Auckland

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The largest city and capital of New Zealand, located on the North Island where two harbors meet
2. New Zealand's principal metropolis and seat of government, situated on the northern part of the North Island
3. The main urban center and capital city of New Zealand, positioned on the North Island between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean

Etymology: Auckland is a proper noun, so its story is really about two places that share a name. The New Zealand city was founded in 1840 and named after William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, who was the patron of the man who founded it. The name was carried there from a much older English place, Bishop Auckland in County Durham (formerly North Auckland), home of Auckland Castle, which takes its name from a medieval settlement of the same name. The older name is harder to pin down. It may come from Old Norse "alka", meaning "auk", or from Middle English "ak", meaning "oak", combined with "land". It is similar to, if not the same as, the English name Oakland. An earlier form, "Alclit", raises another possibility: the name may be an adaptation of a Cumbric form, built from elements meaning "rock" and a river name, which would place its roots in the Brittonic language spoken in northern England before the arrival of the English.