- Thread starter Drugdog
- Start date
Where do DR town names come from?
Most are named for patriots (Duverg?, Monci?n, Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Duarte, Espaillat and so forth), others kept the names given during the colonial period: Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros, San Juan de la Maguana, San Cristobal, Hato Mayor), and others have names that are supposedly indiginous (Cutup?, Moca, Jaqu? Picao, Barahona, Azua, Ban?, Cotu?, Nagua, Saman?(.
Take your pick...There is 500+ years of history to choose from...
HB
Take your pick...There is 500+ years of history to choose from...
HB
Correction "There is at least 500+ years of history to choose from...
There were people here before Colombo and the gang got here. Their history is just as important as colonial history if not more.
Puerto = port
Plata = silver
Silver port, when Spaniards saw the the coast of this town for the first time they noticed there it was a shining shores and for this reason they named it Puerto Plata.
JJ
Historic from wiki :
Monte Plata was founded with the towns of Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata, which were destroyed by disposition of the king of Spain of the epoch and executed by Antonio Ozorio Governor of the Island, both towns gave name, they united Monte of Monte Cristi and calling it Plata Puerto Plata Monte Plata, were 87 neighbors that is to say heads of families the ones that founded to Monte Plata.
JJ
Monte Plata was founded with the towns of Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata, which were destroyed by disposition of the king of Spain of the epoch and executed by Antonio Ozorio Governor of the Island, both towns gave name, they united Monte of Monte Cristi and calling it Plata Puerto Plata Monte Plata, were 87 neighbors that is to say heads of families the ones that founded to Monte Plata.
JJ
I haven't heard the best ones mentioned yet:
* Sabana grande
* Sabana pequeno
* Sabana perdido
* Sabana caliente
* Sabana roto
*Arroyo hondo
*Arroyo frio
*Palo quemado
*Palo amarillo
*Palo verde
*Pata de Gallo
Gosh, I know I've forgotten some of the best ones but it's been a while since I've been anywhere, too busy!
There's nothing more entertaining though on a long, stressful bumpy car ride than reading some of these town names.
On topic, I've always wondered just exactly how these 'towns' got their names but then again I doubt the story is much more "We saw a burnt stick so we called it burnt stick." Who knows.
* Sabana grande
* Sabana pequeno
* Sabana perdido
* Sabana caliente
* Sabana roto
*Arroyo hondo
*Arroyo frio
*Palo quemado
*Palo amarillo
*Palo verde
*Pata de Gallo
Gosh, I know I've forgotten some of the best ones but it's been a while since I've been anywhere, too busy!
There's nothing more entertaining though on a long, stressful bumpy car ride than reading some of these town names.
On topic, I've always wondered just exactly how these 'towns' got their names but then again I doubt the story is much more "We saw a burnt stick so we called it burnt stick." Who knows.
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I guess I should have mentioned the Dominican sense of humor:
Quija Quieta = quiet jaw = so poor we don't eat much
Quita Sue?o = No Sleep = pretty noisy around here
The previous ones--the "Sabanas" are geographical descriptions relating to topographical features, also typical of many places.
In Santiago we have Cienfuegos, a barrio founded when another one was burned down.
Also Vietnam, Peking, Camboya, Los Guandules, and so forth...all modern all made by the people that actuallylive there...
HB
Quija Quieta = quiet jaw = so poor we don't eat much
Quita Sue?o = No Sleep = pretty noisy around here
The previous ones--the "Sabanas" are geographical descriptions relating to topographical features, also typical of many places.
In Santiago we have Cienfuegos, a barrio founded when another one was burned down.
Also Vietnam, Peking, Camboya, Los Guandules, and so forth...all modern all made by the people that actuallylive there...
HB
My husband lived part of his childhood in a section of SD called Matahambre. In the 'old days' it was full of fruit trees, so many that hungry capitalenos would go there to pick the abundant fruit to 'kill their hunger'. The name stuck. It's a very small section of the city, I'll bet the only other person here who knows exactly where it is is Lando Calrisian. We've found out that our families have known each other for several generations.
AE
AE
Had no idea about the origin of calling places Sabana something . Very interesting and a nice bit of trivia since everyone I've ever asked could never tell me why exactly a place would be called Lost Blanket.
I used to live in Mata Hambre...
In Cotui area we seem to have many describing trees, vegetation, animals, etc. La Mata (There used to be a big old tree there), Los tocones, La bija (paprika tree), La piedra, los higueros, etc.
I do know the origin of at three (newer) towns around there. One is called Canta La Rana because the area used to be rice farms which of course had tons of frogs thus "where the frog sings". Another one is Inespre due to the fact that there used to be an Inespre silo there...and my favorite one of all "El Pescozon" - The slap / The smack. The government built a bunch of houses for people who had lost theirs during hurricane David (1979). Of course some of these went to government cronies instead of the people who really needed them. One guy got so furious that he was left out that during the ceremony to give people their keys to the new houses he smacked the cr@p out of the government official who was giving them away. Thus from that point forward this is known as "El Pescozon".
What a wonderful story Suarez...I seem to remeber that incident. We should probably have had several dozens of "Pecozones" in the country.
Place names in the DR are full of humor (Canta la Rana for example), local knowledge (El Baden), Satire (Quij? Quieta) and politics (Camboya, Vietnam --populated at the height of the Vietnam conflict). It does constitute a study that is fun and educational.
HB
Place names in the DR are full of humor (Canta la Rana for example), local knowledge (El Baden), Satire (Quij? Quieta) and politics (Camboya, Vietnam --populated at the height of the Vietnam conflict). It does constitute a study that is fun and educational.
HB
I don't have to wonder why there isn't an Almohada Perdida any more. But why isn't there a place called Las Habichuelas?
That will still quita some sue?o.