This is surprising, because North Kanem has been widely used by Azza hunters and the Batha area is used by numerous Haddad: indicated notably by the placename of Ouadi Haddad. |
If they could not answer they were hoisted upside down and ceremonially beaten three times on the rear before being told the placename. |
The placename literally means 'the small church of Davnet' and refers to the 7th Century saint Dympna who built a small church here. |
Surely a touch more imagination is available in this place to deal with the legacy of a past where we can't even agree on a placename. |
Wikipedia has a fuller, highly amusing list of counterintuitive placename pronunciations. |
The change to the shorter spelling appears to have originated in the Donald Map of 1774, a document with a noticeable number of placename errors. |