Korean place name etymologies are based upon a large linguistic background of Chinese, Japanese and Old Korean influence and history. The commonplace names have multiple meanings in Korean, Chinese, and when transliterated to English as well. The etymological meanings of these words stem from history, mythology and the landscape of the area. The place names appear with commonality within the Korean Peninsula and therefore attain a level of interest as to why they appear so frequently. Place names are not the country or province but the local area, and usually contain reference to the land it is named for; whether by historical fact or the landscape it is set in. Name elements such as cheon, san, seong, and ju appear often as markers of location or history. Over time, these markers can lose their original meaning, yet they remain as indicators of a historical etymology. Korean place names can contain characters that are Chinese and thus can be transliterated into Chinese with reference to Chinese words. Korean can also follow the similar grammatical structure as Japanese, however whether there is a relationship between the two languages is still unknown as of yet.