Skip to the content
Reply

Translation of City Names

by matthew0312, August 12, 2014

Messages: 7

Language: English

matthew0312 (User's profile) August 12, 2014, 3:57:08 AM

Hi! I am new to Esperanto (mi lernas) but I have not been able to find any particular organization near me. I am thinking of starting my own, and I would like help with translating the name of my city as well as some of the surrounding ones. We are in Wisconsin, USA. I live in Appleton (I'm thinking Apeltono). Near us are Kimberly (Kimberlio?), Neenah (Neeno?) Menasha (Menasxo?), Kaukauna (Kakauxno?), and Little Chute (No idea). Please help me with this, as I would like to found a strong Esperanto community in a historically diverse city.

sergejm (User's profile) August 12, 2014, 4:42:25 AM

The best way is:
1. If you find city's name in the dictionary, use it.
2. If you can't find its name, use English name and put its pronunciation in parenthesis.
Wisconsin[Ŭiskonsin] - I think you can find it in some dictionary - yes, I have found - Viskonsino.
Appleton [Apelton] etc. - I think you can't find them in any dictionary.
Little can be translated (Malgranda, Eta) or not (it is a part of the name).

Rejsi (User's profile) August 12, 2014, 5:04:19 AM

matthew0312:Hi! I am new to Esperanto (mi lernas) but I have not been able to find any particular organization near me. I am thinking of starting my own, and I would like help with translating the name of my city as well as some of the surrounding ones. We are in Wisconsin, USA. I live in Appleton (I'm thinking Apeltono). Near us are Kimberly (Kimberlio?), Neenah (Neeno?) Menasha (Menasxo?), Kaukauna (Kakauxno?), and Little Chute (No idea). Please help me with this, as I would like to found a strong Esperanto community in a historically diverse city.
Yeah, sergejm has the right idea. If it's a large, well-known city (ex: New York, Paris), you can Esperantize it. Otherwise you shouldn't because it will just cause confusion. If you wish, you can put the approximate pronunciation in parentheses (but be aware that there is no way to change which syllable is emphasized). Ex: "Mi loĝas en la urbo Appleton (Apelten)."

Wisconsin can be Esperantized as Viskonsino.

But contrary to sergejm, I say that you should NOT translate things like "big," "little," "new," "east," etc. unless the place is very well known. Ex: "Mi vizitis la urbon Little Chute (Ledel Ŝut).

sergejm (User's profile) August 12, 2014, 6:51:07 AM

It is a good idea add the cathegory of the geographic object: urbo, vilaĝo, rivero, monto etc. This also helps you to indicate an accusative.
But I think, an article 'la' is not needed in this case.
The pronunciation is indicated only at the first time.

sparksbet (User's profile) August 12, 2014, 6:47:46 PM

sergejm:But I think, an article 'la' is not needed in this case.
It's common (at least to my knowledge) to include the 'la' when a named item is unique, as in the case of proper noun-adjacent place names like these. Indeed, saying just "Mi loĝas en urbo Appleton (Apelten)" sounds off to me.

sergejm (User's profile) August 12, 2014, 8:24:22 PM

Yes, I looked at tekstaro. There are only 3 times of using 'urbo X' without 'la':
ĉi tiun urbon Jeriĥo
Kapernaum, urbo Galilea
lia naskiĝurbo Vieno
2 times an article is replaced by other word: 'ĉi tiu' (this), 'lia' (his).
1 time 'urbo' is set after the name.
In other cases 'la' is used.

sparksbet (User's profile) August 14, 2014, 5:08:30 PM

sergejm:Yes, I looked at tekstaro. There are only 3 times of using 'urbo X' without 'la':
ĉi tiun urbon Jeriĥo
Kapernaum, urbo Galilea
lia naskiĝurbo Vieno
2 times an article is replaced by other word: 'ĉi tiu' (this), 'lia' (his).
1 time 'urbo' is set after the name.
In other cases 'la' is used.
In the second example, the "la" is replaced as well - by "Galilea." Syntax makes it a bit harder to spot there.

Back to the top