Mystery of "Atlanta" (Atlantic or Atalanta?)

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:02 PM -0500 12/5/05, Wilson Gray wrote:
>On 12/5/05, bapopik at aol.com <bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       bapopik at AOL.COM
>>  Subject:      Mystery of "Atlanta" (Atlantic or Atalanta?)
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  I searched the digitized Atlanta Constitution. Atalanta? Atlantic? Any
>>  opinions?
>>  ...
>>  ATLANTA'S NAMES,; AND A RUNNING SKETCH OF HOW SHE GOT THEM. Terminus,
>>  Which Was Not the End--Marthasville, Which Wouldn't do For a Growing City,
>>  and Atlanta, Just the Thing.
>>  S C. The Atlanta Constitution (1881-2001). Atlanta, Ga.: Jan 20, 1889. p.
>>  2 (1 page)
>>
>
>Strictly speaking, it's "Atlas," not "Atlantic." "Atlantic" is ultimately
>derived from the stem, atlant-, of the name, "Atlas," itself derived from
>the stem, tla-, of the verb, tlaein "bear, hold up, carry," etc.

and cf. tal-, sometimes related to the eponymous Titan (and ocean)
and underlier of "reTALiation" and "lex TALionis" (an eye for an eye
and all that), as well as "TOLerate" (strange bedfellows), "TALent",
"tanTALize", et al.