Talk:Belvidere, Nebraska

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Derivation of name[edit]

The article says "Belvidere is derived from an Italian name meaning "beautiful to see"". A 1925 University of Nebraska source is given which states, "The word belvidere is a variant of the Italian belvedere, meaning "beautiful to see."" This is doubtful on so many levels. For a start, there is no explanation (other than ignorance at the time) of the difference in spelling. Secondly, the origin could equally be French (or simply English; the word was and is in common English usage as a loan word from French). Thirdly, the Italian belvedere does not translate as "beautiful to see" but as "viewpoint" or "lookout" (same for the French); bello per vedere is the Italian for "beautiful to see".

Now, while it is likely that belvedere in Italian was derived from bello per vedere, the university offers no reasonable explanation for saying that this village was definitely taken from the Italian. The source is clearly unreliable and I have tagged it as such. Emeraude (talk) 11:47, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on this, and I've removed the unreliable-source tag. Fitzpatrick's abstract states that she compiled it under the supervision of a faculty advisor, and obtained her information through correspondence with a number of government officials, local historians, and other local authorities. The University of Nebraska Press re-issued a new edition in 1960; the description on their website refers to its "completeness and reliable scholarship".

Fitzpatrick may be in error in this case; or she may be reporting accurately about a name bestowed by people who probably didn't speak Italian. I'll be heading over to the library shortly, and will check the more recent Perkey's Nebraska Place Names. Depending on what I find, we might want to rewrite the passage to make it clear that this is what the proto-Belvidereans thought was Italian, even if an actual speaker of the language wouldn't think so. Ammodramus (talk) 15:19, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think you get my point. I'm not saying Fitzpatrick is definitely wrong on where people think the name comes from, but she is definitely wrong on her assertion that it is derived from an Italian word for "beautiful to see". Of course, both she and her advisor may be experts on how Nebraskans say their towns got their names, but that does not make them reliable linguists! I'll be interested to see what you come up with. Emeraude (talk) 17:02, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Another possibility, of course, is that it was simply named after Belvidere in Illinois or New Jersey, as Fitpatrick hints, and that there is no direct Italian connection at all. (Though Belvidere, Illinois, seems to have taken its name from a German site, according to Wikipedia, and Belvidere, New Jersey, uses the same oddly incorrect Italian.) Emeraude (talk) 17:15, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Perkey makes most of the same points as Fitzpatrick, but doesn't mention the purported Italian derivation at all. I've rewritten the passage to eliminate that, and added a citation to Perkey. Ammodramus (talk) 00:53, 16 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thst seems best. Well done. Emeraude (talk) 10:34, 16 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]