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

[MexicoDoug 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 Cañón, 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 
Cañón, 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  eñe 
letter = "ñ", something like Curly of the three stooges would taunt (ñ, ñ,  
ñ...).  In Spanish the emphasis in cañón is on the last syllable...   Eñe is 
similar to other Latin languages with this sound, e.g., Champagne  
(Spanish=Champaña) 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 Misisipí 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