Toronto's name
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The name Toronto has a rich history which is distinct from the history of the eponymous Canadian city. Originally, the term referred to The Narrows, a channel of water through which Lake Simcoe discharges into Lake Couchiching. This narrows was styled tkaronto by the Mohawk, meaning where there are trees standing in the water.[1]
By 1680, Lake Simcoe appeared as Lac de Taronto on a map created by French court official Abbé Claude Bernou; by 1686, Passage de Taronto referred to a canoe route tracking what is now the Humber River. The Humber River became known as Rivière Taronto as the canoe route became more popular with French explorers, and by the 1720s a fort to the east of the mouth of the river was named Fort Toronto.
The change of spelling from Taronto to Toronto is thought to originate on a 1695 map by Italian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli.[1]
[edit] Pronunciation
The stress is on the second syllable. Locals sometimes pronounce the city's name as "Toronno" (most often, as in 'I'm gonna go to Toronno') or "Tronno", "Tronto", "Toranna", "Taranna", "Chronno" or "Chranna" (both with ch as in chime, not chrome) or even "Terawhnna" (listen to an example ). This is a reflection of the varieties of Canadian pronunciation and does not represent a unique pronunciation for the city name itself. Even the same local speaker may pronounce the name differently depending on the subject of the conversation in which it is used.
For instance, many Canadians pronounce the number "ninety nine" as something between "9-D-9" and "9-E-9", pronouncing the "t" as an alveolar tap, whereas many Britons or East Indians will distinctly pronounce "9-T-9". Thus while it is natural that many Canadians will say "Toronno", speakers whose dialects pronounce the "T" distinctly in words like "ninety nine" should do likewise when pronouncing "Toronto". In each case, the speaker merely pronounces "Toronto" in the way that is most natural in his or her dialect. Some Torontonians would often identify a local if he/she says "Toronno".
Even for Canadian speakers it is never outright incorrect to pronounce distinctly the second t in Toronto. Pronouncing it "Tor-on-toe" (with stress on the second syllable) in casual speech is usually seen as a sign of someone who is not a native of the city. Canadian francophones pronounce it, "To-ron-to", in three syllables, with the french nasal on on the second syllable, and the accent on the third syllable.
[edit] Nicknames
Toronto has garnered various nicknames throughout its history, including:
- T.O. – an acrostic for Toronto, Ontario, or a false acrostic for Toronto; pronounced "Tee-Oh"
- T-Zero - a play on the T.O. nickname used by anti-Torontonians (often Montrealers)
- T-dot-O- pronounced "Tee-Dot-Oh"
- T-dot-O-dot- pronounced "Tee-Dot-Oh-Dot", from hip-hop slang
- T-dot or T.dot – short for "T-dot, O-dot", a hip-hop slang nickname for Toronto [2]
- The Megacity - a name which evolved from the amalgamation of the former Metropolitan Toronto [3]
- The Big Smoke – a nickname it shares with London, England
- The Centre of the Universe - A derogatory term used outside Toronto
- Hogtown – Often misrepresented as having to do with livestock, ‘Hogtown’ actually comes from the name of a former prominent business man: James Hogg who operated a distillery and a grist mill, and was viewed as the most successful of all the millers in the Don Valley. Their estate used to be near Yonge Street and the 401, hence the name Hoggs Hollow
- Toronto the Good – from its history as a bastion of 19th century Victorian morality (sometimes called Toronto the Bad now in reverse as a derogatory nickname)
- Methodist Rome – an analogy implicating the city as a centre for Canadian methodism, akin to Rome's role in Catholicism
- City of Churches
- Hollywood North – a shared nickname with Vancouver describing the film industries.
- Queen City – a reference most commonly used by francophone Quebecers ("La Ville-Reine")
- Muddy York – derived from Toronto's previous name, York, and the weather's effect on its once-largely unpaved streets
- The 416 – 416 is the original telephone area code for much of the city (the other area code in Toronto is 647; 905 is used in the surrounding GTA exurbs)
- The Economic Engine of Canada
- New York run by the Swiss – a take on Peter Ustinov's oft-quoted reference of the city to reporter John Bentley Mays in The Globe and Mail on 1 August 1987: "Toronto is a kind of New York operated by the Swiss." When reminded of this later at a reception in June 1992, he responded (again cited in The Globe), "I've learned it's really run by the Canadians."
- Tehranto, a portmanteau of Tehran and Toronto[4][5]
[edit] References and notes
- ^ a b The real story of how Toronto got its name. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved on 2006-04-17.
- ^ Eye Weekly - Putting T-Dot on the Map. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- ^ Perly's Toronto Megacity Mapbook. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
- ^ Eyes of Tehranto watching Iran. Globe and Mail (2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
- ^ Yonge Street - The New Tehranto. Persion Mirror. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
