From Mount Cook to Aoraki?

A Diachronic Analysis of Mountain Names and Naming Practices in the New Zealand Alpine Journal

Abstract

This article investigates how mountain naming practices have changed in the New Zealand Alpine Journal (NZAJ) from the late 19th century to the pre­sent day. More specifically, the study considers how the two mountains Aoraki / Mount Cook (New Zealand) and Denali / Mount McKinley (USA) have been refer­red to in the journal and how toponymic etymologies are discussed in contribu­tions to the publication. Overall, the findings show that there is a clear tendency towards using a mountain’s indigenous name more frequently the closer the journal moves towards the present. There are, however, some differences, with an ‘indi­genous-first’ option being preferred for Aoraki / Mount Cook and the indigenous name Denali being preferred on its own for Denali / Mount McKinley. The etymo­logies of mountain names are discussed for both indigenous and colonial names in the NZAJ, but there is relatively little evidence of metalinguistic discussion about reverting back to indigenous names.