Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Latin names of cities

Users of Neo-Latin have taken the Latin language to places the Romans never went; hence a need arose to make Latin names of cities that did not exist when Latin was a living language.

The first places that needed Latin names were encountered by Bible translators, who had a need to figure out what to call the many place names in the Bible in Latin. They either reworked the place names into Latin or Greek shapes; in one version, Jerusalem becomes Hierosolyma. Or, they adopted them directly, often treating the new place names as indeclinable nouns; here Jerusalem is brought over as Ierusalem.

Similar strategies are used with United States and North America and other place names that Latin writers needed to give Latin names to. A number of methods are used:

In many cases, there is no consensus as to how to treat any given names, and variants exist. If a university or the see of a bishop is in a town, the odds increase that there is a standard form hallowed by usage. Note that names of cities are usually feminine in gender in Latin, despite ending in -us. This rule is not always strictly observed in the New World Here are the names that are listed in Latin and its modern meaning on the right for the world, except for Europe, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Kurdistan.
Latin NameEnglish Name, [other name(s)], [older name(s)], [province], [state]
Alexandria (Aegyptus)¹Alexandria (Al-Iskandriyah), Egypt
Alexandria (Colombia Bretannicum)Alexandria, British Columbia
Alexandria (Ontario)Alexandria, Ontario
Alexandria (Virginia)Alexandria, Virginia
AlgerisAlgiers, Algeria
Arbela, ArbilaErbil, Arbil
AscalonAshkelon, Israel
AtlantaAtlanta, Georgia
AugustaAugusta, Maine
Baltimorum, BaltimoriBaltimore, Maryland
Bona AeraBuenos Aires, Argentina
Cansae, CivitasKansas City
CincinnatiCincinnati, Ohio
Civitas AlphabeticumAlphabet City (New York, New York
Civita CaliforniaCalifornia City, California
Citiva? FloridaFlorida City, Florida
Civita OklahomaOklahoma City, Oklahoma
Citiva PanamaPanama City, Florida
ColumbusColumbus, North Carolina
Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi, Texas
DamascusDamascus (Dimashq), Syria
EdessaSanli Urfa
Flumen JanuariiRio de Janeiro
Hippo RegiusBone, Algeria
Hierosolyma²Jerusalem
Indianapolis (4)Indianapolis, Indiana
Jericho²Jericho, West Bank (Palestine)
Leptis Magna, Lepcis Magnanear Tripoli, Libya
Londinium, Africa AustraliaLondon, South Africa
Londinium (Ontario)London, Ontario
LudovicopolisLouisville, Kentucky
Marathon (Ontario)Marathon, Ontario
MedabaMecca (Makkah), Saudi Arabia
Medina, ArabiaMedina, Saudi Arabia
Medina, Nova EburacaMedina, New York
Mons RegiusMontreal, Quebec
Minneapolis (4)Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nova Aurelia, Novum AureliumNew Orleans, Louisiana
Novum BaltimorumNew Baltimore, Michigan
Novis? HamburgensisNew Hamburg, Ontario
Novum EboracumNew York, New York
Novum Londinium*New London, Connecticut
Olympia (Vasingtonia)Olympia, Washington
Philadelphia¹ (America)Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PhiladelphiaAmman, Jordan
Phoenix¹, ArizonaPhoenix, Arizona
Praetoria?Pretoria, South Africa
Providenia?Provideniya, Russia, west of Alaska
ProvidentiaProvidence, Rhode Island
Sancti SpiritiSancti Spiriti, Argentina
SarniaSarnia, Ontario
Tempe (Arizona)Tempe, Arizona
TiberiasTiberias (Teverya), Israel
TingisTangier, Morocco
Tripoli¹Tripoli, Libya
TunisTunis, Tunisia
VasingtoniumWashington, DC

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.

See also:

External Links