There’s a ton of these tautonyms across the world.
Sahara, Gobi and Kalahari are also just Arabic, Mongolian and kgalagadi for desert, Michigan (as in the lake, not the state, which is named after the lake) is big lake in Ojibwe, Torpenhow is little town next to a hill, whose name is the old English, Celtic and old Norse for hill. So if you refer to the Torpenhow hill, you’re basically calling it the hill hill hill hill.
If you never travelled more than 20 miles from your home in your life, and there’s only a single desert in that region, there’s no point in giving it a name. Everyone will just call it “the desert”. The need to give unique names to (large) geographic features only arrise with, and for, explorers. The people they were talking too probably didn’t even consider the idea of a large geographic feature like the desert or the big lake having or needing a proper name.
There’s a ton of these tautonyms across the world.
Sahara, Gobi and Kalahari are also just Arabic, Mongolian and kgalagadi for desert, Michigan (as in the lake, not the state, which is named after the lake) is big lake in Ojibwe, Torpenhow is little town next to a hill, whose name is the old English, Celtic and old Norse for hill. So if you refer to the Torpenhow hill, you’re basically calling it the hill hill hill hill.
Ah, the universality of man('s miscommunications)
If you never travelled more than 20 miles from your home in your life, and there’s only a single desert in that region, there’s no point in giving it a name. Everyone will just call it “the desert”. The need to give unique names to (large) geographic features only arrise with, and for, explorers. The people they were talking too probably didn’t even consider the idea of a large geographic feature like the desert or the big lake having or needing a proper name.
Torpenhow Hill, love it.