Tuesday, August 17, 2021

d6x6 City Names, Poorly and Literally Translated

In what follows,  I've taken the names of places, translated them into English, and when the namesake itself was a name, I've gone and translated that too. 

Don't take this too seriously. I haven't worked too hard to verify the translations or etymologies. In some cases where it sounded interesting, I went with suspect folk etymologies. 

Cities in the Fishhook Language Ball:

1. The Most Populous Cities in the Southern Lands:

  1. Wide Watermeadow
  2. Mill Stream
  3. Broken Bone
  4. Wood
  5. Noble Sort
  6. Gold Coast

2. The Most Populous Cities in the United States of Laborious Rule:

  1. New Pig Farm
  2. City of The Angels
  3. Garlic
  4. Town of the Mind Clan
  5. Phoenix
  6. City of Brotherly Love

3. The Most Populous Cities in the nation of Village:

  1. Wet Trees
  2. Royal Mountain
  3. Cold Garden
  4. Trade
  5. Town of the Prosperous Helmet
  6. Great River Mouth

4. The Most Populous Cities in the United Kingdom:

  1. Yeasty's Family Settlement
  2. A Place
  3. Grey-green Hollow
  4. Split Field
  5. Broad Ford
  6. Fortress of Breasts

5. Some Other Notable Cities Which Speak the Fishhook People's Language:

  1. Dark Pool, (Fat Land)
  2. Town of the Wheat-Sheaf Clan, in the Pigeon District, (United States of Laborious Rule)
  3. Meeting Place, (Southern Lands)
  4. Oak Land, (New Sea Land)
  5. King's Town, (Big Land with Springs)
  6. London, (Land of the Fishhook People)(ancient and mysterious name)


6. Most Populous Cities in the Central Kingdom:

  1. City Upon the Sea
  2. Northern Capital
  3. Party City
  4. Sky Ford
  5. Wide State
  6. Deep Ditch


Translation Notes and Actual City Names (Click to Show) Southern Lands (Australia) - Auster ➡ The South Wind
  1. Wide Watermeadow (Sydney) - Sidney ➡ sīdan īege ➡ Wide Watermeadow
  2. Mill Stream (Melbourne) - ➡
  3. Broken Bone (Brisbane) - Bris ➡ Break?, Old English: Bán ➡ Bone
  4. Wood (Perth) - Translation from Pictish
  5. Noble Sort (Adelaide) - Adal ➡ Noble, Heid ➡ Sort?
  6. Gold Coast (Gold Coast) - Gold is a kind of shiny plastic yellow rock. A coast is the bit you can stand on that touches the bit where boats live.
Laborious Rule (America) - America ➡ Amerigo ➡ Emmerich. Amal ➡ Labour? Ric ➡ Ruler.
  1. New Pig Farm (New York) - Jórvík ➡ Eoforwīċ, Eofor ➡ Boar, Wic ➡ Settlement? This city has been invaded and renamed many times, so its name is confusing.
  2. City of The Angels (Los Angeles) - Los ➡ The, Angeles ➡ Angels. Originally named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles", meaning "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels."
  3. Garlic (Chicago) - Miami-Illinois: Shikaakwa ➡ A kind of stinky wild onion.
  4. Town of the Mind Clan (Houston) - Named after Sam Houston. Houston ➡ The town of the Hugh family. Hugh ➡ Hugiz ➡ Mind.
  5. Phoenix (Phoenix) - It's a chicken that lights itself on fire.
  6. City of Brotherly Love (Philidelphia) - Greek: Phílos ➡ Beloved, Adelphós ➡ Brother.
Village (Canada) - Iroquoian: Kanata ➡ Village
  1. Wet Trees (Toronto) - Mohawk: tkaronto ➡ "where there are trees standing in the water,"
  2. Royal Mountain (Montreal) - From "Mount Royal".
  3. Cold Garden (Calgerry) - Old Norse: Kald ➡ Cold, Gart ➡ Garden
  4. Trade (Ottawa) - Algonquin: Odawa ➡ To Trade
  5. Town of the Prosperous Helmet (Edmonton) - Old English: Ēad ➡ Rich, Helm ➡ Helmet, Ton ➡ Town.
  6. Great River Mouth (Mississauga) - From Anishinaabe: Misi-zaagiing.
United Kingdom.
  1. Yeasty's Family Settlement (Birmingham) - Beorma ➡ Yeast, Ham ➡ Home.
  2. A Place (Leeds) - The name more likely refers to A nearby river or forest. But this author decided to just doubtfully translate it as "A Place", which I find amusing.
  3. Grey-green Hollow (Glasgow) - Glas ➡ Greyish-blue-green, Cou ➡ Hollow.
  4. Split Field (Shefield) - Sheth ➡ Divide
  5. Broad Ford (Bradford) - Brad ➡ Broad. Wait a second. The actual name of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato was probably something like "Aristocles". "Plato" was just his wrestling nickname, coming from the word "platýs", meaning "Broad". So that means some of our most treasured works of Philosophy come a guy who went by a nickname equivalent to Brad. Brad's Cave. Brad-like Love. Brad's Solids.
  6. Fortress of Breasts (Manchester) - Mamm ➡ Breast, Castra ➡ Fortified Town.
Other Anglophone Cities:
  1. Dark Pool, Fat Land (Dublin, Ireland) - Dub ➡ Black, Lind ➡ Pond. Īwerjū ➡ Fat/fertile.
  2. Town of the Wheat-Sheaf Clan, in the Pigeon District (Washington D.C., USA) - Washington ➡ Town of Hwæsa's clan. Tūn ➡ Town, Hwæsa ➡ Wheat sheaf, Columbus ➡ Latin: Columba ➡ Pigeon.
  3. Meeting Place (Canberra, Australia) - Ngunnawal: Kambera (contested)
  4. Oak Land, New Sea Land (Auckland, New Zealand) - Ak ➡ Oak, Sær ➡ Sea. Also Possible is: Auk(a kind of bird), Selr ➡ Seal, making the alternate translation "Auk Land, New Seal Land".
  5. King's Town, Big Land with Springs (Kingston, Jamaica) - Jamayca translation taken from here.
  6. London has an ancient name which no two sources I've found seem to agree about. 🤷. Wikitionary proposes the translation Plowonidonjon ➡ Unfordable river.. England ➡ Land of the Angles. Angles ➡ Fishhook or Bent or Narrow, all refferring to the Peninsula from which they migrated.
Central Kingdom (China, Zhongguo, 中国) - Zhong ➡ Middle, 国 ➡ Country.
  1. City Upon the Sea (Shanghai, 上海) - Shang ➡ On top of, Hai ➡ Ocean
  2. Northern Capital (Beijing, 北京) - Bei ➡ North, Jing ➡ Capital City
  3. Party City (Chongqing, 重庆) - Chong ➡ Heavy or Double, Qing ➡ Celebration
  4. Sky Ford (Tianjin, 天津) - Tian ➡ The Heavens, Jin ➡ A River Crossing
  5. Wide State (Guangzhou, 广州) - Guang ➡ Wide, Zhou ➡ State, like in the "United States"
  6. Deep Ditch (Shenzhen, 深圳) - Shen ➡ Deep, Zhen ➡ Irrigation Ditch (used as part of place names, like English "-ton","-ham",etc.).
Also, "Fishhook Language Ball" is a Bad translation of "Anglosphere"



Most Populous Cities on the Entire Dirt Ball:

  1. Eastern Capital, (Sunrise Land)
  2. Threshold, (Fire-Bearing Republic)
  3. Capital City, (Really Great Republic)
  4. The City Upon the Sea, (Central Kingdom)
  5. Holy Humble, (Federation of Embers)
  6. Moon Navel City, (United States of the Center of the Moon)
  7. The Vanquisher (The Frontier)
  8. Mother Goddess, (Fire-Bearing Republic)
  9. Northern Capital, (Central Kingdom)
  10. Watchtower, (Bengal Country)
  11. Big Hill, (Sunrise Land)
  12. New Pig Farm, (United States of Laborious Rule)
  13. Kolachi, (Land of the Pure) (Kolachi was a really nice old fisherman lady.)
  14. Fair Winds, (Silver Republic)
  15. Party City, (Central Kingdom)
  16. The City, (Republic of the Turkish People)
  17. Fields of Time, (Fire-Bearing Republic)
  18. Indigo Origin, (Horse Loving Republic)
  19. Lakes, (River Republic)
  20. January River, (Federation of Embers)




These most come from Wikipedia, Wiktionary, this etymology site, and this name meaning site. Again, don't treat these lists as a credible source. This was just for fun and for worldbuilding inspiration.

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