In Genesis, God appears as a creator: he creates light and heaven; the earth and the seas; the stars and herbs and trees; Birds, earth animals and fish; And finally, the woman and the woman.
But God not only believes: he also puts names, because calling is a way of possessing. After creating, God gives name, thus appearing the first place names: Eden, Pisón, Javilá, Guijón, Kus, Tigris, Asur and Euphrates. Toponymy was a divine mission rather than human.
From this mythical origin, the human being gives name to what he discovers already what takes possession. Maybe that’s why, being another expansionist dislate, Hillary Clinton laughed behind (literally) of the president of the United StatesDonald Trump, when he said he would change Gulf of Mexico for Gulf of America.
The Careponymizations
In the field of toponomastics, discipline dedicated to the study of place names, we know cases of name changes. Some of them, foreigners, have been modified in Spanish to be more faithful to the native name: few know that the most famous Turkish hairs were, before the implants, those of the angora rabbits and cats, as the Spanish was known in Spanish Capital of Turkey, Ankara, until the twenties.
Celeboponymizations, as these modifications are known, are not strange. In fact, they are quite frequent, especially motivated by historical circumstances, such as those reflected in the street of the towns and cities. No one escapes that these names change according to historical avatars.
But the outpoonalization is not something new and not only affects the streets: in the thirteenth century, in Andalusia, there were attempts (in many cases they were in mere attempts) to change the Arab names for other Castilians, as reflected in the donations of the distributions. The majority were alquerías, villages and conquered lands that were distributed to the new settlers. However, the 21st century repopulations were not always successful and, therefore, the new names were frequently forgotten.
Some changes in Hispanic toponymy are documented in the delicious Toponymic Atlas of Spain (2007), by Jairo Javier García Sánchez.
Thus, in the toponymy of Spain we know modifications such as the vellacos that passed in the fifteenth century to Flores de Ávila, more friendly and complicating name, especially for its inhabitants. In Salamanca, Muelas passed Florida de Liebana, and Pocilgas to Buenavista. Madrid’s Miraflores de la Sierra won in 1627 to why they. And more necessary, for the same reasons, it was the change of disgusting grenadine, converted in 1941 to Valderrubio. In 1998 Benalup, in the province of Cádiz, recovered his name, replacing the place -names old houses, unhappy memory of the Matanza of 1933.
In the marshes of Seville Queipo de Llano promoted the consolidation of population centers: the town of Villafranco del Guadalquivir emerged, in honor of the dictator. Decree 402/2000 approved the change to Isla Mayor.
The Trump’s offonymizer eagerness
Trump has inaugurated his new mandate with some veleities. One is to retain the Gulf of Mexico, which will be called Gulf of America. The president does not know some interesting aspects.
The first ignorant data is that the synecdoque in toponymy leads to inaccuracy and confusion: America is a continent; Your country is called the United States of America. Therefore, his America First! (America first!) It results, strictly speaking, equivocal and unraveling (I suppose that Mexicans or Guatemalans do not include in its motto).
The Spanish Language Dictionary Recommend American For the “Natural of the United States of America”, instead of American, which is the inhabitant of the continent, from Cabo de Hornos to Murchison. Therefore, I dare to recommend, if your chauvinista eagerness persists, which replaces the name of the Gulf with the United States Gulf. At least it would be more precise.
Trumpist ignorance is unaware of historical documentation. From very early dates this area receives a name regarding New Spain or Mexico. In the Description of the Western Indiesby Antonio de Herrera and Tordesillas (1601), appears the Gulf denomination of New Spain, and Mexican Gulf in the Brief description of the worldby Fernández de Medrano (1686). Even Mexican sinus, in the Marañón and Amazonasby Manuel Rodríguez (1684). The Spanish Language Dictionary collects “Gulf” as a similar synonym “breast”.
The oldest document referring to this name is the anonymous Pedro Apiano Cosmography Translation (1548 and 1575): “Who some call Mexican Gulf, other Florido, and others of Cortés.” The President could have chosen a Florido Gulf, which at least has historical packaging.
Can Trump change an international place name?
Trump perhaps ignores that these place names, which affect navigation, require the necessary consensus to avoid mistakes in nautical letters, and need the acquiescence of international institutions such as the International Hydrographic Organization and the group of experts in United Nations Geographical Names. Although this retoponymization can also be an excuse to get rid of these organisms.
Trump can change the place name in the same way that anthroponymy is changed: my family and my friends call me Fran, but in the civil registry my parents officially inscribed me as Francisco de Asís. In the United States, with Trump, it can be called as they want. Internationally and by agreement will be Gulf of Mexico.
