Placentia is Not a Flat Cake

The trouble with words that look almost alike is that they can mean completely different things. Case in point, I noticed a 12MC website hit from a visitor in Placentia, a town in Newfoundland & Labrador, in Canada. I seemed to recall somewhere in the recesses of my mind that there was also a Placentia in California too. That was all it took for me wonder about the derivation of Placentia. My immediate thought focused on a very similar word, placenta, even though they’re pronounced a bit differently (Placentia would sound something akin to placentsha I think). Nonetheless, maybe they had a common root, perhaps a familial aspect of motherhood or nurturing that was applied to towns named similarly.

Umm… no.


Etymology

The two words have completely different etymologies. Placenta, the organ so vital to the health and survival of a fetus, descended from Greek and Latin and referred to a flat cake. That was both completely unexpected and a whole lot more graphic than I’d imagined. It makes sense, I’ll concede. It’s quite descriptive. However, some things can’t be unseen and I’m not sure I’ll be able to put that mental genie back in the bottle. Let me put those thoughts aside as best I can and focus on the other word.

Placentia (with an i-a) is a purely Latin word and means pleasant, and it’s related to a verb meaning to please. By implication, a town named Placentia would be proclaiming itself as a pleasant place to live.


In Italy

One might imagine a Placentia would exist in Italy given its Latin derivation, and yes that’s true to a degree. The Latin Placentia became the Italian Piacenza, and provided a name both to a province in northern Italy as well as to its capital city. Piacenza traced all the way back to Roman times historically. It’s also sister cities with Plasencia in Spain (map) and the California Placentia. I’m detecting a pattern here.


In California

Nonetheless, Placentia in California doesn’t seem to have a connection to Piacenza other than a common name. There weren’t colonies of Italians migrating to Orange County and founding Latin-inspired towns, or at least not this one. Rather, according to the Placentia history:

“The school district’s original name was the Cajon School District. In 1878, at the suggestion of Sarah Jane McFadden, the name was changed to the Placentia School District… The city name came from that change.”

Bear in mind that Latin served as a foundational element of a classical educational curriculum during that period. It made complete sense for a school district and a town to retain a Latin name. It would resonate clearly with scholarly and well-to-do elites of the Nineteenth Century, and perhaps attract them as residents.


Back to Newfoundland & Labrador

Carlb-placentia-nfld-2002 by Carlb at English Wikipedia / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The Canadian Placentia

I suppose I should take a quick look at the Placentia that started me on this journey too, the town in Canada (map). It didn’t have a direct connection to its Italian sound-alike either according to its history.

“In 1662, France had established the first permanent colony in what they called ‘Plaisance’ or ‘the pleasant place’. In 1713, the English had won ownership, launching an era of booming trade and transportation.”

Before that though, Basque fishermen came to the area seasonally and may have applied the name to the body of water now known as Placentia Bay. Thus the name of the town would have derived from the name of the bay. Placentia Bay was also the site of the first meeting between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill a few months before the United States entered the Second World War. The two met aboard a ship, the U.S.S. Augusta, and it resulted in the Atlantic Charter that “publicly affirmed the sense of solidarity between the U.S. and Great Britain against Axis aggression”


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6 responses to “Placentia is Not a Flat Cake”

  1. Peter Avatar

    Before that though, Basque fishermen came to the area seasonally and may have applied the name to the body of water now known as Placentia Bay.

    It is a bit odd that Basques would have used a Latin-derived name. A pity, too, as “Atsegina Bay” has a nice ring to it.

  2. Rachael Avatar
    Rachael

    Thank you for writing this and completing the research. I’m an archaeologist in California working on a project with an address on Placentia Avenue, and I erroneously assumed that it was related to placenta. Then when the City of Placentia website stated that it was related to a Latin word that meant pleasant place to live, I thought someone had encountered an incorrect translation or urban legend.

    As your FAQ states, an esoteric search for Placentia latin led me to your website and now I know better. Thanks again!

  3. Lorenzo Avatar
    Lorenzo

    I live in the town of Piacenza in north Italy and i’m very happy to know there are places in the world named with the old latin name of my town.
    Placentia was founded by Romans in 218 a.c and his name comes from the latin verb “placere” that it means pleasure , so a nice place to live.
    The city of Piacenza is granted the gold medal established in recognition of patriotic merits because, first among the Italian cities, on 10 May 1848, with an almost unanimous plebiscite, it voted for its annexation to the Kingdom of Piedmont and so the Kingdom of italy in 1861 when italy was finally unified.
    After more 2000 years of history Piacenza is still a nice place to live.
    I wish happiness and serenity to the inhabitants of all Placentia!!

    1. Grace B Cort Avatar
      Grace B Cort

      my grandparents Roger and Alice Pagnucco (Alesia Bertuzzi) Immigrated from Italy and lived in the Bronx. An oral history from Alice’s sister son stated stated that they all had immigrated from the town of Piacentia. Now I know to start in Piacenza first on my trip to Italy. Thank you

  4. Jim Wilson Avatar
    Jim Wilson

    There is also an island in Maine called Placentia. It is located near Swans Island and is reputed to have been the site of a Basque fishing base. This is a bit puzzling because it is not a particularly easy place to get on and off and it is not a really good place to anchor. There are plenty of good, protected anchorages nearby, so if the Basques really used the place you have to ask ‘why?’. I came to your website while searching for the meaning of the name.

  5. Matthew Sanford Avatar
    Matthew Sanford

    As a Placentian in California, I just want to add that if you ever make it to our city to make sure to go to Old Town (La Placita) for the best mexican food. In particular, go to El Cantarito, so so so delicious!

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