178 



NAIKS 



N A M KS 



ami Cawdor Castle (q.v.); nt Auldearn, near 

 Nairn, Muntrnse (q.v.) won his fourth victory. 

 With Elgin-hire the county returns one meiii- 

 IH.T; ami with Inverness, &c. Nairn town returns 

 another. Pop. (1801) S3*> ; (1841) 9217: (1881) 

 10, 455 (1980 Gaelic-speaking); (1891) 10,019. 



NAIKN, tin- comity town, stands on the west 

 bank of the river Nairn ixt its mouth in the Moray 

 Firth, 10 miles by rail EXK. of Inverness. A 

 pleasant little watering- place, with a small harbour, 

 H was constituted a royal burgh l>y William the 

 Lion. Grant, tin- Afrii-an traveller, was a native, 

 1'i.p. (ISllr-'.'isS: (1881)4101; (1891)4051. 



Nulrs. a Mohammedan caste in Malabar, who 

 have peculiar marriage customs, described under 

 Family (q.v.). Colonel H. Drury tells much about 

 tin- Xairs in his HrtiiinixrfHcef (1890). 



\llla is a legendary king of ancient India, whose 

 line for Damayanti. the daughter of Ultima, king 

 of Vidarhha, ami the adventures arising therefrom, 

 forms a celehrateil eiiisode of the tllakfibhi'iruta 

 (q.v.), as also of a separate poem, tlie .\'<i/wlaya, 

 attriliuteil to Kalidasa as its author. 



\;nil.'K|li;is. the |irinei|>al existing trihe of the 

 race generally known under the name of Hotten- 

 tote (q.v.). They inhahit the region called Great 

 Xamaqnaland, north of the Gariep or Orange 

 Itivor, and the country a few miles south of it, as 

 far as the Kamicsbergen. They are a pastoral 

 people of rather predatory habits, and live under 

 the rule of their chiefs. 



GREAT XAMAIJI'.M.AND, or NAMALAND, is the 

 extensive region in South Africa north of the 

 ('ape Colony, extending from the Orange Itiscr 

 to Damaialand (q.v.) northwards, and stretching 

 inland from the west coast to 20 J E. long., the 

 holders of British Beelmanaland. Since 1885 a 

 German possession, with the exception of the small 

 liritish roast territory of Walvisch Hay (q.v.), it 

 has an area estimated nt 460,000 sq. ni. It is 

 mainly a most sterile and barren region, anil along 

 a coast-line of upwards of 400 mill's does not pre- 

 sent a single running stream ; hut a few little bays 

 along the coast, such as Angra-Pequcua (q.v.), 

 Sandwich Harbour, and Walvttch Bay, allbrd safe 

 anchorages. The Hhenish Mission, which has long 

 l>cen active here, lias six stations in Xamaland 

 with over 2500 converts. There has often l>een 

 war lietween Xamaquasand Hererosfsee DAMARA- 

 I.\NI>). LITTI.K XAMA(fr.u,ANi> is a barren dis- 

 trict of Cape Colony (q.v., Vol. II. p. 738), south of 

 the Lower Orange Uiver. Much copper is mined 

 here. 



>'amos are usually classed as either local or 

 persomtl, but neither class can be profitably studied 

 apart from tin- other ; since the names of places are 

 frequently derived from the names of persons, while 

 numerous personal names prove ultimately to lie 

 derived from local names. Thus, Washington, the 

 capital of the Tinted States, derives its name from 

 ire Washington the lirst president; his name 

 in turn was. derived from that of a Durham village 

 . where his ancestors resided, and this village itself 

 obtained its name from the WaMii-s, a Teutonic 

 clan. Names must therefore not be regarded as 

 arbitrary signs they have a meaning and a history, 

 though owing to the .absence of early documents 

 the history may lie lost, and the meaning may lie 

 unascertaiuable with certainty. 



/."..// mi met are usually either descriptive, like 

 Iteil Kiver: personal, like Charleston; historic, 

 like Point Turnagain ; or transferred, like Xew 

 South Wales. Another broad distinction may IMS 

 drawn between the names of physical features, 

 such as rivers and mountains, which are frequently 

 the memorials of extinct or very ancient races, 

 and the names of villages and hamlets, which are 



usually of more recent origin, and to a large extent 

 are derived from the personal name- of early set- 

 tlers. Thus, in the I'nitcd States, hile the Ked 

 Men have disappeared, m have IM-I-II withdiawn to 

 remote reservations, they have left behind them 

 such familiar names as Niagara, Ohio, Potomac, 

 Mississippi, Missouri, Huron, Eric, Michigan, 

 Connecticut, and Massachusetts; while places of 

 hanitatii'ii bear modern names, like Brownsville, 

 Grantstown. or Madison, derived from the names of 

 settlers or politicians. In England also the names 

 of rivers are chietly ancient and Celtic, \\hile those 

 of places of habitation are inninly recent and Teu- 

 tonic. There are four rivers in England called 

 Avon, a wind which in Celtic means river;' while 

 from the Celtic word /.vv or iriixii. 'water,' we 

 derive the namis of the K-k. the 1 IK, the K\e. the 

 Axe, the Ash. and the \\ ye; and from ilnlir, i/i'-fr, 

 or f/lir, 'water,' we have the IKive. the Itovy, and 

 probably the four Derwenta ; while tum, 'wide,' 

 gives us the Tame and the Thames. On the 

 other hand we know that Clapham was the 

 'home' of the Osgod Clapa, in whose lions.- 

 Harthacnut drank himself to death, while Addle- 

 thorpe was the place where Ardulfr settled. 



All over Europe local names bear witness to races 

 departed or absorbed. Thus, we tind traces of Slavs 

 and Celts in (icrnmny, of liomans and Celts in 

 Gaul, of Pho-nicians on the Mediterranean coasts. 

 of Arals in Sicily and Spain. Not a few names 

 attest the early extension of Phoenician commerce. 

 Such are Malta, ' the refuge ;' Catania, ' the little" 

 harlxmr, in Sicily; Carthage, 'the new town;' 

 Carthaeena in Spain is Carthago Nova or New 

 Carthage; Seville is the city 'on the plain:' 

 Malaga, 'the idace for salting'' lish ; Tarragona is 

 'the palace; Cordova, 'the olive-press;' and 

 Lislmn, ' the walled ' town. Arabic names are 

 naturally more numerous both in Sicily and Spain. 

 In Sicily, besides Marsala, ' the port of Allah,' we 

 have several names containing the word /;n/nt, 'a 

 castle,' and rus, 'a cape,' such as Caltanisetta, 

 CaltAgirone, Calascibetta. Calatafimi : together 

 with Kasican/.ir, liaMcalbo, and Itasacarami. In 

 Spain numerous rivers exhibit the Arabic icmli, 'a 

 river' or ' valley,' in the Spanish form (linn/. Such 

 are Guadalquiv'er, 'the great river:' ( iuadalaviar, 

 'the white river;' Guadalupe, 'the river of the 

 bay;' and many others. \Ve tind the Arabic 

 article at as a prefix in Algeciras, 'the island," 

 which is the same name as Algiers; as well us in 

 A 1 man/a, 'the plain:' Almaden, 'the mine;' 

 Alcazar, 'the palace:' Alcantara, 'the bridge.' 

 The province of Algarvc means 'the west;' 

 Alcala is 'the castle;' l-n/nt, 'castle.' so com- 

 mon in Sicilv, reappearing in the names of Cala- 

 trava and Calahona. The word Medina, 'a city,' 

 is seen in Medinaceli and Medina Sidonia : while 

 Gibraltar, 'the mountain of Tarik,' preserves the 

 name of one of the earliest invaders. 



French cities, unlike those in England, frequently 

 preserve the Celtic names of the ( lan'ish tribes of 



which they were tl apitals. Thus, Paris was the 



capital of the Paii-ii. lloneii of the Rothomagi, 

 Amiens of the Ambiani, Anas of the Atreb. 

 E\ reux of the Ehnrovices, Beauvais of the Bellovnci, 

 l.i-ieiix of the Lexovii. Charlies ,,f the Carnntes, 

 liheims of the Retni, Chalons of the Catalauni, 

 Sens of the Scnones, Saintes of the Santone-, 

 Soissotis of the Suessiones. Troves of the Tricassi-s, 



Limoges of the Lemoviecs, Poitiers of the Picti s, 



Tours of the Tnrones, Cahoi-s of the Cadurci, 

 Toulouse of the Tolosates, while Berri was the 

 of the Bituriges. Such names are rare else- 

 where, but Trcves ( Trier ) preserves the name of 

 the Treviri, Turin of the Taiirini, Venice of the 

 Veneti, Worcester of the Huiccii, Devon of the 

 Danmones. 



