The Atlas of True Names is a German-based project by map publisher Kalimedia that attempts to reveal the etymological roots — or original meanings — of the familiar terms on today’s maps, including Canada.

For example, where you would normally expect to see the Sahara on a map of northern Africa, the Atlas gives you “The Tawny One” — derived from Arabic es-sahra, “the fawn-coloured desert.” Grozny, the war-torn Chechnyan capital, translates as “The Fearsome.”

The publisher cautions that its work isn’t intended to withstand all scholarly scrutiny. The objective is laid out rather clearly: “Not all translations are definitive. The reader may be offered a number of possible alternatives, or the translation may be prefixed by ‘possibly’ or ‘probably.’ Please accept the Atlas of True Names just as an invitation to the world as a strange, romantic continent.”

Details on Kalimedia’publications can be found at kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names but here’s a sampler from its latest work, Etymological Map of Canada, published this year and featuring some 379 locations:

Meeting Place: Toronto

(a) Huron. deondo “meeting place”; (b) Iroq. taron-to-hen “wood in water”

Rugged Land Farm: Hamilton

OE. hamel (a) “rugged land”; (b) “flat-topped hill” + ton “farm”

Unfordable River Town: London

(a) R. Coates: PreCelt. river name Plowodina, slurred into London, IE. plew “swim, boat” + nejd “flow,” i.e. a river too wide to ford; (b) Celt. llyn dun “fort by the pool”; (c) Celt. lon dun “hill fort”

Cape of Strangers: Cornwall

named for the Cornovii people, L. cornu “horn, cape”, ref. to the peninsula + OE. walh “stranger, foreigner”

Boar’s Head Lake: Lake Huron

F. (a) hure “boar’s head,” ref. to the bristly hairstyle of the Wyandot people; (b) huron “ruffian, rustic”

St. Contumacy Falls: Sault Ste. Marie

OF. sault “leap, waterfall” + PN Mary, Hebr. Mirjam “contumacy, rebelliousness”

Town of Merchants: Ottawa

(a) named for the Odawa people, Algonquian odawa “merchant, trading folks”; (b) Algonquian adawe “big river”

Battle Cry: Cochrane

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(a)Gael. coch rane “battle cry”; (b) W. coch “red”Honoring God: Timmins

Ir. PN derived from (a) Timothy, Gr. timotheos “honoring god”; (b) Thomas, Aram. ta’oma “twin”

Goblin: Cobalt

L. cobaltum “goblin, G. Kobold”; due to its chemical characteristics cobalt ore was believed to be ensorcelled by goblins