Talk:Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwantysiliogogogoch. This name has as much right to be in Wiktionary as any other place name - London, Paris, Birmingham, Nottingham, Snotingahám.

But it's a very small place (even if it has got a railway station with one very long name board !). If every small place in the world wants to have their name in Wiktionary, this will have more place name entries than WORDS.

My view is that Wikipedia is the place for PLACE NAMEs, not Wiktionary. So that this place names, and all other place names, should be removed from Wiktionary.--Richardb 02:06, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Dear Richard,

If you or any other individual wants to add each and every place name in the world you are free to do so. Self regulation is a powerful thing. If somebody wants to put in the energy to add valid content, even if not perfectly relevant: why not? I don't see it happen that there will be more place names than words in this dictionary, simply because it's usually more interesting to describe words than place names. So I would say: let it be. It doesn't hurt. And maybe there is an etymology or maybe somebody would be so kind as to add an IPA transliteration, so mere mortal souls like myself would have an idea how to pronounce it. Polyglot 08:12, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Earliest Usenet uses via Google Groups

• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (correct, in signature): net.micro.mac - Jul 5 1985, 8:07 am by Frank Kuiper
• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (correct, in a quote): net.movies - Jan 5 1986, 1:22 pm by Mark Brader

  "The password will be Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch."

• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogeryc­hwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogoch (incorrect): alt.music.sondheim - Oct 15 1997, 3:25 pm by Kaffitimi

  The Welsh village, Dave, in Sondheim's lyric (to Mary Rodgers's music) is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogoch.

• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (correct, normal context): misc.misc - Oct 11 1991, 2:58 am by Scott Horne

  What's so great about discovering a Dar-es-Salaam, Mississippi, or a Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, South Dakota?

— Hippietrail 01:43, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Other very long place names

There are some other very long place names with varying levels of fame:

• w:Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu is a hill in New Zealand, but there are several variations of the name so we'd need to research them. It is an official name but there is some controversy. According to Wikipedia it means "The brow [or summit] of the hill [or place], where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid [down], climbed [up] and swallowed mountains, [to travel the land], [who is] known as the Land Eater, played [on] his [nose] flute to his loved one"
• "Bangkok"'s Thai name is "Krungthep", which is short for "Krungthep Mahahnakhon Bovorn Ratanakosin Mahin tharrayutthaya Mahadilokpop Noparatratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniv etmahasathan Amornpiman Avatarnsathit Sakkathattiyavisnukarmprasit", which is a nonstandard transliteration of "กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์" which gets Google hits. However, Thai is written without spaces and I get no Google hits for this spelling with the spaces removed - more research is needed. According to Wikipedia it means "The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (unlike Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn."

— Hippietrail 01:57, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Why I removed the English section to this page

The edit summary doesn’t provide enough space for a long explanation. ;) I don’t think it’s right to say that this is an English word, that would imply that every foreign place name without an English name instantly becomes an English word. I would not say Librazhd, Szolnok or IJmuiden are English words even though we may need to use them if we’re talking about those places. They also don’t have a standard English pronunciation, unlike places such as Paris which do have a standard pronunciation which differs from the original. Whilst it’s possible to argue that place names become loan words, I think it’s unfeasible to list every place name in every language which doesn’t adapt foreign names to the local spelling and phonology. Most names have no modern meaning, meaning they can’t be translated like normal words and, as such, must be used as-is, unless a word is invented and the public are convinced to use it. When they can be translated, they often are; e.g. der Schwarzwald easily becomes the Black Forest. --Nikki 14:06, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

I was waiting for your explanation before deciding whether or not to revert the deletion. I agree with you. Any meaning behind a name can be given in that language’s etymology section, as here. I only note that the English section ought to contain both the Anglicised and the original pronunciations; therefore, entries such as Paris would list both /ˈpæ.ɹɪs/ and /pɑˈri/. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 14:17, 3 February 2007 (UTC)