di Napoli, a Watertown

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/20/2010 09:21 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>Well, it does make sense that the name should come from elsewhere than other
>than Poland. I once had an a Italian friend named "di Napoli" who was from
>Siragusa. I found this hard to understand until it dawned on me that, when
>Siragusa is the default location, why would anyone from Siragusa who lived
>in Siragusa be known as being from Siragusa? OTOH, if my friend's ancestors
>had moved from Napoli to Siragusa, then the fact that they weren't from
>around those parts would have been worthy of note and been reflected in the
>(new) surname of their descendents.

Just as the same street is known as "Waltham St." in Lexington and
"Lexington St." in Waltham.

For a couple of days I thought that "Watertown Pond" was Fresh Pond,
now in Cambridge, on the same principle -- for Cantabridgians, it was
"the pond on the way to Watertown".  But then I was informed that in
1729, the year of my encounter, Fresh Pond actually was in
Watertown.  (I still think they're the same water, but my theory of
naming is shot.)

Joel


>Why would the Poles call a Polish dance a "polka," when all Polish dances
>are polkas?

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