[ganongI place-nomenclature OF NEW BRUNSWICK 181 



ing a peculiarity of the place, either a physical characteristic {Pacific, 

 Eau Claire), its position {North Cape^ Transv<ial), the occurrence of 

 some object {Montana, Gold Coast), ownership {Eru/ land), or some event 

 {Newfoundland). When a name is otherwise good it certainly is an added 

 advantage if it contains also a descriptive or otherwise approjjriate 

 meaning ; its association with the place is thereby the closer, and our 

 sense of fitness is gratified. But no degree of fitness of meaning can 

 compensate for lack of melody and dignity, at least from an aesthetic 

 point of view, though for practical purposes it may. Indeed, by many 

 people, principally the uneducated, descriptive names are ]) referred, no 

 doubt because of their convenience, i.e., their economy both of language 

 and ideas ; but with advancing culture comes greater 2>leasui'e and pre- 

 cision in words, and, hence, less adherence to common descriptive phrases. 

 From the present point of view, place-names are of three classes : first, 

 those in our own language whose meaning is at once clear ; second, those 

 in our own language whose meaning is obscured by changes ; third, those 

 in a foreign language. Of these, as a rule, the second and third are 

 better than the first, for the latter are likely to suffer in dignity from 

 their very familiarity, but the others, while holding a meaning which 

 brings pleasure in the discovery, have, with other good qualities, all of 

 the charm of the unfamiliar or unknown. That there is charm in the 

 unknown all experience shows, and the power of a ritual in a strange 

 tongue, the call to fortune in a far-otf land, the attractiveness of names 

 left by forgotten races, all are phases of one principle. 



The very best of all names, then, I hold to be those Avhich are melo- 

 dious in sound, dignified in form, unique in application, and which, be- 

 neath an unfamiliar form, possess a meaning exactly appropriate to the 

 place. 



2. How place-names oritjinate, rhani/e and. persist, or become extinrt. 



How THEY ORIGINATE. — This may occur in either of two ways : first, 

 they spring up without intention as it were, spontaneously ; second, they 

 are deliberately given by those in authority. In the former case they 

 are for the most part originally descriptive, given by aboriginal peoples 

 and by the more primitive clas^ of civilized races, and apply to natural 

 features. In the latter case they may be descriptive, but are oftener 

 commemorative, and are given by explorers, by settlers after deliberation, 

 or by legislators, and apply oftenest to artificial divisions. 



Of all place-names, those of descriptive origin are far the most 

 numerous and important. There are some eight classes of them, 

 expressing : 



1. The common noun and article when the place is single, as the city, 

 the river, etc., used precisely- as proper nouns. 



