A place name is tautological if two differently sounding 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, New Zealand's Mount Maunganui is tautological since maunga is Māori for mountain. The following is a list of place names often used tautologically, plus the languages from which the non-English name elements have come.
Tautological place names are systematically generated in languages such as English and Russian, where the type of the feature is systematically added to a name regardless of whether it contains it already. For example, in Russian, the format "Ozero X-ozero" (i.e. "Lake X-lake") is used. In English, it is usual to do the same for foreign names, even if they already describe the feature, for example Lake Kemijärvi (Lake Kemi-lake), or Saaremaa island (Island land island).
Lakes and other bodies of water
Dal Lake, Kashmir, India ('Lake Lake' – Balti)
Deschutes Falls, Tumwater, Washington ('Falls Falls, Falls, Washington' – Chinuk Wawa)
Eas Fors Waterfall, Scotland ('Waterfall Waterfall Waterfall' in Scottish Gaelic, Norse and English
Gaube Lake, Hautes-Pyrénées ('Lake Lake' – French and Gascon)
Gulf of Bothnia ('Gulf of gulf' – English and Latinised Swedish)
Hardangerfjord, Norway (Hard fjord-fjord anger means fjord in Norse.
Hayle Estuary, Cornwall ('Estuary Estuary' – Cornish) Heyl 'estuary')
Järvijärvi, Sodankylä, Finland ('Lake Lake' – Finnish)
Jaurajärvi and Jaurakkajärvi, Finland ('Lake Lake' – Sami javri 'lake', Finnish järvi 'lake')
Jog Falls, Karnataka, India – A waterfall where "jog" or "joga" means waterfall in the local language
Laacher See, Germany – A caldera lake and potentially active volcano ('Lake of the Lake')
Lac d'Oô, France — The name Oô is derived from Aragonese ibon 'mountain lake' or from Gascon iu or eu 'mountain lake', so that Lac d'Oô is 'Lake of the Lake'.
Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria – lagos is Portuguese for 'lakes', and "lagoon" derives from Latin lacus 'lake, pond'
Laguna Lake, Laguna, Philippines – laguna is Spanish for 'lake'. It is also known as Laguna de Bay, although it is not a bay and was in fact known as Laguna de Ba'i ('Ba'i Lake') in Spanish times.
Laguna Lake, California ('Lake Lake' – Spanish)
Lake Baikal, Russia ('Lake Rich lake' – From the Turkic *baj* (rich, though this is disputed) and *kal* (lake).
Lake Chad, Chad ('Lake lake' – Bornu word tsade: "lake")
Lake Danao (Leyte) and Lake Danao (Negros), Philippines ('Lake Lake' – Cebuano)
Lake Ellesmere, New Zealand ('Ella's lake lake' – Old Norse. Several English lakes, such as Windermere, are often incorrectly referred to using the incorrect "Lake -mere" form, but New Zealand's has this form as its official name)
Issyk-Kul Lake, Kyrgyzstan ('Hot Lake Lake' – Kyrgyz)
Lake Lagunita, Stanford, California ('Lake Little Lake' – Spanish)
Lake Nyassa (now called Lake Malawi), Malawi/Mozambique ('Lake Lake' – Yao)
Lake Rotorua, New Zealand ('Lake Lake Second' – Māori. Many other New Zealand lakes have the tautological "Lake Roto-" form)
Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California ('Lake the lake' – Washo)
Lakeville Lake, Michigan, US – The village is Lakeville, the adjacent lake is Lakeville Lake.
Lake Khövsgöl - Khövsgöl, Mongolia – Lake Blue Water Lake, from Tuvan.
Loch Loch, Scotland. Not to be confused with Loch Lochy.
Loch Lomond Lake, near Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
Loch Watten, Scotland, from Gaelic loch, plus Norse vatn
Loughrigg Tarn, from Gaelic loch, plus Norse-derived "ridge", and tarn meaning a body of water
Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, USA ('Thousand Lakes Lake' – French)
Østensjøvann is a Norwegian lake name that concatenates sjø ('lake that is not as narrow as a fjord') and vann ('lake'). Similarly Møsvann in Telemark, Norway combines mjøsa meaning 'lake' with vann meaning 'lake'.
Semerwater, sometimes Lake Semerwater, North Yorkshire, England. Semer is from Old English sæ 'lake' and mere 'lake', thus Lake Semerwater means 'lake lake lake water'
Tal-y-llyn Lake, Wales (End-of the-lake lake – llyn is Welsh for lake)
Vatnshlíðarvatn, Iceland (Lake-slope-lake – The farm Vatnshlíð ('Lake-slope') named after the lake, which in turn is named after the farm.)
Vatnvatnet, Norway ('Lakelake' – Norwegian), a lake near Bodø
Wast Water, England – 'water's valley water' from Old Norse vatns dalr (= Wasdale) and Old English wæter
Lake Hayq, Ethiopia – Amharic hayk means 'lake'.
Sandefjordsfjorden, Norway, 'Sande fjord's fjord'
Stavangerfjorden, Norway, Straight fjord-fjord, stav means straight and anger means fjord in Norse.
Lake Michigan, United States – 'Lake Large Lake' (Michigan is French alteration of the Ojibwe word mishigamaa)
Mountains and hills
Barrhill, barr is an old Celtic word for a flat topped hill.
Bergeberget, Norway (The Hill Hill – Norwegian)
Brda Hills, Slovenia – "brda" means small hills in Slovene (thus, the area is sometimes referred to as "Goriška Brda" or "Gorizia Hills" to distinguish it from others)
Bredon Hill, England (Hill Hill Hill – Brythonic/Old English/Modern English); compare Bredon and Breedon on the Hill (Hill Hill on the Hill – Brythonic/Saxon/Modern English)
Brill, England (Hill Hill – Brythonic/Saxon) – also once known in documents as Brill-super-montem (Hill Hill on the Hill – Brythonic/Saxon/Latin)
Brincliffe Edge, Sheffield, UK (Burning Hill Hill Welsh/English)
Bryn Glas Hill, Wales (Blue Hill Hill – Welsh/English)
Brynhill, Wales (Hill Hill – Welsh/English)
Djebel Amour, Algeria: (Arabic & Tamazight)
Eizmendi: Haitz Mendi 'mount mount' (Euskara)
Filefjell, Norway (The mountain mountain – Norwegian)
Fjällfjällen, Sweden (The mountain mountains – Swedish)
Garmendia: Garr- Mendi(a) (fossil & modern Basque)
Gibraltar, commonly "The Rock of Gibraltar" From Arabic Jebel-Al-Tariq, which means "The Rock of Tariq"
Hill Mountain, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Haukafellsfjall, Iceland – (Haukur's Mountain's Mountain)
Hoffellsfjall, Iceland – (Monastery Mountain Mountain)
Hueco Tanks, an area of low mountains in El Paso County, Texas.
Kálfafellsfjöll, Iceland – (Calf Mountain Mountains)
Knockhill, a common placename in the Scottish Lowlands, deriving from Scottish Gaelic, cnoc meaning a "hill".
Kukkulamäki, in 24 distinct locations (Rautjärvi, Jyväskylä, Salo, ...) in Finland, is kukkula "hill" and mäki "hill".
Mongibellu, Sicilian name of the volcano Etna, in Sicily, Italy (Mountain Mountain, from Italian monte and Arabic jabal).
Montcuq, Lot, France: Mont Kukk 'mount mount'
Mount Afadja, Ghana's highest peak, is often referred to as 'Mount Afadjato', which means 'Mount Afadja Mountain', 'To' being the Ewe language word for 'Mountain'. Ewe is the main language spoken in the area surrounding the peak.
Mount Katahdin, Maine (Mount The Greatest Mountain – English/Penobscot)
Mount Kenya, Kenya (Mount White Mountain – "Kenya" is from Kikuyu "Kirinyaga", 'white mountain')
Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Mount Mount Njaro – Swahili)
Mount Maunganui, New Zealand (Mount Mount Big – Māori)
Mount Ōyama, Japan (Mount Big Mountain – Japanese)
Ochil Hills, Scotland (Hill hills)
Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England. (Hill Hill Hill) – "Pen" -(Cumbric language) "Pendle" by epenthesis and elision from "Pen Hyll", the latter word being Old English for "hill".
Pendleton, near Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England. (Hill Hill Town) or, possibly (Hill Hill Hill), taking the -ton as deriving from Old English dun as opposed to Old English tun.
Pendleton Hill, North Stonington, Connecticut. (Hill Hill Town Hill) or, possibly, (Hill Hill Hill Hill).
Penhill, North Yorkshire, England: Pen (Brittonic) and hyll (Old English), both meaning "hill"
Pic de la Munia in Piau-Engaly, France: Pic Muño (Romance & Euskara)
Picacho Peak (Arizona, U.S.) (Peak Peak – Spanish)
Pinnacle Peak (Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S.) and Mount Pinnacle (southwestern Virginia, U.S.). Both English. Other locations have the same names.
Portsdown Hill (Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK) Port's Hill (dún; Anglosaxon) Hill.
Slieve Mish Mountains, Ireland (Mis's Mountain mountains)
Slieve Bloom Mountains, Ireland – (Bladh's Mountain Mountains)
Svínafellsfjall, Iceland – (Pig Mountain Mountain)
Summit Peak, New Zealand (Peak Peak – both English) – also the U.S. has five hills called Summit Peak.
Table Mesa (Arizona, U.S.) (Table Table – Spanish)
Torpenhow, Cumbria, England, supposedly meaning "hill hill hill", exaggerated into an (unsubstantiated) "Torpenhow Hill = hill-hill-hill hill" for effect; it may only be a single tautology, torpen expressing "the top or breast of a hill" (rather than "hill-hill"), with the tautological addition of Old Norse howe (haugr) "hill".
Tuc de la Pale, Ariège, France: Tuk Pal 'mount mount'
Vignemale, Pyrenees: Went Mal 'mount mount'
Islands
Canvey Island, UK (Cana's island island – Anglo-Saxon)
Dodecanese Islands, Aegean Sea (Twelve Islands Islands – Greek; properly called the Dodecanese)
Faroe Islands, sometimes Faeroe Islands (Sheep Islands Islands – Faroese -oe means 'islands' (Faroese: oyar, Danish: øerne); the first part of the name (Før-, Fær- or Fär-) is thought to mean 'sheep'; see History of the Faroe Islands).
Gezira Island, Cairo, Egypt. Gezira جزيرة means 'island' in Egyptian Arabic, so the name is "Island Island."
Gili Islands, North-west of Lombok, Indonesia (Small Island Islands – Sasak)
Grand Manan Island, NB, Canada (Grand Island Island – Maliseet-Passamaquoddy-Penobscot Indian)
Inch is a common Scottish island prefix deriving from Gaelic innis. Many such places such as Inchkeith are often referred to as Inchkeith Island etc. in colloquial usage.
Isla Pulo, Metro Manila, Philippines (Island Island – Filipino)
Isle of Sheppey, UK (Island of sheep island – Saxon)
Lundy Island, UK (puffin island island – Norse)
Motutapu Island, New Zealand (Island Sacred Island – Māori), "Motu" means island in Maori.
Tenasillahe Island, Oregon. Tenasillahe means 'island' in Chinook Jargon.
Walney Island, UK (British island island – Old Norse)
Ön Island, Umeå, Sweden (ön means 'the island' in Swedish)
Calatañazor Castle, Spain (Eagles Castle Castle – from Arabic Qal'at an-Nusur, 'Castle of the Eagles')
Calatayud Castle, Spain (Jewish Castle Castle – from Arabic Qal'at Yahud, 'Jewish Castle')
Calatrava la Vieja Castle and Calatrava la Nueva Castle, Spain (The Old Rabah's Castle Castle and The New Rabah's Castle Castle – from Arabic Qal'at Rabah, Rabah being the first Muslim owner of the first ("old") castle in the 8th century)
Carmarthen, Wales (Welsh: Caerfyrddin) – (Fort fort by the sea – "Caer"/"Car" = Welsh for fort (from Latin castra), "marthen"/"m(f)yrddin" is Welsh name derived from Latin Moridunum, which itself derived from Brythonic "môr" (sea) and "din"/"dun" (fort))
Cartagena, Spain – originally Carthago Nova (New New City), from Latin "New Carthage"; Carthago itself is from Phoenician Qart-ḥadašt, 'New City'
Châteaudun, France (Castle Stronghold – French and Gaulish)
El Camino Way in Palo Alto, California (The way way – Spanish)
El Pont de Suert, Catalonia, Spain – literally 'the bridge of bridge'; "Pont" is the Catalan word for 'bridge' derived from Latin pons, pontis 'bridge' and "Suert" comes from the Basque Zubiarte, meaning 'between bridges'.
El Puente de Alcántara, Toledo, Spain (The Bridge of the Bridge – Puente from Spanish, Alcántara from Arabic اقنطرة al-qanṭarah 'the bridge')
Forumtorget in Uppsala, Sweden - literally "the square square" - forum being the Latin word for square and torget meaning "the square" in Swedish.
Gaza Museum of Archaeology, known as "the al-Mat'haf Museum." In Arabic, المتحف al-Matḥaf means 'the Museum'; thus, it is being called "the the Museum Museum."
Külaküla, Estonia, translated literally as "Village village".
Laugardalslaug (a swimming pool in Reykjavík, literally 'the pool of the valley of the pool'; the valley was originally named after pools used for washing clothes, but a swimming pool was subsequently built there)
Linguaglossa, Italy (Sicily) (from Italian "lingua", "tongue" and Greek "γλώσσα", "tongue")
Moorestown Township, New Jersey
Napton-on-the-Hill, Warwickshire – Napton means "settlement on the hill"
Outerbridge Crossing between Perth Amboy, New Jersey and Staten Island, though in this case "Outerbridge" refers to Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, and not, as is commonly assumed, to the bridge's location.
Pawtucket Falls (Massachusetts) and Pawtucket Falls (Rhode Island) – Pawtucket is an Algonkian word meaning "at the falls in the river (tidal stream)".
Rökstenen, Sweden, (Rök is an older name for stone, so "the stone stone"), a runestone.
Staðarstaður, Iceland (Staður means "a pastor's farm" and is a common suffix to the names of such farms—this means "Pastor's farm which is a pastor's farm")
Street Road is a highway that passes through several towns slightly north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Two nearly synonymous English words
Trendle Ring earthwork in Somerset, England (Circle Circle)
Stonepit Quarry old quarry now part of the Old Sulehay nature reserve in Peterborough, England
Voundervour Lane, Penzance, Cornwall, UK; (vounder or bounder is a Cornish word meaning lane)
Yeshiva University, New York, NY (yeshiva is a Hebrew word meaning university/place of learning)
Aran Valley, Catalonia, Spain – "Aran" comes from the proto-Basque word "haran" meaning "valley"; in the local Gascon dialect, "aran" also means valley
Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland – from Irish aird meaning "promontory" or "peninsula"
Ardtornish Point, Scotland (High/Heights or Point Point) – "Aird" from Gaelic, "Nish" from the Norse Ness and Point from English – all referring to some form of cape, point or headland).
Avenue Road in Toronto, Ontario.
Avenue Road, Bangalore in Bengaluru/Bangalore, India
Barna Gap, Ireland – (Gap Gap – Barna is the Irish word for a mountain gap)
Beechhurst Holt Wood, England (beech wood wood wood – Anglo-Saxon)
Boulder Rock, Ross Dependency, Antarctica
Cheile Cheii, Vâlcea, Romania (Gorges' Gorges – Romanian)
Col de Port, Ariège, France (Pass Pass – French and Occitan)
Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France (Coast of Coast – French and Breton)
Daladalur, Iceland – (Valley of Valleys, named after the farm Dalir (Valleys))
Dalsdalen, Luster, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway (Valley's-Valley) – Norwegian
Dasht-e Kavir, Iran (desert desert)
East Timor, (East East): From the Indonesian and Malaysian word "timur", meaning "east"; "Timor Leste" has the same meaning, "leste" meaning "east" in Portuguese. (This is strictly not a tautology, as the country East Timor indeed takes up the eastern half of the island Timor; the island was named thusly by peoples living west of it. The western half is part of Indonesia and informally named West Timor.)
Gilsárgil, Iceland – (Canyon River Canyon: The canyon of the river which in turn flows through that same canyon.) The river was named first, as is pretty common, and then the canyon was named after the river much later, also common.
Glendale – Anglicisation of the Gaelic Gleann Dail. Gleann simply means "valley", and dail is a borrowing from the Norse for "valley", which in Gaelic specifically means a valley containing fertile arable land, or any low-lying farmland. The anglicised form appears more tautological as the word dale in English is used to describe any valley.
Glen of Aherlow – a glen is a long, deep valley, while Aherlow is from the Irish eatharlach, meaning "lowland between two mountains", i.e. a valley.
Gobi Desert, Mongolia (Desert Desert – "Govi" is Mongolian)
Jiayuguan Pass – (Jiayu Pass Pass – Mandarin Chinese)
Kaieteur Falls in Kaieteur National Park, Potaro-Siparuni Region, Guyana – (Kai falls Falls – Patamona language)
La Avenida Street, Mountain View, California (The Avenue Street – Spanish)
The La Brea Tar Pits, California (The The Tar Tar Pits – Spanish)
The Los Angeles Angels, a baseball team from Anaheim - (The The Angels Angels - Spanish)
Los Altos Hills, California (The foothills hills – Spanish)
Metsalaane, village in Estonia (both metsa and laane mean forest in Estonian)
Milky Way Galaxy (Milky Way Milky Way — Greek; for this reason some scientists, such as the late Isaac Asimov, have argued that the Milky Way should be renamed the "Home Galaxy" or some such.)
Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota (Waterfall Falls – Lakota)
Mount Midoriyama, the final stage of American Ninja Warrior (Mount Green Mountain - Japanese)
Nathu La Pass, Sino-Indian border, (Listening Ears Pass Pass- Tibetan)
Nesoddtangen, Norway – (The Cape cape cape, Norwegian, from nes (promontory or cape), odde (promontory or cape) and tange (promontory or cape))
Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia - (Eastern Southeastern Islands - Indonesian)
Nyanza Lac, Burundi – "Nyanza" and "Lac" are the Bantu and French words for "lake" respectively. This is a city, not a lake, though on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.
Playalinda Beach, Florida (Pretty beach beach – Spanish)
Rue Avenue, Point Pleasant, New Jersey
Sahara desert, Africa (Deserts desert – Arabic)
Sharm Old Harbour (a common English name for the old harbour at Sharm el Sheikh) (harbour old harbour – Arabic)
Skarðsskarð, Iceland (Pass's Pass: A mountain pass named after a farm which in turn is named after the pass to begin with.)
South Australia (Australia being Latin for "southern land")
South Vietnam (South south Việt – Vietnamese)
Tappiyan Falls, Batad – waterfalls near the Banawe Rice Terraces in the Philippines – means Falls (in Ifugao language) Falls
Tipsoo Meadow, Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington. Tipsoo means 'meadow' in Chinook Jargon.
Waterford Harbour – the name "Waterford" derives from Old Norse Veðrafjǫrðr, "ram fjord", referring the natural harbour.
Wookey Hole Caves - the name Wookey is derived from the Celtic (Welsh) for 'cave', "Ogo" or "Ogof" which gave the early names for this cave of "Ochie" "Ochy". Hole is Anglo-Saxon for cave, which is itself of Latin/Norman derivation. Therefore, the name Wookey Hole Cave basically means cave cave cave.
List of tautological place names Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
