"The" Philippines

[Jonathan Lighter]

To fine-tune this discussion further, the presence of the definite article in place names like "the Yukon," "the Gambia," "the Congo," and perhaps "the Argentine," suggests to me that a nominal final - e.g., "colony" or "territory" - has been elided.  This is certainly true of "the Shenandoah," meaning "the Shenandoah Valley."  (Noteworthy: I've never noticed the Hudson Valley referred to as "the Hudson" or the Tennessee Valley as "the Tennessee."

"The Argentine" may well shorten "the Argentine Republic."

The result in each case is describable as a metonym, though the metonymy strikes me as accidental

Similarly, "the _Beowulf_" may abbreviate "the Beowulf poem."

JL


Michael McKernan <mckernan at LOCALNET.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Michael McKernan
Subject: Re: "The" Philippines
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Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>"The Yukon" is sort for "The Yukon [River] Territory." I should think
>"The Gambia" has a similar origin.

Not necessarily disagreeing with Jonathan, I believe that 'The Yukon
Territory' was named for the Yukon River, because this geographic feature
was at one time the principal 'gateway' or access to what became the
'Territory.'

The Gambia, OTOH, was never a "territory" and geographically, it only
consists of land adjacent to the Gambia River and its mouth. If you had
shallow-draft gunboats, controlling the mouth of the river meant
controlling the river, and the banks as far as the range of your guns. The
British were willing to venture ashore a little ways, but not very far,
whereas the French colonized all of the land around the river which was not
controlled by the British.

Let's not forget 'The Congo', which I'd suppose was named for the Congo
River, and kept the definite article in at least some of its several
partitions and independences. As I understand it, 'The Congo' was a
European-contrived location, consisting of a large area with a variety of
ethnic groups ('natives'), where each group had a name for themselves and
their lands. Please correct me if I'm wrong!


Michael McKernan


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