How Eindhoven, Antwerp & Rotterdam got their names.

Wikipedia says: "The name Eindhoven derives from the contraction of the regional words eind (meaning last or end) and hove (or hoeve; a section of some 14 hectares of land)." I think the name may have a vedic connect. The sixth descendant of Puru was Raudrasva. He had ten sons. Vaneyu was the last. Vaneyu (one from the forest) sounds suspiciously close to slavic deity vanja/vanya. Considering that the proto-indo-european language is said to have emerged from the Nordic regions, it is highly possible that Eindhoven is a nod to the last son of Raudra named Vanya. Incidentally, Vanya's elder brother is Varpeyu. The 'werp' in Antwerp may have something to do with Varpeyu. If so, then Ant must be a legacy of the Sanskrit Anth (meaning final, last or end)? But then, this poses a complication. If Antwerp = Anth Varpa = Land of the last son Varpeyu. And if Eindhoven = Antho Vanya = Land of the last son Vanya. Then clearly there must have been a confusion as to who was the last son. Now for all of this to have been true, Raudra must have been a great figure in Netherlands. We have evidence for this. Rotterdam is but Raudra-Dham!

How Tanganyika got its name.

Conventional wisdom says Tanganyika is derived from Swahili for 'sail'. I have another theory. Tanganyika has a very Tamil sound. And it feels like it must have been formed from 'Thanga Neekka' or 'Where gold is removed'. It's highly possible that Tamil explorers discovered gold deposits near the lake and concentrated their energies on neekifying thangam or mining out gold. So the waterway to the gold deposits became Thanga-neeka and over a period of time it morphed into the Swahili Tanganyika.

And why do I feel this is credible? Ancient Tamils did a lot of trading with East Africa. And evidence is fast emerging that much of South India's gold came from Africa. Also, Tanzania is the third big gold producer of Africa.

How Aswan got its name.

Egypt's third largest city is said to be have been derived from the Egyptian word 'Swen' which means 'the market'. Somehow this doesn't strike a chord with me. Ashwa is the Sanskrit word for Horse. Considering, Egyptian horses are legendary, could Aswan have been the ancient breeding ground for the famed Arabian horses?

How Jerusalem got its name.

It is a recorded fact that Tamils and the ancient Hebrew people were in touch for trade. So it's highly possible for Tamil words to have seeped into the Judaic world. Wikipedia says that Jerusalem was derived from Yerushalyim.

The explanation put out doesn't have a ring of certainty. Given the unsure nature of the etymology, it might help to view it from a Tamil prism. Yeru is a Tamil word meaning to climb and Shailam means hill. So why shouldn't Jerusalem mean 'Climb the hill'? Two evidences can be adduced in support of this theory:

1. Jerusalem sits on seven hills.
2. Salem (a city in Tamil Nadu) got its name because its surrounded by hills.

Doesn't that make you go hmmmmmmmm?

UPDATE: Samanth Subramaniam has come up with an even better suggestion. Yezhu Shailam means Seven Hills. Yezhu could have been corrupted to Yeru Shailam, right?

How Iran got its name.

Iran is often cited to be a derivation of Aryan (noble one or the first one) which happens to be a sanskrit word. The 'cradle of the civilization' theory lends credence to this belief. I have an alternate view. It goes like this...

The ancients have always held that in the beginning there was a massive island named Jambudweepa. It's sub divided into 9 zones. Bharatavarshey is the Indian area. There was also one zone named Hiran Maya where the palm tree was the key source of subsistence. The people there were golden complexioned (Hiran means golden). So basically Iranians are Hiranyans.

How Harappa got its name.

Harappa is located near the Ravi river. Since it was a river-civilization, it's highly possible that the place was designated so by the Indus people.

Now, the Indus script has been widely speculated to be of Dravidian origin. So may be it might help to see Harappa from a Dravidian prism. Which brings us to Tamil - the oldest living Dravidian language. Tamil might shed more light on how 'Harappa' the name was picked.

The thing to note is ancient Tamil didn't have the 'ha' sound. The practise was to substitute 'ha' with 'aa'. Given this background, may be HARAPPA was AARAPPA.

AARAPPA offers exciting possibilities. Because AARU in Tamil means 'River'. And AARAPPAN means 'one who lives near a river'.

May be people of the Harappan civilzation were referred to as 'AARAPANS' and over a period of the Northies started calling it HARAPPA. Sounds plausible?

NOTE: By the same logic, the Ravi river may also owe its origins to Tamil. You just have to look at the word ARUVI. It means river in Tamil and when uttered many times, it reads as RUVI or RAVI!!

How Dennis got his name.

The name Dennis is a derivative of Dionysus which in turn may be a derivative of Daya-nisi (sanskrit/tamil for day & night or compassionate & dark). If that sounds difficult to believe, Dionysus the greek god was said to have been born in an Indian hill named Nysa!