How would you describe your country?

[Verbose]

Ha. So that's why the fascist Sweden I created in HOI4 is called "Svea Rike"

Well it already IS called "Svea rike" in certain formal circumstances. It has for a long time been "Svea rikes lag" (the law of the Swedish kingdom) fx.

Sweden in Swedish is "Sverige", which is the colloquial of "Svea rike". (Never mind how it originally started as the united kingdom of Svea Rike, Västra Götalands Rike och Östra Götalands Rike.)

 

[Akka]

Funny thing : in French, the country is referred to "la mère patrie". Which means literally "the mother Fatherland", is a feminine word and is anthropomorphised as a woman.
So we basically got both "fatherland" and "motherland" in one word.

Though one thing I regret, is that we don't really have a word that convey the concept of "home". And that's really what I feel when I think about my country. Yep, I'm the kind of guy who has tears swelling when I hear my national anthem. Sue me.

 

[The_J]

Clearly someone who prefers to refer to their home as "fatherland" over "motherland" wants to paint a very distinct picture I would argue.

Okay, "arbitrary" would have been a better word, true.
And I think I rather meant: Does the choice of word today make a meaningful difference? Because I feel it doesn't .

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Let me see... "Home" is what I call The Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann) or simply Éire.

Canada on the other hand I simply call Canada. Canada, btw, is from an Iroquois word meaning village. I like to think of us as a little village full of nice people.

A possibly interesting tidbit to anyone on CFC is my location name "Red Sector A." It's the name of a (very good) song by the Canadian rock band Rush, but my use of it does not stem from that. In my previous job in one of our provincial mental hospitals, there was a high security unit for very violent patients that was renamed "Section A" at one point. It had a bright red door. It didn't take long for some of us Rush fans to change it up to "Red Sector A". Gradually the name caught on and stuck, much to the chagrin of management.

There, now you are smarter than you were just moments ago.

 

[Peuri]

Two years ago I would have joined the chorus and said "it's just where I live, what ever. I'd call it a place". But not anymore. It is my fatherland. Literally it is translated as "father's land" (isänmaa), and the language is called "mother's tongue" (äidinkieli). "Suomi" (Finland) might come from a word meaning "human" from some long dead germanic language, then plastered to the whole place under the Swedish rule. Strangely the land is portrayed in art as a young maiden, but I guess that is just following the general trend in 19-20th century Europe to get the protector juices of young men flowing. Recently I've been told that identity is important, so I guess my identity should be important too. Alas, my tribe is also a victim of history. My country is not any better than some place else, but it is in my best interests to have more empathy with my tribe than the people beyond the borders. They share with me a special imaginary bond, the symbols and rituals of belonging, and that creates trust between us, even if the trust is unfounded. Trust is the lifeblood of a society. You can come here, but you should adopt some of the symbols, or else I don't know you. And I know nationality is a myh, but so is everything else. But like many myths, it is useful in moderation.

 

[metatron]

The best examples would of course be Germany's "Die Vaterland"
[...]
Also, if you want to answer the thread title a bit more seriously, feel free

1. Das Vaterland. It's a neutrum, not a femininum.
That's because, as in English, in compound terms the last one is the root (e.g. we are talking fathery land here, not landish father). And, well, "land" happens to be a neutrum.

2. The term applies generally, not specifically. E.g. the plurality of OT's regulars have the United States or the United Kingdom as their respective fatherlands.
It's just a term, like "mother tongue".
The common Anglospherian understanding of the term as specific is revealing once more how Anglospherians are otherising us.
Just as this incessant nonsense with "Reich" and "Kaiser".

3. How am i describing my country?
Generally i'm in the habit of describing my country as "the Federal Republic". Which is appropriate. Feel free to review Valka's complaint about usage of the term "America".
This here is a similar matter, with obviously higher stakes.
I am obstinently dodging the question there, i'm sorry. No, since fatherland sounds kind of dated it has been mostly replaced by what translates to "home country".
The term actually mostly persists not on its own but in compound words, you know "fatherlandlove" or "fatherlandtraitor" or things of that nature.
Obviously usage varies between individuals, just as among Anglosphones since such terms usually come with political connotations of some sort.

​

Don't look at me funny. You asked.

 

[Dachs]

No, since fatherland sounds kind of dated it has been mostly replaced by what translates to "home country".

Interestingly, you can sort of see this at least as early as the First World War; Heimat and Heimatland show up in some of the German military songs of the period, e.g. the Argonnerwaldlied. In that song, a soldier on guard at night sees a star, and it makes him think of his "faraway homeland" - a faintly silly concept when the Argonne Forest ain't even that far away from Germany, but "faraway" here means emotionally distant more than spatially distant. Vaterland would've worked fine in the song, so it's neat to me that they chose Heimatland. I mean, it'd be ridiculous to make too much of this, but I just thought that it was interesting to hear.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Just as this incessant nonsense with "Reich" and "Kaiser".

sieg kaiser reinhardo!