Names: and Their Meaning; A Book for the Curious. Leopold Wagner

expresses the Latin (medius, middle, and terra, earth) for the sea between two continents, viz., Europe and Africa. The Adriatic Sea indicates the Sea of Adrian or Hadrian. The Baltic Sea denotes, in accordance with the Swedish bält, a strait, a sea full of belts, or straits. The North Sea, the German Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Irish Sea, are names indicative of the positions of these respective seas. The White Sea is so called from its proximity to sterile regions of snow and ice; the Black Sea, because it abounds with black rocks; the Red Sea, on account of the red soil which forms its bottom; the Green Sea, owing to a strip of green always discernible along the Arabian shore; the Yellow Sea, from the immense quantity of alluvial soil continually poured into it by the Yang-tse-Kiang river; and the Dead Sea, because no fish of any kind has ever been found in its waters. The Caspian Sea preserves the name of the Caspii, a tribe who originally formed a settlement on its shores. The Sea of Marmora owes its designation to a small island at its western extremity which has long been famous for its marble (Latin marmor) quarries. The Gulf Stream is a warm current of water that issues from the mouth of the Amazon, immediately under the Equator, and after traversing the coast of South America, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the coast of the United States, makes its way across the Atlantic directly for the British Isles, raising the temperature of the water through which it passes. The Horse Latitudes, situated between the trade winds and the westerly winds of higher latitudes, and distinguished for tedious calms, received this name because it was in this portion of the Atlantic the old navigators often threw overboard the horses which they had undertaken to transport to the West Indies. The southern banks of the West India Islands, and the water extending for some distance into the Caribbean Sea, were formerly known as the Spanish Main, from the fact that the Spaniards confined their buccaneering enterprises to this locality.

      Hudson’s Bay and Hudson’s Strait were named after their re-discovery by Captain Henry Hudson while searching for the north-west passage in 1610. Prior to this date the Bay and the Strait had not been navigated since their original discovery by Cabot in 1512. James’ Bay honours the memory of James I., in whose reign it was completely explored. Quite a number of straits, gulfs, and bays bear the names of their respective navigators; therefore these need not detain us here. An exception exists in the case of Barrow’s Strait, which was so called by Captain Penny in compliment to John Barrow, the son of Sir John Barrow the traveller and statesman, in 1850. All Saints’ Bay was discovered by Vespucci on the Feast of All Saints in the year 1503. The Gulf of St. Lawrence was first explored, and the navigation of the long river of the same name commenced, on the Feast of St. Lawrence, 1500. The Gulf of Carpentaria preserves the memory of a Dutch captain named Carpenter who discovered it in 1606. Torres Strait received the name of the Spanish navigator, L. V. de Torres, to whom its discovery was due, in the year 1606. Botany Bay was so called by Captain Cook from the great variety of plants which he found growing on its shores when exploring it in the year 1770. The St. George’s Channel was named after the patron saint of England. The Skagerrack denotes the “crooked strait between the Skagen” (so called from the Gothic skaga, a promontory), which forms the northern extremity of Jutland and Norway. Zuyder Zee expresses the Dutch for the “south sea,” in relation to the North Sea or German Ocean. The Bay of Biscay takes its name from the Basque or Basquan, i.e., mountainous provinces, whose shores are washed by its waters. The Strait of Gibraltar honours the reputation of Ben Zeyad Tarik, a Moorish general who effected the invasion of Spain in the year 712 by obtaining possession of the apparently impregnable rock which has ever since borne the name, in consequence, of Jebel al tarik, the Mountain of Tarik. The Bosphorus is a Greek term composed of bous, an ox, and porus, a ford, alluding to the legend that when Io was transformed into a cow she forded this strait. The Dardanelles derive their name from the ancient city of Dardanus, founded by Dardanus, the ancestor of Priam, where the castle now stands on the Asiatic side.

      By the term Australia is meant “the South,” and by Australasia “Southern Asia,” agreeably to the Latin australis, southern. Previous to its settlement by the British, Australia was known as New Holland owing to its discovery by the Dutch in the year 1606. The existing name of New Zealand likewise bears testimony to the deep-rooted affection of the Dutch navigators, and indeed of the Dutch people generally, for their native country—the word Zeeland, denoting sea-land, being significant of the low countries. Tasmania was originally known as Van Dieman’s Land, the name bestowed upon it by Abel Jansen Tasman, who discovered it in 1642, in compliment to the daughter of the Dutch governor of Batavia. The change of title was effected in 1853. The Society Islands received their name from Captain Cook in honour of the Royal Society; the Friendly Islands, on account of the friendly disposition of the natives; and Christmas Island, because he set foot upon it on Christmas Day, 1777. The naming of the Sandwich Islands by Cook conveyed a graceful compliment to Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty. The Philippine Islands, discovered by Magellan in 1521, were named after Philip II. of Spain; and the Caroline Islands discovered by Lopez de Villalobos in 1543, after Charles V., Emperor of Germany and first King of Spain.

      Papua is a Portuguese term for “frizzled,” in allusion to the enormous frizzled heads of hair worn by the natives; Java is a native Malay word signifying “the land of nutmegs;” Sumatra, a corruption of Trimatara, means “the happy land”; while Borneo comes from the Sanskrit bhurni, “land.” Japan is a European modification, brought about through the Portuguese Gepuen, of the native Niphon, compounded of ni, sun, fire, and pon, land, literally sun-land, or “land of the rising sun,” and signifying “the fountain of light.” Formosa is Portuguese for “beautiful”; whereas Ceylon, rendered in the Portuguese tongue Selen, is but part of the original Sanskrit Sinhala-dwipa, “the Island of Lions.” The Mauritius, when colonized by the Dutch, received the name of Maurice, Prince of Orange; and the Isle of Bourbon, when settled by the French, that of the Bourbon family. Madagascar is properly Malagasy, the Island of the Malagese, because the natives belong to the Malay race.

      Tierra del Fuego expresses the Spanish for “land of fire.” The Island of Desolation was so designated by Captain Cook owing to the absence of all signs of life. Hanover Island honours the House of Hanover; and Adelaide Island, the queen of William IV.; while Juan Fernandez (also known as Selkirk’s Island, after Alexander Selkirk, its solitary inhabitant from September, 1704, to February, 1707), perpetuates the name of its discoverer in the year 1567. The Ladrone Islands merited this designation from the circumstance that when Magellan touched upon one of the lesser isles of the group in 1520 the natives stole some of his goods; whereupon he called the Islands the Ladrones, which is the Spanish for thieves. Pitcairn’s Island was discovered by Pitcairn in 1768. Easter Island was so denominated by Jacob Roggevin in consequence of his visit to its fertile shores on Easter Sunday, 1722; the island having previously been discovered by Captain Davis in 1686. Vancouver Island preserves the memory of Captain Vancouver, a midshipman under Captain Cook, who discovered it in 1792, while cruising about in search of a river on the west coast of North America. The Aleutian Islands expresses the Russian for “bald rocks.” Queen Charlotte Island was named in compliment to the queen of George III.; and Prince of Wales Island, after the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. Barrow Island, discovered by Captain Penny in 1850, received the name of John Barrow, son of Sir John Barrow, the eminent statesman; while Baring Island, also discovered by Penny in the course of the