Ways of Translating European Geographical Names

It is sort of rule of thumb that when the translation of a geographical entity is not available, or it is not known to the translator, the best solution is to keep the place’s name in its original language. Thus, the city of Nancy in Eastern France would remain Nancy in English and Spanish. Sometimes, though, a geographical term that is comfortably transferred into a given language, may need to be adapted or translated when rendering it in another. This is the case of the Dutch city of Maastricht. In French, it is adapted as Maestricht; in Spanish, however, there is no generally accepted translation or adaptation available. Because of this, when the Treaty of Maastricht was signed by the countries of the European Union, newspapers written in Spanish left the Dutch name unchanged. When this happened, television and radio news anchors got headaches trying to pronounce it correctly.

In the sixteenth century the Low Countries belonged to the Spanish Crown. Because of this, some Dutch towns have Spanish translations for their names. This is the case of Nijmegen, which translates to Nimega. However, the name Nimega is seldom used at present, especially in Latin America. This can be easily verified by performing a Google search to find the pages in Spanish referring to the Catholic University of Nijmegen, a prestigious academic institution. If one performs the Google search using Universidad de Nijmegen, 1670 results are obtained. If the same search is performed using Universidad de Nimega, we only get 513 hits. Thus, if a translation is available, but is not widely acknowledged, it is sometimes preferable to leave the place’s name in its original language.

This turbulent history had an effect in the particular evolution of the tongues spoken in the different provinces of the region French, Dutch and German as well as local dialects had been spoken for centuries. Linguistic borders, it seems, are a lot more difficult to establish than national limits. This situation, as it will be seen, yields some peculiarities in the translation of geographical entities.

The tongue spoken in the north of the Low Countries is known to its inhabitants as Nederlands. Nederlands is translated into French as Néerlandais, and into English as Dutch. Nederlands is the name of the actual language, which comprises all the local dialects spoken in The Netherlands and Flanders. As in many regions of Europe, the use of local dialects is rapidly decreasing because the dominant language is used in schools, the workplace, and the media. Surprisingly, there is no Spanish word for Nederlands. The word holandés is not accurate enough, for this term designates only the tongue spoken in Holland, and not in the other provinces of the realm. Moreover, the word flamenco corresponds to Vlaams in Nederlands, and only refers to the tongues spoken in Flanders—the northern provinces of Belgium—but does not apply to the country presently known as The Netherlands.

In many cases, when there is doubt about translating the name of a given place, it is recommended that a document be found that serves as a primary source. This can be complicated in the Low Countries. Let’s look at the city of Lille. Lille is located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Lille translates into Dutch as Rijsel. Road signs in Flanders designate Lille as Rijsel, leading to enormous confusion among motorists. Lille has no translation into English, as can be ascertained by consulting any of the road maps currently on the market. So, following the recommendation of keeping geographical names in their original tongue, Lille will remain Lille when translating a document. The problem here is that the city was originally Flemish. Lille became a part of France in 1713, and if we consider annexations and political allegiances, as we must, then Lille is hardly the only example of this quandary; Dunkerque (Duinkerke in Dutch) is another example. Furthermore, it is worth noting that several documents mentioning the original names are written in a Dutch dialect. Moreover, even some historical documents in English refer to Lille as Rijsel. Therefore, an inattentive translator consulting such documents may leave the city’s name as Rijsel, instead of translating it to Lille. If this were to happen, French nationalists might be reasonably upset, while most readers, looking at conventional maps in languages other than Dutch, would never be able to locate the town of Rijsel.

The main port of Belgium is Antwerpen (in Dutch) and is translated as Antwerp in English, Amberes in Spanish, and Anvers in French. A curious detail is that Belgian francophones pronounce the final “s” of Anvers, while the French do not. There is a legend about the name Antwerpen. In the Middle Ages, we are told, a mean and nasty giant controlled traffic across the River Schelde, and asked for exorbitant tolls, exploiting the local population. A brave young man, named Brabo, confronted and defeated the giant. Brabo cut off one of the giant’s hands with his sword and then threw it across the river. A town was founded on that site. The name of the town was Hantwerpen, a name derived from the Flemish words for hand and throw. With time, the initial “h” was left unpronounced yielding Antwerpen. Despite the fact that this seaport is a bastion of Flemish nationalism, its football team playing in the Belgian first division league is known by its English spelling, Antwerp, and not by its Dutch spelling Antwerpen —a quandary that may stump a translator working with Belgian sports terminology.

Another city name that may lead to confusion is Liege, a city where French has flourished for centuries. It is Liege in French, Lieja in Spanish, and Lüttich in German. Despite its strong attachment to French culture, Liege was governed by a Prince-Bishop who was an elector of the German Empire. Hence for several centuries the city and its dependencies were part of the German Empire. Thus, when searching for documents on Liege, and particularly on ecclesiastical history, the name Lüttich may appear instead of Liege, even in documents written in English.- A translator not familiar with its history may unwittingly lead the reader to confusion by using an inappropriate name for the city.

The confusion about the names of cities is not specific to the Low Countries, but also applies to other regions of Europe that often shifted allegiances, like Bohemia. The town of Budweis, for example, home of the famous Budweiser beer. Budweis is the town’s name in German. It should be noted that Bohemia was a part of the Holy Roman Empire and then belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During this period, German was the official language. However, since the Middle Ages, Bohemia has remained a bastion of Czech culture. After the World Wars of the twentieth century, Bohemia became a constituent of Czechoslovakia and later of the Czech Republic. Because of this, Budweis is also known by its name in Czech: Ceske Budejovice. Which is then the original name of the town, the German or the Czech denomination? Which name should be used in Spanish, English or French, when translating? These are questions that remain open, as we have not yet found a definitive answer. Once again, this is not an isolated instance. A similar case is the one of Plzen/Pilsen (in Czech/German), another Bohemian town famous for its beer.

Present day European countries are the result of conquest by aggressive kings or of the not always fortunate border sculpturing resulting from negotiations carried out after the numerous wars that have raged through the continent. After World War II, however, a perhaps unsteady peace has found its home in Europe. As a consequence, nationalistic movements have flourished in the last decades, Spain being a good example of this situation. At present, autonomy has been achieved by many regions formerly ruled by iron fists. Following this trend, regions such as Catalunya (Catalonia) and Euskadi (the Basque Country) have renamed many of their towns in their vernacular tongues: Catalan and Basque. As previously mentioned, San Sebastián is a seaport located in Spain’s Basque Country. We have already seen that San Sebastián is transferred as such into English and French. This is also the case for Italian, Dutch, and German, but not for Basque. The name of San Sebastián, when translated into Basque becomes Donostia, a name derived from Donebastian, a contraction of Done (saint) and Sabasti á n in the local tongue. This situation cannot necessarily be recognized by the average reader of today, and the translator should be aware of it when consulting local documents, both old and recent. San Sebastian is a bastion of Basque nationalism and many natives prefer to designate it as Donostia. However, the famous beach of La Concha, one of the symbols of the city, has no translation in Basque, and is designated by its Castilian name — even by the most recalcitrant nationalists. As mentioned above, the translation of place names is not the most rational of human activities.

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