# What does Guadalcanal mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212 "2003-08-10T16:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/1 "2003-08-10T16:29:23Z")
I was talking with my father for our regular Sunday morning phonechat. He is a history buff, even runs two history groups. The topic of Guadalcanal came up, and he recalled as a kid searching over the map of the island, looking for the canal! Which made us wonder, why **is** it called that? So I’ve just spent an hour googling, and visited a lot of battle memoir sites, dictionaries, and geographical information, with no luck at all. I’ve also learned more than I wanted to know about the renaming of Henderson Field. So–does anyone here know, or can anyone help me find out, why the island is called Guadalcanal? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/2 "2003-08-10T16:53:10Z")
The island was named by Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neyra after a small town in Spain, about 50 miles north of Seville. How the small town in Spain got the name, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/3 "2003-08-10T17:02:56Z")
The [Behind the Name message board](http://www.behindthename.com/wwwboardarc/messages/10736.html) has an entry for Guadalcanal in which they direct the person asking about it to this Spanish site: [http://www1.elpais.es/andalucia/uk/pueblos/118a\_guadalcanal.htm](http://www1.elpais.es/andalucia/uk/pueblos/118a_guadalcanal.htm) Unfortunately, I can’t get that link (or even [http://www1.elpais.es/](http://www1.elpais.es/) ) to work at the moment. Other than noting that _Guadal-_ is a fairly common beginning to several Spanish names, but that I am not aware of a Spanish word _guadal_, and then throwing out the wild guess that it is either an obsolete word that continues to appear in old names or a borrowing from the Moors, I can’t add anything. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/4 "2003-08-10T17:12:59Z")
Guadal = Extension of sandy terrain that, when it rains and there is no runoff grade, turns to mud. ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/5 "2003-08-10T17:31:01Z")
Looks like we are getting very close. The Truth is out there! ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/6 "2003-08-10T17:31:59Z")
I assume it’s related to the word “wadi” meaning a dry river bed and was borrowed from Arabic to Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/7 "2003-08-10T17:55:17Z")
According to the Real Academia, it’s derived from “aguadal,” in turn derived from “agua,” from the Latin aqua. ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/8 "2003-08-10T18:14:43Z")
And what does “aguadal” mean? (Tried to google that, and got a lot of links I couldn’t read. Tried a Spanish-English online dictionary, no matches.) (Thanks for the help so far!) ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/9 "2003-08-10T19:43:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*The [Behind the Name message board](http://www.behindthename.com/wwwboardarc/messages/10736.html) has an entry for Guadalcanal in which they direct the person asking about it to this Spanish site: > [http://www1.elpais.es/andalucia/uk/pueblos/118a\_guadalcanal.htm](http://www1.elpais.es/andalucia/uk/pueblos/118a_guadalcanal.htm) > > Unfortunately, I can’t get that link (or even [http://www1.elpais.es/](http://www1.elpais.es/) ) to work at the moment.\*\* The Wayback Machine has it. [http://web.archive.org/web/20011206142021/http://www1.elpais.es/andalucia/uk/pueblos/118a\_guadalcanal.htm](http://web.archive.org/web/20011206142021/http://www1.elpais.es/andalucia/uk/pueblos/118a_guadalcanal.htm) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/10 "2003-08-10T19:46:49Z")
Well, _aguada_ means a watering hole, so _aguadal_ might just be the adjectival form. At any rate, I think you already have the answer. Spanish _canal_ can mean canal, but also channel and narrow valley. The village of Guadalcanal in the northern tip of Sevilla province (state? department?) is in the Sierra Morena, near the border with Badajoz. I suspect that putting “_Extension of sandy terrain that, when it rains and there is no runoff grade, turns to mud_” together with “_channel_” or “_narrow valley_” up in the low mountains of the Sierra Morena gives you a description of the terrain around the village of Guadalcanal. Whether de Mendaña de Neyra named it for the village because he or one of his crew came from there or for some other reason, you may need to find a Spanish site to tell you. [National Geographic Map of Southern Spain with Guadalcanal marked](http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/index.html?id=362&size=large&left=-9.42&bottom=35.75&right=-2.21&top=40.44&point=-5.8167,38.1&text=Guadalcanal) (slow load) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/11 "2003-08-10T20:34:54Z")
One of those foreign language courses that used to advertise on the radio said that “Guadalajara” (sp?), the Mexican/Spanish city is a Spanicized version of an Arabic term that means “place where water flows over rocks.” That lends more credence, if true, to the term “Guadal” being related to “wadi” as a Moorish loan word. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/12 "2003-08-10T21:05:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by El Mariachi Loco \* > \*\*According to the Real Academia, it’s derived from “aguadal,” in turn derived from “agua,” from the Latin aqua. \*\* I’d like to see a cite for that. The word “aguadal” is (a) quite obsolete and (b) unrelated to the prefix “Guadal” As has been said, Guada- is a common prefix in Spanish and derives from Arab. For example: Guadalquivir = Ued-el-kebir = Rio Grande = Big river. The prefix became common to use with aboriginal names which sounded vaguely like it so it can be found in place names which do not derive from Arab directly. ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/13 "2003-08-11T00:28:43Z")
Thanks everyone, especially Tomndebb. Close enough for me. You all are terrific. ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/14 "2003-08-11T00:39:15Z")
Creepy! I almost posted this exact same question this morning. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/15 "2003-08-11T01:29:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by merrily \* > \*\*Thanks everyone, especially Tomndebb. Close enough for me. > > You all are terrific. \*\* Tomndebb’s answer is mistaken. Guadalcanal does not derive from “aguadal” but from the Arab Ued, as has been explained by several posters. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/16 "2003-08-11T01:50:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Tomndebb’s answer is mistaken. Guadalcanal does not derive from “aguadal” but from the Arab Ued, as has been explained by several posters. **Sailor** is mistaken, as **tomndebb** did not build the meaning off _aguadal_, only commenting on that word, separately, and instead, building the meaning off _guadal_ as provided by **El Mariachi Loco** , and _canal_ as noted in most Spanish dictionaries, plus speculation based on the Times of London World Atlas. Leaving aside the _aguadal_ \<=\> _guada-_ controversy, **tomndebb** will have been mistaken if it is demonstrated that _guadal_ (not _aguada_) does not mean a sandy wash inclined to turning muddy when it rains. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/17 "2003-08-11T01:57:27Z")
[This site](http://members.tripod.com/~blueflower/poetry2.htm) Guadalcanal, Sevilla, Espana My stone, a present from Guadalcanal, Andalucia. Since ancient times this area was famous for its argentiferous minerals. Its etimology (Guad-al-canal)means in Arabic “River of Creation”. In 1241 it was conquered by the Order of Santiago. Three churches were built: Santa Maria, la Major, Santa Ana", built in 1307. It has lost a great number of it population, at present (1983-1984)time consisting only of 3,500 inhabitants. Located 120 kilometers north of Seville, it is the farthest town from it in this province. Pedro Ortega Valencia was born here around 1520. Eventually, he discovered, conquered and pacified the Island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean, archipielago of the Solomon Islands, so well known during the Second World War. I was born in Guadalcanal September 8, 1941. In September 6, 1964 the Navies of Spain and the United States paid homage to Pedro Ortega Valencia. Andres Miron ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/18 "2003-08-11T02:00:06Z")
From the link that **Nmber** posted, on the name of the town in Spain: > [@](#): > > Its name has a Roman origin, Canalia. The Arabs added the prefix of Wad meaning river turning it into Wad Al-Kanal. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/19 "2003-08-11T02:20:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*I’d like to see a cite for that. The word “aguadal” is (a) quite obsolete and (b) unrelated to the prefix “Guadal” As has been said, Guada- is a common prefix in Spanish and derives from Arab. For example: Guadalquivir = Ued-el-kebir = Rio Grande = Big river. The prefix became common to use with aboriginal names which sounded vaguely like it so it can be found in place names which do not derive from Arab directly. \*\* I took it from _Diccionario de la Lengua Española_, Real Academia Española, 19th Edition, 1972: _Guadal. Por aguadal, de aguada. Extensión de tierra arenosa,_ …et seq. as translated in my earlier post. And on Guadalajara, **Earl** is right, according to the official city site the name is derived from Arabic “Wad-al-hidjara”, meaning water that runs through rocks, and is based on the homeland of Spanish founder Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212/20 "2003-08-11T12:59:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > **Sailor** is mistaken, as **tomndebb** did not build the meaning off _aguadal_, only commenting on that word, separately, and instead, building the meaning off _guadal_ as provided by **El Mariachi Loco** , and _canal_ as noted in most Spanish dictionaries, plus speculation based on the Times of London World Atlas. > > Leaving aside the _aguadal_ \<=\> _guada-_ controversy, **tomndebb** will have been mistaken if it is demonstrated that _guadal_ (not _aguada_) does not mean a sandy wash inclined to turning muddy when it rains. Well, it seems we agree “Guadalcanal” does not derive from “aguadal” but I think it is a reasonable interpretation of your post that it implied it. The question in the OP is the origin of Guadalcanal and your answer is > [@](#): > > Well, aguada means a watering hole, so aguadal might just be the adjectival form. You never say it is not related and you imply you are answering the OP. Furthermore: > [@](#): > > At any rate, I think you already have the answer. Spanish canal can mean canal, but also channel and narrow valley. The village of Guadalcanal in the northern tip of Sevilla province (state? department?) is in the Sierra Morena, near the border with Badajoz. I suspect that putting “Extension of sandy terrain that, when it rains and there is no runoff grade, turns to mud” together with “channel” or “narrow valley” up in the low mountains of the Sierra Morena gives you a description of the terrain around the village of Guadalcanal The name does NOT derive as you suspect from “Extension of sandy terrain that, when it rains and there is no runoff grade, turns to mud”. Please explain to me how this can be interpreted to mean the exact opposite of what it says. Maybe I am missing something. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-guadalcanal-mean/194212.md?page=2)