Today I stumbled across too many weird words to ignore without comment.
The first is the word Modite which is a made-up word combining “Modern” with “Urbanite”. It’s a cute word and is the title of a blog written by a Gen Yer who lives in Madison, WI. While I have no desire to comment on the content of her blog, nor am I attacking Ms. Modite nor anyone from Madison, WI, I do want to comment on the practice of referring to someone from Madison, WI as an urbanite. Madison is not really my idea of urban - urban to me is NYC, San Francisco, Paris, London, Tokyo even Sacramento or Denver. You know, big cities. Lots of people.
Some basic demographics numbers (US only) show that Madison is roughly half the size (in terms of total population and/or # or households) of Sacramento which is only now getting paid attention to as an urban place of interest despite the fact that it is the state capital…
| Populated Place | Total Population | Total Households |
| Los Angeles | 3,913,784 | 1,302,284 |
| Sacramento | 462,891 | 171,798 |
| San Francisco | 725,153 | 319,436 |
| Denver | 560,036 | 241,519 |
| Boston | 548,142 | 230,814 |
| New York | 8,192,427 | 3,026,972 |
| Madison | 222,493 | 97,484 |
| Entire US | 301,825,750 | 113,136,906 |
Demographic data © 2007 by Experian/Applied Geographic Solutions.
© 2007
The census uses the term “Urban population size group” to refer to the classification used in standard tabulations where urban areas are distributed according to the following predetermined size groups, based on the current census population.
http://www.census2006.ca/english/census01/Products/Reference/dict/geo051.htm
| 1,000 - 2,499 |
| 2,500 - 4,999 |
| 5,000 - 9,999 |
| 10,000 - 24,999 |
| 25,000 - 49,999 |
| 50,000 - 99,999 |
| 100,000 - 249,999 |
| 250,000 - 499,999 |
| 500,000 - 999,999 |
| 1,000,000 and over |
Turns out, my idea of a city that “feels” urban, is those of around population 500K+. I came to this conclusion after reviewing the ranked 2007 population estimates for all recognized census “populated places” source EASI. (Download spreadsheet: Population 1/07)
While the US Census may consider Madison, WI urban in terms of geography- it just isn’t, well, urban to me. I suppose one could argue that being an “urbanite” or feeling “urban” is a state of mind - the author of the blog is certain forward thinking and on the way up in the world, but to me, Madison, WI is a hip college town not an urban center. And yes, I’ve been there, and had a great time.
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So then there was the word toponymy.
This one really threw me for a loop - so i decided to investigate. I had never heard of the term and it was being used in reference with geographic place names. If you go to the link above- which is for a compendium of data problems in Google Earth (dated from 2006) - and scroll down the page - you can see where it is being used. It sticks out - “Place Names (Toponymy)” - the only label with additional information. Why?
The general consensus is that “toponym” is a synonym for “place name” and “toponymy” is the study of why a place has it’s name. It is not about locating a place or defining the spelling of a place (hyphen missing and the like) as is implied by its use in the compendium list. (Although, as an aside, how the spelling has changed could be a part of the “why” of a place name.)
So while it was clever thing to add, I really think that it is being misused on the compendium post.
Anyway, just for fun I added a bunch of dictionary sources one of which seems to stand on it’s own.
OED:
1. The place-names of a country or district as a subject of study.
2. Anat. (See quot.)
1882 WILDER & GAGE Anat. Techn. 20 Terms of Position and DirectionToponymy. Ibid. 23 The Intrinsic Toponymy… We..shall designate the aspects and regions of the body by terms derived from names which have been applied to the parts themselves. 1899 in Syd. Soc. Lex.
So toponymal a., of or pertaining to toponymy; toponymical a. = prec. adj.; toponymist, one who deals with place-names.
1891 Cent. Dict., *Toponymal.
Wikipedia:
Toponymy refers to the scientific study of place-names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use and typology.
World book online reference center:
to|pon|y|my «tuh PON uh mee», noun.
Hutchinson Encyclopaedia:
toponym -n. name of, or designating, a place; name derived from a place- name. toponymic, a. toponymics n. study of place-names. toponymy, n. region’s place-names.
I don’t know if it may help but I am suggesting you to take a look at the definitions of “toponym” and “toponymy” from the “Glossary of Toponymic Terminology by Naftali Kadmon, convenor for the Working Group on Terminology of the UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. This glossary is wdely used by toponymic authorities around the world.
Toponym: Proper noun applied to a topographic feature. Comprehensive term for geographical names and extraterrestrial names.
Toponymy: (a) The science which has as its object the study of toponyms in general and of geographical names in particular. (b) The totality of toponyms in a given region.
Thanks for the comment and I will check out the document you mentioned. This word is pretty specialized.
I’m not sure that I understand part (b) of the definition above - perhaps it could be used in this manner? “The toponymy of this area of Great Britain reflects Roman occupation.”
I still think however, that the word is being used incorrectly when used as a simple synonym for “place names”. Especially when the use in question is concerned with corrections of location and spelling rather than meaning.
Cheers.