Definition and Examples of Exonyms and Endonyms

Definition and Examples of Exonyms and Endonyms An exonym is a place name  that isnt used by the people who live in that place but that is used by others. Also spelled  xenonym. Paul Woodman has defined exonym as a toponym bestowed from the outside, and in a language from the outside (in Exonyms and the International Standardisation of Geographical Names, 2007).  For example, Warsaw is the English exonym for  the capital of Poland, which the Polish people call  Warszawa.  Vienna is the English exonym for the German and Austrian Wien. In contrast,  a  locally used toponym- that is, a  name used by a group of people to refer to themselves or  their region (as opposed to a name given to them by others)- is called an endonym (or  autonym).  For example,  Kà ¶ln  is a German endonym while  Cologne  is the English  exonym  for  Kà ¶ln. Commentary Europes second-longest river is the Danubethe English exonym for  Donau (in German), Dunaj (in Slovak), and Duna (in Hungarian).Berber  derives from the ultimate exonym  (i.e. a name given by outsiders): the Greek word barbaroi, which mimicked the foreignness of a language by  rendering it as something akin to blah-blah. From it, we get barbarian, as well as Barbary (as in Barbary Coast, Barbary  Pirates, and Barbary apes). In current usage, many exonyms can be considered insensitive (Gypsy, Lapp, Hottentot) and preference is given to the endonym (Roma, Saami, Khoi-San).(Frank Jacobs, All Hail Azawad. The New York Times, April 10, 2012)  [T]he English language exonym Mecca has been shown to be unacceptable to many Arab experts, who are uncomfortable with any alteration to the toponym of the holy place Makkah.(Paul Woodman, Exonyms: A Structural Classification and a Fresh Approach, in Exonyms and the International Standardisation of Geographical Names, ed. by Adami Jordan, et al. LIT Verlag, 2007) Reasons for the Existence of Exonyms - There are three main reasons for the existence of exonyms. The first is historical. In many cases, explorers, unaware of existing place names, or colonizers and military conquerors unmindful of them, gave names in their own languages to geographical features having native names...The second reason for exonyms stems from problems of pronunciation...There is a third reason. If a geographical feature extends over more than one country it may have a different name in each. (Naftali Kadmon, Toponymy- Theory, and Practice of Geographical Names, in Basic Cartography for Students and Technicians, ed. by R. W. Anson, et al. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996)-  English uses relatively few exonyms for European cities, especially ones it has come up with on its own ( not borrowed); this may be explained by geographic isolation. This could also explain the low number of exonyms that other languages use for English cities. (Jarno Raukko, A Linguistic Classification of Eponyms, in Exonyms, ed. by Adami Jordan, et al. 2007) Toponyms, Endonyms, and Exonyms - For a  toponym  to be defined as an  exonym, there must exist a minimum degree of difference between it and the corresponding  endonym... The omission of diacritical marks usually does not turn an endonym into an exonym: Sao Paulo (for So Paulo); Malaga (for Mlaga) or Amman (for Ê ¿AmmÄ n) are not considered exonyms. (United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names,  Manual for the National Standardization of Geographical Names. United Nations Publications, 2006)- If an important topographic feature is located or contained entirely within a single country, most good world atlases and maps print the  endonym  as the primary name, with the translation or conversion into the language of the atlas either in brackets or in smaller type. If a feature transcends political boundaries, and especially if it carries different names in the different countries, or if it lies outside the territorial waters of any one country- exonymisation or translation into the target language of the atlas or map is almost always resorted to. (Naftali Kadmon, Toponymy- Theory, and Practice of Geographical Names, in  Basic Cartography for Students and Technicians, edited by R. W. Anson, et al. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996) Further Reading Name That  -nymNationality WordOnomasticsProper Name

Roman Baths and Hygiene in Ancient Rome

Roman Baths and Hygiene in Ancient Rome Hygiene in ancient Rome included the famous public Roman baths, toilets, exfoliating cleansers, public facilities, and- despite the use of a communal toilet sponge (ancient Roman Charmin ®)- generally high standards of cleanliness. When trying to explain to children, students, readers, or friends what Roman life was once like, nothing gets to the heart of the matter more poignantly than intimate details about daily life. Telling young children that there were no telephones, televisions, movies, radio, electricity, traffic lights, refrigerators, air conditioners, cars, trains, or airplanes doesnt convey the primitive conditions nearly so well as explaining that instead of using toilet paper, they used a communal sponge- dutifully rinsed out after each use, of course. The Aromas of Rome In reading about ancient practices, it is important to put away preconceived notions. Did urban centers like ancient Rome stink? Certainly, but so do modern cities, and whos to say whether the smell of diesel exhaust is any less overwhelming than the smell of Roman urns for collecting urine for the fullers (dry cleaners)? Soap is not the be-all and end-all of cleanliness. Bidets are not so common in the modern world that we can afford to scoff at ancient hygiene practices. Access to Toilets According to O.F. Robinsons Ancient Rome: City Planning and Administration, there were 144 public latrines in Rome in the later Empire, most of which were located next to the public baths where they could share water and sewerage. There may have been a token payment if they were separate from the baths, and they were likely comfortable places, where one might sit and read, or otherwise amuse oneself sociably, hoping for dinner invitations. Robinson cites a ditty by Martial: Why does Vacerra spend his hoursin all the privies, and day-long sit?He wants a supper, not a s**t. Public urinals consisted of buckets, called dolia curta. The contents of those buckets were regularly collected and sold to the fullers for cleaning wool, etc. The fullers paid a tax to the collectors, called a Urine Tax, and the collectors had public contracts and could be fined if they were late with their deliveries. Access to Hygiene Facilities for the Rich In Readings from The Visible Past, Michael Grant suggests that hygiene in the Roman World was limited to those who could afford the public baths or thermae, as running water did not reach the poors tenements from the aqueducts. The rich and famous, from the emperor on down, enjoyed running water in palaces and mansions from lead pipes connected to the aqueducts. At Pompeii, however, all the houses except the very poorest had water pipes fitted with taps, and the wastewater was piped away into a sewer or trench. People without running water relieved themselves in chamber pots or commodes which were emptied into vats located under the staircases and then emptied into cesspools located throughout the city. Access to Hygiene Facilities for the Poor In Daily Life in Ancient Rome, Florence Dupont writes that it was for reasons of ritual that the Romans washed frequently. Throughout the countryside, Romans, including women and slaves, would wash every day and would have a thorough bath on every feast day if not more often. In Rome itself, baths were taken daily. The admission fees at public baths made them accessible to just about everyone: one-quarter as for men, one full as for women, and children got in for free- an as  (plural  assÄ“s) was worth one-tenth (after 200 CE 1/16th) of a denarius, the standard currency in Rome. Life-long free baths might be bequeathed in wills. Hair Care in Ancient Rome Romans were materially interested in being considered non-hairy; the Roman aesthetic was of cleanness, and, for practical purposes, hair removal reduces ones susceptibility to lice. Ovids advice on grooming includes hair removal, and not just mens beards, although it is not always clear whether that was accomplished by shaving, plucking or other depilatory practices. The Roman historian Suetonius reported that Julius Caesar was meticulous in hair removal. He didnt want hair anywhere except where he didnt have it- the crown of his head, as he was famous for the combover. Tools for Cleaning During the classical period, removing grime was accomplished by the application of oil. After the Romans took a bath, sometimes scented oils would be used to finish the job. Unlike soap, which forms a lather with water and can be rinsed off, the oil had to be scraped off: the tool that did that was known as a strigil. A strigil looks a bit like a clasp-knife, with the handle and blade being in total length about eight inches. The blade was gently curved to accommodate the curves of the body and the handle is sometimes of another material such as bone or ivory. The emperor Augustus is said to have used the strigil rather too strenuously on his face, causing sores. Sources Dupont, Florence. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Translated from the French by Christopher Woodall. London: Blackwell, 1992.Grant, Michael. The Visible Past: Greek and Roman History from Archaeology, 1960-1990. London: Charles Scribner, 1990.Robinson, O.F. Ancient Rome: City Planning and Administration. London: Routledge, 1922.