Jamestown

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical settlement established by English colonists in Virginia in 1607, recognized as the first permanent English settlement in North America
2. A location in Virginia that served as the first significant permanent English colony, playing a vital role in American history and early colonial life
3. A site that symbolizes the beginning of the English presence in the New World, which eventually evolved into a significant cultural and political center

Etymology: Jamestown was named for King James I of England, the monarch who had granted the Virginia Company its charter. The settlement took its name from him, and the word simply joins his personal name to the ordinary English noun "town," so the place-name carries a royal dedication in its very structure. The colony was the first lasting English foothold in North America, and the name stuck as a pattern for later colonial settlements. Many English towns across the Atlantic world were named in the same way, with a royal or noble first name followed by "town," which makes this one a model for a whole family of colonial place-names. The word itself is a plain compound with no hidden history: a proper personal name placed before a common English noun. Its meaning is therefore transparent, and what makes it notable is less the word than the man it honours and the settlement it came to label.