Bath

They say that eyes are windows to a person's soul, and I believe that names function in a similar way. For those with an interest in etymology, or more specifically, toponomy, which is the study of place-names, names commonly offer an insight or a guide into understanding a place's identity and its history.

Bath is one of Britain's oldest cities with a history that spans before the 600BC, and yet strangely enough, our minds often relate the word “bath” with the image of the washing vessel – the bathub – rather than the city itself. This is what etymologist W.H. F. Nicholaisen describes as the associative level of meaning where words become names by association. Other levels of meaning include the lexical, where literal dictionary definition of names are concerned; and the onomastic, where denotative names are analysed on its own.

The earliest record of Bath was found in the atlas book Geography written by Greek geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, as a means to record all maps and coordinates that belonged to the Roman Empire. In it Bath was known as Aquae Calidae, which in Latin stood for 'hot waters', evidently apt for its location considering Bath was the only natural thermal spa present in Britain at the time. The decision to name a town based on its topographical feature made it easier for the Romans to recognise and distinguish different places, thus showing the importance of landscape in the naming process. Other examples of using landscapes as a denotative in names included towns like Winchester and Lincoln, then known as Venta and Lindum in Latin, which meant 'road' and 'pool' respectively. These Latin names are what scholars today refer to as simplex names because it contains a single element that was either habitative or topographical, (i.e. man-made or natural) which evidently during this period of colonial invasion, were mostly features in the landscape where the town was built on. As Aquae Calidae flourished under the Roman empire, more baths and temples came into existence, and the town was "rebranded" as Aquae Sulis. 

Sulis was a deity worshipped by the locals, and she was assimilated with the Roman’s goddess equivalent, Minerva, for both their healing and life-giving abilities. By incorporating the locals' goddess in the city’s new name, it highlighted the importance of religion during this time, and although the use of generic terms such as "aquae" (meaning "waters") continued, the new name was more meaningful and specific to the characteristics of the town. This name is categorised as a compound name because it includes two elements, namely the geological feature and a personal name to form a new word - Aquae Sulis, which roughly translates into The Waters of Sul. 

With religion playing a key role in forming a city's identity, not everyone was on board with having a pagan name represent a town especially with the influence of Christianity in the years after. The town was renamed again with more generic and non-religious elements, creating variations like Aquamania, Aquamann, and Hat Bathu that labelled the town as 'the place with hot waters'. It was not until the Battle of Deorham in 577AD did the town see the drastic development from 'Aquae-something' to a name more familiar to the modern language today - Bathum. A.D. Mills, a renowned scholar in Onomastics, explains in the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names (2011) that Bathum first appeared in 796 AD, and later evolved into Bade in the Domesday Book in 1086. According to him, these new names were likely derived from the Old English term baeth, which was defined as 'at the bath'. It becomes apparent through this change that the new colonial entity of the Anglo-Saxons exerted their power on the local Celtic tribes by renouncing the use of Latin and implementing Old English as the main language used instead. Although Bathum, or Bade, retained the topographical meaning of the town, they are considered generic and simplex names that fail to take into account the history of the city. This process of renaming by a higher authority commodified the past and culture of the place, making the name almost too transparent with no room left for interpretation. As the name develops, we see that its topographical feature evolve into a habitative one, and it’s specificity simplified into a generic, single word. Fortunately, not all traces of a Roman Bath disappeared as Mills suggests that a neighbouring road called Akeman Street may still hold on to its Roman roots. The original name spelled as Accemannestrete is a compound name first coined in the 12th Century, consisting of Accemanne and strǣt, the latter which meant 'Roman road' in Old English. Mills does point out that the origin of Accemanne is disputed and uncertain but there are assumptions that it was derived from Acumanna, meaning 'Aquae-place', in reference to the earlier name of Aquae Sulis. 

Looking back at the changes the place-name has experienced, it is possible to conclude that the town's geological feature plays the most crucial aspect in terms of its naming process, seeing that "aqua" has been the denotative and recurring component of the name throughout the years and has remained unchanged despite the different colonial rulers and people that inhabit the location. 

Today, Bath is one of the most visited cities in Britain. With day-tourists totalling up to four million per year, coupled with its divine Roman and Georgian architecture as the main attraction, Bath is quickly becoming a globally-recognised city, and as a result, prompting many local businesses to take advantage of its name and rise in popularity. A prime example of this is the local art studio formerly known as Widcombe Studio that was renamed as the Bath Artists' Studio in May 2009. When asked about the decision behind the name-change, a spokesperson explained that it was done in recognition of the studio's contribution to the arts and culture scene in Bath. In essence, what began as a small shared workspace among local artists was now transformed into an art centre that reflected Bath's culture and heritage. The renaming process also coincided with the re-opening of their bigger studio in the heart of the city, firmly showing that by utilising the power of the city's name, the studio was able to rebrand in order to reach a wider audience, and establish itself as the city's official art centre.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were controversies about Bath being a name that was too ambiguous and common that it was causing problems for other businesses. The local newspaper, Bath Chronicle, published an article on the difficulties of having the name of the city synonymous to the common verb - bath, which according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as 'a large container of water'. On a lexical level, the city of Bath has always bore some importance to the fact that the landscape carries a large body of water, and its literal meaning has always been the same, as evidence by the reappearance of "aqua" in its name. Even when we associate with the word bath (capitalised or not), the first image that comes to mind is the act of washing and cleaning, which is accurate, seeing that Bath began, and frankly still remains, as a city famous for its Roman baths.

Having said that, the locals do have a point. Does the ambiguity of a city's name actually hinder their prospects for tourism?  

Spokesperson David Plughaul believes so. He states that with the rise of technology in this digital age, many people are using the internet as a means to book their holiday, and yet with a simple Google search of the word "bath", the instant results that appear are of the generic bathtub rather than the Somersetian city. He further explains that due to the vagueness of the name, Bath is in fact losing around £50 million each year in its tourism sector, which could potentially be turned into profit if the city's name was "unambiguous and completely unique." Shop owner, Mrs Jane O'Vaflo, shares the same concern while holding the recent popularity of online retailing accountable for this problem.  Her business - Bath Taps - has been mistaken for selling taps for bathubs when her primary product is, in fact, sink taps. Having to redirect hundreds of phone calls on a daily basis is not only disruptive but also a wasteful use of resources, which again, has caused a loss in revenue as well. 

Judging from the locals' perspective, there is a mixed reaction towards the ambiguity. While most city names actively encourage tourism through its distinctiveness, it is undeniable that in the case of Bath, it has done the opposite. Although there are talks of renaming the city again, it is unfeasible to disregard the city's long history because of the internet’s inability to distinguish a location from a washing vessel. As far as toponomy is concerned, although Bath has become a generic name, and perhaps at first glance tourists would not know of the Roman’s significance in the city’s development, at least on a lexical level, the name still describes what the city is made of – baths.