Monday, January 7, 2008

A Great Day for Maps…


Let’s face it, not everyone shares my obsession with maps. So imagine my surprise when my somewhat quirky interest gets three big hits in the same weekend.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m dying to see Maps: Finding Our Place in the World when it comes to Baltimore, and this article in the Washington Post sets the stage pretty well. It’s got a slide show that includes some of the cool things from the Chicago exhibition.

And it seems that others are sharing my map excitement…Jonathon Crowe, who blogs at “The Map Room,” had this to say:
http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2008/01/washington_post.php

Matt Ball, at Spatial Sustains mentions the exhibition and the book that was written about the collection.


Now that we have flipped the calendar to 2008 and the exhibition seems much closer to opening, I suspect that we’ll see a lot more postings in the coming weeks on different blogs around the net related to this exhibition.

If you see a posting out there and think I should link to it, please post it in a comment and I will include as many links in my postings as I can. Of course if you have your own blog, or just love maps, leave a comment too. I’m always looking for more info and cool sites to share.

9 comments:

PJPMAPS said...

Hi --- like you, I have a deep interest in maps, and certainly enjoyed your blog. If you didn't know already, the largest map society in the country is very close by (the Washington Map Society in DC that meets at the Library of Congress). Are you a member? I am one of its directors. Lots of info available at www.washmap.org. Best regards

Unknown said...

Hey pjpmaps
It is great to hear from a fellow map lover. I am not a member of the Washington Map Society yet, but I will definitely visit the website to check it out.
Hope to hear from you again soon.

Anonymous said...

Anthropomorphic maps were generated by configuring the body of a god or goddess over the area to be mapped. The name of each part of that body became the name of the area under that part. This produced a scale 1:1 map-without-paper on which each place name automatically indicated its approximate location and direction with respect to other place names produced in this manner on the same map.

The analysis of toponyms to find body-part maps can be computerized. Available inputs include:
(1) Geographic databases with ancient place names (e.g., the Perseus project).
(2) Body-part names on Swadesh lists. Unfortunately, the navel is not included.

Attributes of Anthropomorphic Maps

(1) The navel is the center of the body, the center of the map, and usually the center of the map's language community.

(2) Names are reversed, metathesized, misspelled or euphemized for various reasons:

(a) The same part in the same language exists on another map of a different body.

(b) The left (sinister) part is altered in names for left-right pairs. DoFeN = side reversed to Nafud in north Arabia. SHvK = thigh with a T-sound for the letter shin = TvK reversed to Kuwait. BeReKH = knee metathesized to Bahrain.

(c) The name represents a taboo body part or funciton:
Semitic PoS (female pudenda) reverses to yam SooF = sea of reeds (Red Sea).
Mare Rubrum (Latin for Red Sea) represents Aphrodite's menstruation.
NeGeV is a reversal of vagina.
CaNa3an (3 = aiyin with a G-sound as in 3aZa = Gaza) is a reversal of Greek gyneco-.
Sinai = "snatch" is spelled SiNi in Hebrew. The aleph=CHS is intentionally missing.
ZaYiN = weapon (a euphemism for his male member) is in Sinai as the desert of Zin.

(3) Names may be loan-translated due to conquest or language-change.

(a) Roxolania (Semitic Ro@SH = head) > Rus > Ukraine (Greek kranion)

(b) Libya (Semitic LeB = heart) > Cyrenaica (Latin cor = heart, cf. coronary) > Libya

(4) Rivers and bodies of water may be named after bodily excretions:

(a) Milk River in Alberta.

(b) Red Sea (Latin Mare Rubrum) is Aphrodite's menstruation.

(c) Gulf of Aqaba (Semitic QaVaH = digestion/defecation)

(5) Internal body parts may represent subdivisions of external parts.

(a) Arabic Misr / Hebrew Mitzraim (< TSaR = narrow) = waist (Hebrew MoSNaim). Egypt (< Greek hepato- = liver). Goshen (with a T-sound for shin < Semitic QiTN = bean) = bean-shaped kidney. Goshen exported Arabic QuTN = cotton > Latin Gossypium.

(b) Atlas mountains < atlas = first cervical vertebra that supports the cranium.

(6) Islands near a body's hands may be named for weapons.

(a) Trinacria = trident (< Gk tri = three + Semitic NaKaR = to pierce) > Sicily. The trident was in Neptune/Poseidon's right hand, Italy, like Anatolia < N'TiLas yad = arm washed (by the seas).

(b) Greece = reversal of Semitic S'RoG = (woven) net, held in his left hand.

(c) Crete = reversal of targe = small shield, also in his left hand.

The BPMaps discussion group on this topic is a very quiet list that averages about 2 messages per month. The URL is: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/BPMaps/

Israel "izzy" Cohen
BPMaps moderator

Anonymous said...

Nice to see that there are other people out there as crazy about maps as I am.

I had heard about the exhibt in Chicago but had no idea that it would be traveling to my part of the country.

Thanks so much for the info.

PJPMAPS said...

Hi Again -- some further info on the Washington Map Society .... we have over 400 members representing 14 countries. We publish a journal called the Portolan three times a year that contains numerous articles about maps, cartography, geography, and history, along with notices of events around the world specific to maps and a listing of all known current publications. Every issue is about 80 pages of valuable and interesting info. If you or anyone reading your terrific blog would like some info, head to www.washmap.org or send an email to washmap@earthlink.net.

Best Regards from another map lover.

Hugh Yeman said...

Hello, and thanks for the lovely blog! I was reading through your older entries and I noticed this: "Of course if you have your own blog, or just love maps, leave a comment too." In that case, I want to let you know about my new blog.

http://pondseeker.blogspot.com

It's about my process of learning history, but lately it looks like a cartography blog because that's been my obsession since my first exposure to Chicago's Festival of Maps.

I thought it would be inappropriate to post this as a reply to your most recent entry, but I'm not sure if you'll see this at all. Please let me know if you do.

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