toponym

plural toponyms

1. A placename.

   Conquests were recorded using toponyms that refer to specific cities or locations, and war captives were identified by their place of origin.

   2006, Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler, The Ancient Maya, →ISBN, page 714

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   As we celebrate one hundred years of official 'standardization' of Canadian toponyms, this would be an appropriate time to reflect upon the state of toponyms used by the Aboriginal people of Canada.

   2003, William C. Wonders, Canada's Changing North, →ISBN, page 207

   If ביתדוד of the Tel Dan Inscription did originate with a temple of some kind, then we must interpret the ‘’’toponym’’’ as meaning 'House of (the) Patron'. Thus, although the toponym ביתדוד in the Tel Dan Inscription can be connected indirectly with a deity, such a connection is not demanded by the toponym itself.

   2006, George Athas, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Introduction, →ISBN

   Synonyms: placename, nomen loci, geonym, geographic name, geographical name

2. uncommonA word derived from the name of a place.

   ‘Tangerine’ is a toponym of Tangier.

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   The name Rūmī, by which he is widely known in the West, is a toponym referring to the fact that he lived in the province of Rūm (Anatolia), the country now known as Turkey.

   2010, Seyed Ghahreman Safavi, Simon Weightman, Rumi's Mystical Design: Reading the Mathnawi, Book One, →ISBN, page 1

   Next time you go out for a hamburger, ask your sixth grader to find the toponyms. They are words that come from the names of places, like hamburger comes from Hamburg, Germany.

   2012, Suzanne Barchers, Sixth Grade Parent Guide for Your Child's Success, →ISBN

   During the Second Boer War (1899-1902), English officers who had done badly were sent to the British military base at Stellenbosch, without losing rank, to look after horses there. Eventually, the term came to refer to relegating or reassigning someone considered incompetent or incapable to a position of lower responsibility, and is thus a demotion, even though there may be no loss of rank or pay. It generally, though not always, arises in connection with military affairs. The word is therefore known as a toponym (see place-name).

   2015, Peter E. Meltzer, The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words, →ISBN

   Those husbands with toponyms such as “d'Incisa,” “da Montelupo,” “da Volterra,” and the like we classify as non-Florentine.

   2015, Julius Kirshner, Marriage, Dowry, and Citizenship in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy, →ISBN

3. anatomyThe technical designation of any region of an animal.