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Names in Brief

1955; University Library System, University of Pittsburgh; Volume: 3; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1179/nam.1955.3.4.254

1756-2279

Names A Journal of Onomastics,

Science, Research, and Medicine

Name Changes.-There are many instances of the corruption of a name into something quite different from the original, either in the actual spelling of the derived name, or in the local pronunciation 0'£ names that remain unchanged on published maps.There is the classic example of Picketwire from Purgatoire.Gloster and Wooster are samples of name shortening, although the city of Wooster, Ohio, was named for a general of the Revolutionary War.Cape Rosier and Bois Bubert Island on the coast of Maine are respectively Roseway and Bowbear in local usage, "\vhile Cockenoe Island on the coast of Connecticut was formerly (1878), if not at present, pronounced Cawkins.At on~time there was a settlement (and postoffice) called Choml y on Cholmondeley Sound, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, a close approximation of Chumly, the spoken abbreviated form commonly used in England for the longer name.The reverse process evolved the names Bombay Hook Island and Bombay Hook Point in Delaware, on the west shore of Delaware Bay.At first glance they seemingly point to a .definiteorigin, but in reality they have no connection with the city of Bombay in India, although that name may have had some influence upon the adoption of the present form of the names.The Delaware Guide (Federal Writers' Project) on page 486 states that a tract of land on the island was granted in 1675 to Peter Bayard of Bohemia Manor, and that the name is a corruption of the Dutch "Bompies" or "Bompties" Hook.On several maps published in Europe up to 1778, the name varies quite widely.In 1696 it was Bombayes Point, in 1773 Bumpo Point, and on two maps of 1778 it was Bumba Island and Bumbo Island.Bumba Island is sho-wn on one of them as quite definitely separated from the mainland.Boomties Hook and Boomkes Hook or Hoek are other variants.On the earliest Federal survey (1841) both names are Bombay Hook Island and Point as at present.The name Bombay Hook in American usage has been traced back to 1817 (Blunt's American Pilot).In his "Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States" (1905) Gannett lists only the small town of Bombay, N.Y., definitely named