FDOK REVIEWS Espenshade, A. Howry, Pennsylvania Place Names, S t a t e College, Pa. ,Perm- sylirania S t a t e University, 1925. ~ e p r i n t e d by Gale Research Company, D e t r o i t , 1969. 375 pages. $14.50. The study of place names, long i n t h e p a l e of those enamoured ef popu- l a r antiquarianism, has f o r some time received r e l a t i v e l y s e r i o u s at- t e n t i o n from c u l t u r a l geographers, and more recently, from f o l k l o r i s t s . Espenshadds study, completed i n t h e f i r s t decade of t h i s century, re- mains a standard, e x c e l l e n t work on t h e major place names of t h e coun- t i e s , county s e a t s , p r i n c i p a l towns ( a t t h a t time those with a popula- t i o n of 5,000 o r more) and o t h e r important v i l l a g e s and townships of Pennsylvania, H i s readable comments on t h e s e l e c t e d s i t e s o f t e n i n - clude valuable though s h o r t h i s t o r i e s of t h e a r e a and biographies o f noteworthy persons. The f o l k l o r i s t may r e g r e t t h a t i n his introduction Espenshade scoffs a t ftfabulous explanations" and l l r i d i c u l o u s rname s t o r i e s ! fihich7 a r e current about t h e o r i g i n of place names" ( p .l2). He gives s z v e r a i llspe- cimens of f o l k etymologyt1 a s i l l u s t r a t i o n s : The following explanation of t h e v i l l a g e named Tamanend is given by a l o c a l h i s t o r i a n : 'There i s a t r a d i t i m n among t h e o l d r e s i d e n t s t h a t about t h e time of t h e Wyoming Massacre a noted Indian chief, Taman by name, an a l l y of t h e B r i t i s h , was foremost i n t h e war upon t h e defenseless f r o n t i e r . Af- terward, when t h e avengers of these butcheries made war up- on t h e savages, Taman was brought t o bay a t Hawk's Curve, near the s i t e of t h e v i l l a g e . Here he was captured and im- mediately hanged; hence t h e name Taman's End o r Tamanend.' Alas f o r t h e name and f a t e of St. Tammany. Here i s an explanation o f t h e name Bellefonte which p o i n t s t o a German r a t h e r than a French o r i g i n , An o l d Pennsylva- n i a German farmer put a b e l l on one of h i s cows and turned t h e drove loose t o pasture on t h e wooded h i l l s surrounding t h e v i l l a g e . The cows came home, but t h e b e l l w a s l o s t . Not u n t i l t h e autumn, when t h e farmer was hunting among t h e h i l l s , was t h e b e l l found. t Ya wohll t h e r e , among t h e bu- shes wass t h a t b e l l fount&! And, of course, t h e town w a s Christened Bellefonte t o cornmerraarate t h e event1 'How d i d Tyrone g e t i t s name?$ I once asked a good e&d la- dy who had l i v e d t h e r e a l l her days. 'Have you never heard,' she said. fI thought everyone k n e w e f I t w a s this way: t h e f i r s t pioneer who came i n t o t h i s region with h i s wife camped near where t h e town now stands. He had two horses, a gray and a roan, which he turned out t o pasture i n t h e evening. The roan seemed so r e s t i v e t h a t t h e c a r e f u l wife urged h e r hus- band t o "tie roan.' They s e t t l e d here and accordingly named t h e place Tyrone. And t h e good t r u s t f u l soul who expected m e t o believe t h i s s t o r y bore an I r i s h name 1 (pp .l3-14) . That place name legends a r e s t i l l a l i v e and well i n Pennsylvania a s w e l l a s throughput t h e country t h e r e i s no doubt: r a i s e d i n t h e v i c i n i t y of t h e Swatara Creek, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, I o f t e n heard from my grandfather t h a t t h e creek got i t s name from an Indian brave who, upon shooting an arrow i n t o t h e a i r s a n d it landing he knew not where on the opposite shore of the creek, c r i e d out, !IGoodbye, - s w i f t ( o r sweet) arrow!!! -- Espenshade, however, p r e f e r s t o i n t e n s i f y h i s work with s u b s t a n t i a l h i s t o r i c a l f a c t gleaned from numerous l o c a l h i s t b r i e s of i n d i v i d u a l towns and counties. The r e s u l t i s by no means d u l l o r u n i n t e r e s t i n g ; it i s extremely well i n t e g r a t e d and b e a u t i f u l l y w r i t t e n i n a s t y l e we might c a l l Victorian. H i s approach is t h a t of a serious, dedicated scholar, i n t e n t upon recording and c a r e f u l l y c l a s s i f y i n g t h e m a t e r i a l before h i m , r a t h e r than t h a t of a d i l l e t a n t e o r Saturday savant. He observes f o u r broad source a r e a s f o r most place names, although he d i s t i n g u i s h e s numerous o t h e r s i n the s p e c i f i c breakdown of c l a s s i f i - cations : (1) aboriginal place names, rehbained because "they have become f a m i l i a r , o r are thought t o be appropriate o r euphonioustt ( p a s ) ; such examples as Allegheny, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Wyoming and K i b taning ( f a m i l i a r t o a l l who frequent t h e Pennsylvania Turnpike) a r e c i t e d . ( 2 ) place names borrowed from t h e Old World, some of which a r e merely t r a n s f e r r e d from the o l d country t o t h e new: This same phenomenon i s o f t e n apparent within t h e r e s t r i c t e d limits of a s i n g l e county. Lancaster County, which was o r i - g i n a l l y s e t t l e d by English Quakers, Welsh Episco@ians, Ir- i s h Presbyterians, and German Mennonites and Moravians, f u r - nishes a good i l l u s t r a t i o n , The names of t h e townships and v i l l a g e s o f t e n show whence t h e first s e t t l c r s came. The town- ships of Lancaster, Warwick, Salisbury, and L i t t l e B r i t a i n mark t h e Fnglish settlements. I n l i k e manner t h e Welsh hcve given t h e i r names t o East and West Lampeter, Caernarvon and Bmcknock townships, The Scotch-Irish gave t h e i r settlements such names a s Leacock, Dremore, Colerain, Rapho and Donegal. The s e t t l e r s of German e x t r a c t i o n bestowed t h e i r own names on Manheim, L i t i t z , New Holland and Strasbourg. (pp.17-18) ( 3 ) Names of persons, whether t h e y be i l l u s t r i o u s f i g u r e s from h i s - t o r y , a s evidenced by t h e appearance of such names a s Washington, Frank- l i n , Pike and Wa$ne, o r l o c a l c e l e b r i t i e s such a s John H m i s ( H a r r i s - burg), James Gettys (Gettysburg) o r Elizabeth Hughes Reeby(E1izabeth- town) . (4) Invented names owing " t h e i r o r i g i n t o some p l a n t , animal, o r industry, t o some prominent geographical feature, t o an h i s t o r i c event o r circumstance, o r t o mere caprice.I1 (p,lS), Examples are, of course, abundant. The names Bird-in Hand, Red Lion and King of P r u s s i a (named f o r e a r l y tavern signs) come immediately t o mind, but o t h e r s e x i s t with g r e a t frequency, S t e e l t o n (named f o r i t s l a r g e s t e e l m i l l s ) , Mid- dletown (named f o r i t s c e n t r a l l o c a t i o n between the e a r l y c i t i e s of Lancaster and C a r l i s l e ) , Snow Shoe, S l i p p e r y Rock, Lock Haven, O i l C i t y and Valley Forge me but a few. The bibliography, although somewhat l i m i t e d by the time f a c t o r , i s nevertheless an e x c e l l e n t catalogue of l o c a l h i s t o r i e s . There a r e s e v e r a l appendices 0% useful c h a r t s but it i s t o be r e g r e t t e d , t h e r e i s no map t o guide t h e o f t t i m e s confused reader through t h e geogra- p h i c a l i n t r i c a c i e s of t h e s t a t e , apparently assumed by the author t o be a p r i o r i knowledge (Philadelphia - i s on Lake Erie, i s n r t i t ? ) . One problem remains: the book i s i n t e r e s t i n g and informative, d e l i g h t - f u l t o read and r e p l e t e with f a c t u a l h i s t o r y , but how can it p o s s i b l y be of use t o f o l k l o r i s t s ? The answer comes, not unenrpect&dly, from a c u l t u r a l geographer, E . Joan Wilson M i l l e r : However extraordinary some of them moy seem, toponyms have meaning and value to the c u l t u r a l geographer. M a y o f them represent s e l e c t i v e o r a l material disseminated r e g i o n a l l y by ingrained, p e r s i s t e n t speech h a b i t s . Such names belong t o t h e f o l k because t h e y a r e a p a r t of a shared experience and a r e a r e a c t i o n t o a r e a l , immediate, and p r a c t i c a l si- tuation. Some of t h e i r o r i g i n s a r e e l u s i v e and v a r i a n t s concerning t h e s e o r i g i n s e x i s t . The study of placc. names i n d i c a t e s t h a t they a f e a geographic expression of c u l t u r a l processes t h a t a r e s t i l l dynamic. So they,too, a r e a p a r t of t h e continuum of man's changing occupance of t h e land.* Yvonne J . Milspaw Indiana University * !#.Joan Wilson Miller, "The Naming of the Land i n t h e Arkansas; Ozarks: A Study i n Culture ~ r o c e s s e s , ~ n n & s of the Association of American Geographers, L I X (1969) , 251. Umeasiegbu, Rems Nna , The Way We Lived, i l l u s , Heinemann Educational Books, Malta,1969. 139 pages, The Way We Lived i s one of those unusual but i n c r e a s i n g l y common books mushrooming i n Africa, This book i s p a r t i c u l a r l y strange because of t h e d e t a i l s of i t s creation, described i n a l e t t e r by t h e author t o h i s fa- t h e r (page v i i i ) . The author belongs t o the Ibo, a famous t r i b e i n the Eastern region of Nigeria. H i s f a t h e r , G.U. Umeasiegbu, was ( o r is, I c a n t t t e l l ) , a leading e l d e r i n t h e county of Aba, and he customarily e n t e r t a i n e d such d i g n i t a r i e s a s t h e councillors of t h e Aba Urban Coun- c i l . One day when the c o u n c i l l o r s gathered i n h i s homestead, he asked h i s son, Rems Nna Umeasiegbu, t o bring i n palmwine f o r t h e guests, The son served t h e palmwine without t a k i n g a s i p f i s s t , a v i o l a t i o n of Ibo custom, The f a t h e r threatened t o remove him from school, which, t h e f a - t h e r f e l t , was corrupting h i s knowledge of t h e Ibo t r a d i t i o n s . The se- r i o u s sermon following t h e reprimand l e f t such an imprint on Umeasieg- buts mind t h a t he l a t e r decided t o reconstruct t h e Ibo customs a s he r e c o l l e c t e d them while studying a t Oxfordshire i n B r i t a i n . Thus h i s only informant i n r e t r o s p e c t was h i s f a t h e r , and h i s only methodology, r e c o l l e c t i o n of h i s f a t h e r ' s sermons and t a l e - t e l l i n g sessions, This book t r e a t s t h e t r a d i t i o n a l , fashionable path of d e s i r i n g t o recon- s t r u c t t h e African c u l t u r a l p a s t which i s believed t o have d i e d out. While a number of a u t h o r i t i e s i n African f o l k l o r e ( o r s t u d i e s ) would have ins b e l i e v e t h a t o r a l t r a d i t i o n s i n Africa a r e a l i v i n g r e a l i t y , Mr, Ugmeasiegbu emphasizes: l l P r a c t i c a l l y all t h e customs d e t a i l e d i n t h i s book a r e now o b s o l e t e and a r e nowhere t o be found amongst t h e Ibo today, They have been put down here f o r record purposes." This book i s divided i n t o two p a r t s : 1. Customs and 2. Folklore, The customs include b i r t h of children, b i r t h of twins, t e e t h i n g of c h i l - dren, circumcision, marriage, hunting, naming babies, divorce, fune- rals, worshipping i d o l s , oaths, greetings, f e s t i v a l s , games, bmking kolanut and h o s p i t a l i t y . The author gives synopses of t h e various