On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:17:14 +0000, Frederick Williams
<frederick.williams2@tesco.net> wrote:
>There are a number of places in the UK called 'Soho' (in
>Carmarthenshire, London, Sandwell, Somerset at least). Where does this
>name come from?
I don't know about the UK 'Soho,' but I was surprised to learn not
long ago that the New York City 'Soho' means 'south of Houston,' where
'Houston' is the name of a street (and pronounced 'HOW ston,' where
'how' rhymes with 'cow,' or so I'm told),
>Recommendations for 'origins of place names' books will be welcome.
Again of incidental interest, the subject of origins of place names
may be more succinctly called toponymy.
But now I've Googled and found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soho
the following comment:
| The area which is now Soho was grazing farmland until 1536, when it
| was taken by Henry VIII as a royal park for the Palace of Whitehall.
| half a century after the name was first used for this area of London.
I see that British dictionaries still give that definition of 'soho.'
For toponymy in general, you may find it interesting to look at
http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Toponymy/ .
--
Egbert White, | "I love Americans, but not when they try
Planet Earth | to talk French. What a blessing it is that
| that they never try to talk English."
| -- Saki's Mrs. Mebberley
|
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