Well, about three years and a field of poppies later, the combined efforts of a zillion scholars have arrived on my desk in a physical manifestation of printed paper, green bindings, and a snappy little dark red trident logo! _Placing Names_ is a thing! They actually printed it and sent it to all us editors and authors.

Pretty neat.

Who would have imagined the backwater field of historical toponyms would find newfound relevance in a world of interconnected data? But then again, since many things of significance are named, and since they exist in both time and three-dimensional space, changing form as they ramble across hill and dale…

why shouldn’t the logic of tracing the history of place names serve as a template for understanding the mystery of these transmutations?

How many other antiquarian, fuss-budget compilations of old named things tried to tackle the thorny logic of temporal, geographic, and semantic attributes that all change independently, and have a variable number of relationships? Sure, why not?

Let’s celebrate the launch of this strange tome, and raise a glass to the pirates who sailed the seven seas!

Fifteen men on dead man’s chest

yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum

drink and the devil be done for the rest

yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum!

Many thanks to my co-editors and co-authors. And be sure to rush out and buy a copy right now!