This reference dictionary provides a user-friendly pronunciation guide for over 12,000 placenames worldwide. Avoiding the unconventional characters and symbols of the traditional International Phonetic Alphabet, it follows an easy-to-read phonetic alphabet which uses only standard English letters. From Aachen, Germany (pronounced Ah kun) to Zywiec, Poland (pronounced Zhi vets), entries include familiar world placenames, both historic and current, as well as several less familiar names which have uncertain or difficult pronunciations. An appendix provides a useful directory to the most well-known countries, regions, and cities whose native names differ significantly from their English counterparts.

The late Adrian Room was a noted toponymist and onomastician. The author of more than 50 reference books about words and names, he lived in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England.

Adrian Room
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 235
Bibliographic Info: appendix, bibliography
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2941-7
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

The Dictionary      11

Appendix: The Pronunciation of Native Names      219

Select Bibliography

“user-friendly…easy-to-read…useful”—ARBA.