• greenMeanHoppinMachine@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    and the original European names are also pretty functional:

    I believe Amsterdam is just “River Dam”

    And York is just “Yew”, presumably named after trees that grew there. (Eburacon -> Eboracum -> Eoforwic -> Jórvík -> York)

    But New York in the United States isn’t even directly named after the English city of York, but rather a person (James Stuart) who was the Duke of York when England took control of the territory from the Dutch.