List of tautological place names

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A place name is tautological if two parts of it are synonymous. This often occurs when a name from one language is imported into another and a standard descriptor is added on from the second language. Thus, for example, the Sierra Nevada Mountains (sierra is Spanish for mountains) or Mount Maunganui (maunga is Maori for mountain). The following list is of place names usually or often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English name elements have originally come.

Since there are sometimes many similar names in one area in many cases where two languages are in common use, this should be noted with one exemplar case.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

1 Rivers
2 Lakes
3 Mountains and hills
4 Islands
5 Other
6 Disputed
7 See also

[edit] Rivers

Río Guadix, Spain (River River River - Río is "river" in Spanish, Guad is "river" in Arabic and Ix is "river" in Phoenician)
River Avon, England (River River - Welsh (spelled Afon in modern Welsh))
Aghidhel River, Bashkiria (White River River - Turkic)
Connecticut River, United States (Long Tidal River River - Algonquin)
Danube River, Central Europe - *danu is "river" in Proto-Indo-European
Hatchie River, United States (River River - "hatchie" meaning "river" in Muskogean languages)
Mekong River, South East Asia (Kong River River - Thai)
Mississippi River, United States (Big River River - Algonquin)
Rillito River, southern Arizona (Little River River - Spanish)
Schuylkill River, eastern Pennsylvania (Hidden River River - the suffix kill in Dutch meaning "river")
Skookumchuck River, Washington State - the suffix chuck in Chinook Jargon meaning "river"
River Tyne, England (River River - Brythonic)
Vaslui River, Romania - uj meant "body of water" in Cuman
Walla Walla River, Washington State (Little River River; Walla means "river" in Sahaptin, repeated to express the diminutive ("little river"))

[edit] Lakes

Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan (Lake Hot Lake - Kyrgyz)
Lake Rotorua, New Zealand (Lake Lake Second - Maori. Many other New Zealand lakes have the tautological "Lake Roto-" form)
Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California (Lake the lake - Washo Native American Tribal language)
Lake Windermere, England (Vinund's lake lake - Old Norse. Several other English lakes have the tautological "Lake -mere" form)
Lake Nyassa (now called Lake Malawi), Malawi/Mozambique (Lake Lake - Yao)
Lakeville Lake, Michican, USA — The village is Lakeville, the adjacent lake is Lakeville Lake.
Tâl-y-Llyn lake, Wales (End-of the-lake lake - llyn is Welsh for lake)
Østensjøvann is a Norwegian lake name that concatenates sjø lake that is not as narrow as a fjord and vann meaning lake. Similarly Møsvann in Telemark, Norway combines mjøsa meaning lake with vann meaning lake.
Vatnvatnet, Norway (Lakelake - Norwegian), a lake near Bodø
Wast Water, England - 'water water' from Old Norse "vatn" and Old English "wæter".

[edit] Mountains and hills

Bredon, England (Hill Hill - Celtic/Saxon)
Breedon on the Hill, England (Hill Hill on the Hill - Celtic/Saxon)
Brill, England (Hill Hill - Celtic/Saxon) - also once known in documents as Brill-super-montem (Hill Hill on the Hill - Celtic/Saxon/Latin)
Mount Maunganui, New Zealand (Mount Mount Big - Maori)
Sierra Nevada Mountains, California (Mount Snowy Mountains - Spanish)
Torpenhow Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill Hill - SW-English (Tor) / Celtic (pen = "head") / Anglo-Saxon hōh = "spur of high ground" / English (hill)
Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England. (Hill Hill Hill) - "Pen" -(Cumbric language) and the suffix "dle" from the Old English language.
Mongibello, another name of the volcano Etna, in Sicily, Italy. (Mountain Mountain, from the Latin "Mons" and the Arabic "Gebel")
Summit Peak, New Zealand (Peak Peak - both English) - also the U.S. has five hills called Summit Peak.

[edit] Islands

Faroe Islands, North Atlantic (Sheep Islands Islands - Faroese)
Motutapu Island, New Zealand (Island Sacred Island - Maori)
Gili Islands, North-west of Lombok, Indonesia (Island Islands - Sasak)
Dodecanese Islands, Aegean Sea (Twelve Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Dodecanese)
Polynesian Islands, Pacific Ocean (Many Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Polynesia)
Melanesian Islands, Pacific Ocean (Black Islands Islands - Greek; usually called just Melanesia)
Canvey Island, UK (Cana's island island - Anglo-Saxon)
Isle of Sheppey, UK (sheep island island - Saxon)
Lundy Island, UK (puffin island island - Norse)

[edit] Other

The La Brea Tar Pits, California (The The Tar Tar Pits - Spanish)
Sahara desert, Africa (Deserts desert - Arabic)
Gobi Desert, central Asia (Desert desert, Gobi means "very large and dry" in Mongolian)
Eas Fors Waterfall on the Isle of Mull in Scotland (waterfall waterfall waterfall)
Beechhurst Holt Wood, England (beech wood wood wood - Anglo-Saxon)
Vista View Elementary School, Minnesota (View View Elementary School - Spanish)
Redruth, Cornwall, UK (red red - Cornish)
Vall d'Aran, Spain (Valley Valley - Catalan and Euskera (Basque))
Beqaa Valley- "Beqaa" is Arabic for valley (another "Valley Valley")
The Rock of Gibraltar - (The Rock of The Rock of Tariq - Arabic)
Townsville, QLD Australia, (Town's Town - French)
Timor-Leste, East Timor, (East East - Indonesian/Malay, Portuguese) - Note: this is the eastern half of an island that is the easternmost major island in its chain.
Sharm Old Harbour (a common English name for the old harbor at Sharm el Sheikh) (harbor old harbor - Arabic)
Nathu La Pass, Indo-China border, (Listening Ears Pass Pass- Tibetan)
Trendle Ring earthwork in Somerset, England (Circle Circle)
Ardtornish Point, Scotland, (Point Tor Point Point - "Aird" from Gaelic, "Nish" from the Norse "Ness" and "Point" from English - all referring to some form of cape, point or headland).

[edit] Disputed

Table Mesa, Colorado (Table Table - Spanish)

Though it is true that "mesa" in Spanish does mean "table", and the word was figuratively applied by locals to flat-topped geological formations, the term "mesa" in English refers strictly to these formations and never to tables. "Mesa" here is therefore an English word meaning "flat-topped mountain", not a misunderstood Spanish name.

Rio Grande River, Mexico and the U.S. states of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas (Big River River - Spanish)

The name of the river in the U.S. is "The Rio Grande"; in Mexico, it is "el Río Bravo" (formerly known as "el Río Bravo del Norte").

Orkney Islands (Whale islands islands - Old Norse. Several other British islands have the tautological "-ey Island" form)

Although the phrase "Orkney Islands" is redundant via etymology, the word "Islands" is seldom if ever appended to the name in day to day usage, in which usage "the Orkneys" or simply "Orkney" is conventional.