,

    All I can tell you, being English and not living in a state is that I live in a town called Slough, which means Swamp.  Apparently the land that the town was built on was marshy and although in the town itself there is no sign of it today.  In the surrounding countryside we have many underground springs and there are houses that have structural problems because they were built on the original wetlands. :o)

    Sandra xxxx

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  6. Well, I come under Hockley or Hoccelaei as it was called in the Domesday Book.  It is supposed to mean the place where the mallows grow but do not ask me how!

    http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/JeannettesJottings/

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  7. The less complicated one is Illinois, my state, which is an Algonquin word for tribe of superior men.  My town name is Rockton.  The city just south of Rockton is Rockford, so I'm guessing the name comes from us being located along the Rock River, and "ford" already being taken.  It was probably originally called Rock Town, but was abbreviated to its present form like many other towns of the same type.  
    More history:  Back to 1830's~ Rockton was located on the west side of the Rock River along with Roscoe, Beloit, and other small towns.  Macktown, named after Stephen Mack who founded and explored the area, was located on the east side of the river.  One bridge connected the two, and was a lifeline for Macktown.  During a storm the bridge was completely wiped out and Macktown lost it's lifeline.  The town died out.  Had the situation been reversed, I could be living in Macktown right now, or a combination of Rockton and Macktown.  Very interesting don't you think?  
    I like your wordplay game...this is officially the longest comment I have ever left on any journal!  I hope I didn't bore you to death.  History fascinates me.
    Cheers! Kellen

    http://journals.aol.com/love2sing2007/FaithinRomanCatholicism

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  8. North Carolina here.  North as apposed to that state just south of us known as South Carolina.  lol

    Kathy

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  9. This is the most interesting journal question I have seen yet.   The comments are astoundingly  detailed from historical derivation.   I live near Carbondale, IL.   Carbondale is derived from Carbon or Coal.   It has the railroad running through it which made it an early commercial settlement area.   It was a flashpoint area during the Civil War because of a large number of Confederate sympathizers, making anyone a target that spoke out for the Union.   Copperheads were deserters from the Union army that hid out in S. IL.   They  were against the North.   That is a little of the history.   General John A. Logan is a noted name having the Junior College named after him, and his name is used frequently.   mark

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  10. http://journals.aol.com/nyuknyukpik2/Throwmeabone/entries/1520

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  11. My town is dubbed The Birthplace Of The Cowboy and Land Of Liveoaks And Friendly Folks. There are many live oak trees here and they paved the streets around them in places. Cute game. Paula

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  12. Ok I have an apartment in Prospect Park and a house in Folsom, PA. They are both in Ridley township. The strange thing is at the apartment complex if you walk across the footbridge, the town changes from Prospect Park to Ridley Park; talk about tiny towns! Although the feel is "small town", I am 5 minutes from the Philly airport and the house is on such a busy street that the cat can only go outdoors on a leash. Val gave you all the PA info so I don't have to! ;-) Sassy PS. PA has a lot of history and Ben Franklin's big 300th BDay is coming up.

    http://journals.aol.com/debbted/SassysSecondWord

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  13. The town is Massapequa. And, all I know is that Long Island had many tribes of Indians and our area was inhabited by the Masapequa tribe. After that, it was a bunch of potato farms. Lots of our streets are named after different tribes of Indians......For example.....Mohawk Drive......Oneida Road......Many more and all names of Indian tribes.
    Angela

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  14. I live in a village that was named after a county alderman who lived at the turn of the 1900's. Someone took his name and added "-boro" to the end of it.

    --Tom

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  15. Hi Val, I live in Brighton which was originally called Beorhthelms Farm according to the Domesday book. Jeannette. http://journals.aol.co.uk/jlocorriere05/Welcometomytravels

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  16. val, HERE IN SUNRISE, FLORIDA, THE NAME COMES FROM THE SUN, THAT RISES! FLORIDA I THINK IS AN INDIAN TERM. ORIGINALLY MY TOWN WAS CALLED SUNRISE GOLF VILLAGE. THEY TORE UP THE GOLF COURSE AND BUILT HOMES AND THEREFORE THE NAME. VERY BORING. BUT LOVE YOUR GAME. ROBERTA

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  17. I live in Ventura, CA.  The formal name for the town is San Buenaventura (Spanish) which means Saint Good Adventure.  the town was founded by Father Junipero Serra who established missions up and down our lovely state. Many of the towns opted to keep the name of the mission as the name of the town.  Blessings,  Penny  http://journals.aol.com/firestormkids04/FromHeretoThere

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  18. I tried to find out what Milton Keynes - where I live - means, or what it was named after, but other than it being named after a small village within the town, I couldn't find anything :o(  
    Sara   x

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  19. I live in Lafayette Colorado it was named after a miner and his wife. I will try and find out more and let you know lol

    Deb

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  20. http://journals.aol.com/fasttrack58/FootprintsintheSand/entries/2434
    Linda :)

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  21. Merced, CA.  Merced comes from "mercy" and California was the name of a literary utopia...but I don't know in what literature.

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  22. hey I learned sompthin...

    The arrival of Northern Pacific Railroad was instrumental in bringing a rush of settlers to the Washington Territory, leading to statehood on November 11, 1889.  The railroad town of Ainsworth moved to Pasco in 1886 and brought with it the county seat. Pasco was named by Virgil Bogue, a construction engineer for Northern Pacific who helped build a railroad in the Andes Mountains near Cerro de Pasco in Peru.

    Since I am new to this area this was very fun!

    http://www.ci.pasco.wa.us/

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  23. hoping all is well

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  24. I live in Salt Lake City.  This where the Salt Lake is.  A big body of water that is salty and when you go in the water you float.  Just lay back and read a book while you are floating.   The state is Utah.  Named after the Ute Indians.  The Valley was founded by Brigham Young , the leader of the Morman Church.  The Mountains are beautiful anytime of year. Very majestic.  

                                                             Hugs to you Val

                                                             MoodyMyke

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