The Name of Your Country

[Traitorfish]

We'll most likely never know for sure, so this is the point where we can make up some beautiful legend

Well, it wouldn't take a massive leap of the imagination- during the Early and High Medieval periods, Gaelic Scotland was essentially the fifth province of Ireland, a "Scotia Minor" to Ireland's "Scotia Major". The term just became narrower over time, for whatever reason.

Park and Pangur Ban are generally the best-informed on this stuff, so either of them might be able to shed more light on the whole thing if they happen to see this thread.

 

[Veles]

Weird name?

Czech.

Not that weird per se, but spelt weird, that's granted. Chezchs. Cezhs. Chzeschs.

Good place to remember the Lech, Czech and Rus' legend.

Spoiler :

Lech, Czech and Rus oaks in Beloveja, Poland.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Latin, actually. It's Nouvelle Écosse (same meaning) in French.

I am no good at languages

 

[luiz]

Obligatory:

When it came to naming Canada, letters of the alphabet were drawn from a bag. It went as follows:

I got a... C, eh? And an N, eh? And lastly a D, eh?

"Kanata" which is an Iroquoian word for "settlement"

I have read a few times that Canada comes from the Portuguese "cá nada", which means "nothing here". The story goes that it was written by Portuguese explorers on an old map. I never believed it, though.

------

Brazil comes from the Brazil-wood tree. A far more interesting discussion is the origin of the term "brasileiro".

 

[Veles]

Well, it wouldn't take a massive leap of the imagination- during the Early and High Medieval periods, Gaelic Scotland was essentially the fifth province of Ireland, a "Scotia Minor" to Ireland's "Scotia Major". The term just became narrower over time, for whatever reason.

On an entirely speculative basis, I just thought, that since the sons of Nemed where from Scythia, could it be that they have brought the name to new land, where it changed to Scotia. Could be a decent folk etymology

So the Irish were really just a bunch of Ukrainians

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have read a few times that Canada comes from the Portuguese "cá nada", which means "nothing here". The story goes that it was written by Portuguese explorers on an old map. I never believed it, though.

The official story is some French explorers asked some Natives what the place was called and they said "Kanata," which means "that group of houses over there." But the explorers thought it meant the whole country. Theres actually, let me find it:

I hope the link works
http://www.historica-dominion.ca/co...cques-cartier?media_type=41&media_category=31

 

[wilycoyote]

Maybe the origin of a name means something for a very old country, as there might be some real meaning there, but for the newer, former-colonial ones, I don't see any reason to care. New World countries seem to all be named after the first thing explorers saw once they got there or the explorers themselves. They give no insight into anything.

 

[Traitorfish]

There's a few notable exceptions to that, mind, such as Mexico or Haiti.

Edit: Actually, after doing a little digging, that's a list which also includes Peru, Uruguay, Guatemala, Chile, Jamaica, Cuba, Paraguay and as has already been observed, Canada, as well as a few possible candidates in Belize, Nicaragua and Guyana. If you set aside the minor Caribbean nations, almost as many New World nations have indigenous-derived names as European names.

 

[Evie]

Some of the natives misunderstandings can be highly appropriate.

And some of them have a pretty long history.

 

[aronnax]

Singapore, anglicised from Singapura in Malay which itself came from Sanskrit.
"Singa" - Lion, "pura" - City.

So Lion City. There's a nice story behind it. A Prince from Sumatra escaped in a ship and a rough storm hit his ship so he threw his crown in to appease the gods or something like that. Landed in Singapore and saw a lion. Thus, Lion City.

Temasek is an older name for the island which means 'sea town' from Old Javanese.

Though, and probably most controvesially, I like the name given by the Japanese best. 'Syonan' - Southern Light

 

[wilycoyote]

There's a few notable exceptions to that, mind, such as Mexico or Haiti.

Edit: Actually, after doing a little digging, that's a list which also includes Peru, Uruguay, Guatemala, Chile, Jamaica, Cuba, Paraguay and as has already been observed, Canada, as well as a few possible candidates in Belize, Nicaragua and Guyana. If you set aside the minor Caribbean nations, almost as many New World nations have indigenous-derived names as European names.

Well, I am perhaps not particularly well informed on the specifics, but in the case of Canada, I would include its name as one of the not-so-insightful examples. In my mind, my previous statement includes native-derived names that have no particular meaning to the country that has said name. Does Canada's name give any insight into the country itself? It has some historical context, but not one with particularly interesting implications.

 

[Traitorfish]

That's not unique to the New World, though- Germany just means "my neighbours live there", while Deutschland means "we live here". Elsewhere in Europe, we have Poland/Polska meaning "some fields", Belgium means "full of angry people", and France means "we've got a bunch of spears". Names tend to happen by accident, so there's it's rare that there's any real "insight" on offer.

 

[wilycoyote]

That's not unique to the New World, though. Germany just means "my neighbours live there", while Deutschland just means "we live here". Elsewhere in Europe, we have Poland/Polska meaning "some fields", Belgium means "full of angry people", and France means "we've got a bunch of spears". Names tend to happen by accident, so there's really any real "insight" on offer.

If that's the case, then I guess the subject of this thread is largely unimportant to me.

Though, I thought France came from the name of a weapon that was important in its independence. I wouldn't be surprised if I am wrong though.

I hate the name of the USA. It is too long and generic (the United States part). I like one-word names, or at least countries that are widely identified with one-word names (Mexico). From my childhood love of Street Fighter, I have always loved the name Brazil (which they yell when you fight Blanka).

 

[W|M]

I'd say spears were pretty important in the Frankish conquest of Gaul.

 

[madviking]

Virginia = Virgin* land!

Spoiler * :

Sadly not actual virgins, but some snobbish English queen.

 

[Leoreth]

That's not unique to the New World, though- Germany just means "my neighbours live there", while Deutschland means "we live here". Elsewhere in Europe, we have Poland/Polska meaning "some fields", Belgium means "full of angry people", and France means "we've got a bunch of spears". Names tend to happen by accident, so there's it's rare that there's any real "insight" on offer.

That reminds me of a map I once bought as a birthday gift to one of my friends who was into geography. It showed the world but instead of the "real" names for countries, cities, rivers and so on, it had them "translated" into their etymological roots. It had some hilarious things in there.

But, are you sure about the France bit? I've always thought that it's directly related to the Franks to whom "Franks" meant "free people".

The good thing about Germany is that it has so many alternative names in different languages. I don't like Deutschland too much from the sound of it (even worse: having to shout "Schlaaaand" while cheering on your national sports teams ), so this is a good thing. My favourite word for Germany is the Hungarian Németország.

My favourite (not official) country name is Aotearoa, the Maori word for New Zealand.

 

[Traitorfish]

But, are you sure about the France bit? I've always thought that it's directly related to the Franks to whom "Franks" meant "free people".

I've heard both- some academics say that "Franks" derives from the Germanic word for a freeman, others say that it derives from the word for a throwing spear or javelin. I chose the latter as my example because it produces a more inane translation of "France", so better makes my point.

(And as for the weapon, I think that Wilycote is thinking of the francisca, a kind of throwing axe, but that was actually named after the Franks, rather than the other way around.)

 

[Agarwaen]

Brazil as already said is named after a tree. It is a nice tree, but...
There is a second story, that the name comes from Hi-Brasil (Hy Breasail), an Irish mithological island across the ocean. The first impressions from Brazil (the real country now) were indeed about a fabulous land where the natives lived more than 100 years, full of an exuberant vegetation and weird animals. It would be very fitting to name it after a fantastic island.

 

[Tee Kay]

"Australia" is cool.

"Commonwealth of Australia" is cool too, though I think it could be better.

As for my ancestral country, I have mixed feelings. "Thailand" ("Muang Thai" or "Prathet Thai", or simply "Thai" in the Thai language; conveniently it is a homophone of the word meaning "freedom") is okay, though I prefer "Siam" (pronounced Sa-yham); which is more historical and sounds more inclusive of the different ethnocultural groups in the country (the name change, after all, was initiated by a fascist government).

I agree with Leoreth that "Aotearoa" is awesome.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

For the province of New Brunswick:

Originally it was part of Acadia, which according to Wiki was named after the Greek region of Arcadia. For some reason Samuel de Champlain dropped the 'r' and it became Acadia. The name apparently also originally applied to the entire area from the Maritimes provinces to Virginia, but gradually migrated north until only applied to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

As for New Brunswick, its name means...New Brunswick. As in not Old Brunswick, a region in Germany. Since the monarch at the time was from Hanover.