Geographical Eponyms Quiz | Etymology

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. From which European island did a certain type of fish get its name?

Answer: Sardinia

When name-giving happens the other way round, fishes being named after a particular place, it's usually in the first place a marketing technique: Dover sole, Galway oysters...

2. From which European island did a certain metal get its name?

Answer: Cyprus

Copper ... Cyprus is also the island with which Aphrodite has a special link. After being born from the foam of the sea she stepped ashore on Cyprus.

3. Which of these names of European countries is in its French version the root word for an English common noun describing a type of leather?

Answer: Sweden

"La Su�de" is the French name for Sweden. English suede derives from that name.

Spain may be a producer of top quality leather goods and the archaic words cordwain and cordwainer may clearly refer to Cordoba in Spain, but no English common noun was derived from the name Spain itself. By the way, the French "cordonnier" also refers to Cordoba.

Italy is a great name in the shoe-business, but no common noun was derived from the word Italy.

A French example of a geographic eponym describing a specific quality of leather is "maroquinerie" for Maroccon leather goods.

4. What North-African port gave its name to a type of orange?

Answer: Tangiers

Tangerines from Tangier. But no link between Oran and oranges. Clementines are a variety of tangerine, a cross between a sweet orange and a Chinese mandarin.

5. After which of these countries did a particular type of nomadic people get its (nick)name?

Answer: Egypt

Ireland, of course, has its travelling people or tinkers, the Sahara has its Tuaregs, but in Western Europe the swarthy people that speak their own Romany language were nicknamed 'Egyptians', which eroded to 'gypsies'. Romany, the name for their language, of course causes some confusion. People incorrectly link Romany with countries such as Romania where they are well-represented. Romany, however, does not derive from Rome or Roman as the name Romania does. Rather, it is to be linked with the gypsy word "Rom" which means man.

6. What reddish shade of brown got its name from a town in Tuscany, Italy?

Answer: Sienna

It's the colour of the earth in that part of Tuscany. The name of the town is spelled Siena.

7. From which town in Greece did a certain type of dried fruit get its name?

Answer: Corinth

Raisin is related to a Latin word 'raceme' for cluster. Retsina has no links with raisin and is not a town either. It's Greek for resin. Naousa is a wine growing area (Boutari, Tsantali, etc). Currants are what Corinth is linked with.

8. From which Italian town did a certain type of trousers get its name?

Answer: Genoa

Jeans from Genoa and denim from Nimes in France. (de Nimes = from Nimes)

9. From which Italian town did a certain type of weapon get its name?

Answer: Pistoia

The first spelling of Pistoia was Pistola. The adjective was Pistolese. And oddly enough the name for a pistol derives from the word for a 'Pistolese style of a dagger'. The pistol was to the gun what the dagger had been to the sword: an abridged version.

10. From what county in Kentucky did a certain type of spirit gets its name?

Answer: Bourbon

11. From which Italian town did a certain type of window-blinds get its name?

Answer: Venice

Venetian window blinds. (But ...'French windows').

12. From which Biblical place did a certain type of textile get its name?

Answer: Gaza

Bedlam derives from Bethlehem. The name of the Hospital of St. Mary of Betlehem in London got shortened to Bedlam. Bedlam became a term for "hospital for lunatics", and still later came to mean "scene of uproar". Gauze from Gaza in Palestine.

13. From what Italian town did the name of a particular currency or coin develop?

Answer: Florence

The lily is the symbol of Florence. Their coins represented such a flower and got nicknamed 'fiorini' from 'florini'. Other nations took over the style of that currency. England had its florin and Holland officially abbreviated the name of the guilder as fl. from 'florijn' - well, until the Euro arrived...

14. True or false? The qualification 'maverick' for a non-conformist person whose response you cannot really predict, derives from the name of an American pioneer who refused to brand his cattle, and was kind of stigmatised for that unconventional behaviour.

Answer: True

Maverick : 1. unbranded calf or other young animal 2. person of unorthodox independence, one who dissents from the ideas and beliefs of an organized political or other group to which he belongs.

Samuel Maverick was the original rebel whose cattle remained unbranded. Maverick's cattle turned into mavericks as a generic term.

15. From what placename in Wales does the name for a knitted jacket, fastened with buttons, indirectly derive?

Answer: Cardigan

Also the Balaclava cap is related to the Crimean war. Soldiers had to protect themselves from the cold climate. Lord Cardigan (1797-1868) wore his knitted jacket and the soldiers their balaclavas at the Battle of ...Balaclava (1854).

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Geographical Eponyms Trivia Quiz

Eponyms are common nouns derived from proper names. Common nouns deriving from geographical names describing where certain things were found, produced or sold, are sometimes called geographical eponyms. Try out some of the easier cases.

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