Found in Translation: The Unexpected Origins of Place Names

Have you ever stopped and thought about the name of your home country or one you’re travelling to? What it means, where it came from, how it came to be? From The Land of Many Rabbits to The Land of the Thunder Dragon, and many places in between, Found in Translation is a fascinating, extraordinary and frequently funny journey into the history of the naming of the world. Filled with extraordinary stories of invasion and rebellion, culture and religion, misunderstanding and the curiosities of language as it has evolved over the ages, it offers etymological insight into how and why the countries we live in and travel to got their names - and their often bizarre meanings.

Duncan Madden is a freelance travel writer who’s spent the last 20 years exploring the world and writing about it for international newspapers, magazines, websites and books, from Forbes to Lonely Planet. Alongside his love of language and etymology, he’s a keen surfer and skier and enjoys nothing more than disappearing off the beaten track in search of new stories, snow and surf. When not traveling, he splits his time between Cologne and London.