Redundant place name

A redundant place name is the name of a place in which the words that make up the name have the same meaning as each other. Since the words come from different languages, the connection between the two words may not be easily recognizable to the reader, especially if the reader only knows one language.[1]

Countries

  • East Timor or Timor-Leste (East East): this is especially interesting since both names for the country as redundant place names. Timor comes from the Malay word timur, meaning "east", while Leste is the Portuguese word for "east".

Bodies of water

Deserts

  • Sahara Desert (Deserts Desert): The word Sahara (صحراء) is the Arabic Word for "desert". The Arabic name for the desert is aṣ-Saḥrāʼ al-Kubrá (الصحراء الكبرى).

Mountains

  • Tian Shan Mountains (Heaven Mountain Mountains): The word shān (山) as in Tiān Shān (天山) is the Chinese word for "mountain".

References

  1. "11 Totally Redundant Place Names". www.mentalfloss.com. 2019-02-01. Retrieved 2020-07-15.