[meteorite-list] Re: Canyon Diablo & nomenclature...was (Is AmgalaOfficial?/NewBulletin)

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed May 11 14:43:30 2005
Message-ID: <f7.50474ca4.2fb3ac46_at_aol.com>

>>Most 1891 references I have seen note the place as "Canon Diablo",
>>so I guess we are lucky that is not the name.

Mark, I am sure plenty of wilder folk appreciated the pun in its time
running throughout the whorehouses and gambling joints and so forth in Canyon
Diablo town regarding the "Canon Diablo" name for the Canyon Diablo you feel lucky
we didn't inherit. I assume you caught that Canon is the English typesetters
version of the Spanish derived word Ca??n, which was anglicized and adopted
to become the word in English "Canyon", borrowed from the language and
descriptions of the vast Mexican territory, which included the Great Canyon (Gran
Ca??n, another mix and match that could have been just as well the Great
Canon). The "ny" is there in English to preserve the pronunciation of the e?e
letter = "?", something like Curly of the three stooges would taunt (?, ?,
?...). In Spanish the emphasis in ca??n is on the last syllable... E?e is
similar to other Latin languages with this sound, e.g., Champagne
(Spanish=Champa?a) and Italian (Campagnolo for those fanatics which I once was)....

Maps of that period of territories commonly mixed and matched English and
Spanish even in the old US of A, depending on who assumed what and who you
asked...it was truly a wild west and and age of opportunity and chaos in that
region. In Mexico mapping inconsistencies are still common with alternative and
misspellings. One street in our town has several variations in spelling
from Misisip? to Mississippi...as does the street Neil Amstrong,
etc...Jiquipilco might be mistakenly or varied spelled Xiquipilco...Veracruz as Vera Cruz,
Cayos as Callos, etc...
Saludos, Doug
Received on Wed 11 May 2005 02:43:18 PM PDT