|
Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 23, 2019 22:58:15 GMT 12
Something that always catches my eye in documents and newspaper reports is when certain Pacific island bases that the RNZAF used are misspelled.
One if Guadalcanal, which for some reason in a lot of newspaper reports from the time (WWII), perhaps 20% to 30% of reports, they spell it as Guadalcanar.
And the other is Ondonga, the fighter base on New Georgia. In a lot of the official records and some logbooks it seems to get spelled as Ondongo.
Does anyone know why these words are so often spelled wrong? Was there a reason, like an official alternative (like Wanganui and Whanganui)?
|
|
|
Post by 30sqnatc on Mar 24, 2019 9:02:44 GMT 12
We often claim the new education system produces poor spelling but who is to say they were any better back on the 1940s. Also how would a newspaper be able to check the spelling for a base or battlefield that was probably not on even on an atlas map. I see no value in having 'official' names that are only out by one letter.
|
|
|
Post by davidd on Mar 24, 2019 10:37:44 GMT 12
I have always assumed that Guadalcanal was an anglicised form of the original Spanish name Guadalcanar, and as you say the latter was used pretty extensively during the earlier war period, less so in latter part. The British Solomon Islands (or BSIP, for British Solomon Islands Protectorate) were riddled with Spanish names, and many of these had Anglicised versions, so these are not mistakes as such, just at the whim of the writer, or conventions of commanders or newspaper editors. Then there are the local (native) names which could be spelled differently, seemingly based on what the listener heard, or thought they heard. Archives NZ has in its stored records has an official publication (British or American?) with the title along the lines of "Place names in the British Solomon Islands" which I will have to study one day. This might also point out the problems of non-standardised spellings, and conventions followed, if any! Ondongo/Ondonga is probably one such variation in spelling. I also notice that some Japanese WW2 names for certain geographic features around Rabaul seem to have remained in circulation, particularly for some of the volcanoes, some of which have local/English (as in "South Daughter", Mother") and Japanese names. There are also some American WW2 names which have stuck, or at least I think they have, such as "The Slot", as well as the island located near where PT-109 was cut in half (Plum Pudding Island perhaps?) David D
|
|
|
Post by emron on Mar 24, 2019 20:08:33 GMT 12
I thought at first that Guadalcanar may have come from an OCR misread of old documents but searching further I found out that Guadalcanal is a Spanish place name and when spoken in the local accent appears to the English ear as ending in ‘canar” It looks like this was the version that was transcribed back in the 16th century and in common use afterwards. It may have been as late as 1932 under the British Protectorate that it was standardised to “Guadalcanal”.
Likewise Ondongo and Ondonga were just different interpretations of the local dialect. I’m not sure how it was spelt on earlier maps but I doubt if there was any signpost there before the Seabees arrived.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 24, 2019 21:00:23 GMT 12
Thanks guys. That makes a lot of sense Ron, regarding the mishearing of the l as an r.
|
|
|
Post by isc on Mar 24, 2019 22:36:55 GMT 12
From Wiki: Sometimes referred to as Guadarcana, Gguarcana, Guadalcana, and Guadalcana. Named after a town in Andalusia, Spain, the differences are the different pronunciations of its name in that part of Spain. Guadalcanal was officially confirmed as it's name by the British in 1932. And some people get all worried about an H in Whanganui. isc
ps, maybe the reporters were using an old Atlas to check the spelling.
|
|
|
Post by camtech on Mar 25, 2019 9:45:07 GMT 12
Several squadron diaries and accident reports I have read quote "Guadalcanar", so it seems to have been a fairly widely used interpretation.
|
|
|
Post by isc on Mar 25, 2019 21:44:22 GMT 12
The indigenous name is Isatabu, just to throw another spanner in the works! isc
|
|
|
Post by davidd on Mar 25, 2019 21:51:39 GMT 12
Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu has several itterations, such as Santo and Santos, and in wartime documents you often find it listed as NZAPO 366, but all are more or less the same place. Emirau in modern maps is usually spelt Emira. Davis D
|
|
|
Post by isc on Mar 25, 2019 22:04:30 GMT 12
Before 1980 Vanuatu was known as New Hebrides, and jointly governed by France and Britain. isc
|
|