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Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Lake Winderlake; Mount Snowmount...


Just a minor point, for news people ignorant of (or should that be 'over'?) the finer points of the language that pays their wages.

The '-mere' suffix in Windermere means 'lake', so 'Lake Windermere' is tautologous. The '-don' in Snowdon means hill, or mount, from Old English, so Mount Snowdon is similarly tautologous.  The suffix '-don' in OE also meant 'valley', which is logical enough if you're standing on your head while admiring Snowdon, or merely looking at it through the winder.


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