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Subject:        Re: MAPS-L: where geog. features get their names
Date:   Tue, 6 Dec 2005
From:   Dennis McClendon <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>




> Anybody know of a definitive resource that would tell me not *what*
> something is called, but *why*?

No authoritative source, especially for physical features such as
mountains.  In places like the Carolinas, what got written down on
the first maps was what local people ALREADY called the mountain.

There are a number of books written by people who try to track down
the origins of geographic names, but most of them focus on place names.

Dennis McClendon <[log in to unmask]>

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