The Name of Your Country

[say1988]

Yeah, I've seen so many misspellings that I considered collecting them. It would of course be better if the English-speaking people could get over C being pronounced as K and just accept Čech, but that's a pure fantasy.

It's weird that they generally understand that "cz" is pronounced as /č/, but they still screw up when writing "Czech". Sometimes it seems as if they were all just barely literate.



I like how the legend conveniently ignores the existence of south Slavs Or is there brother Serb somewhere?

In my experience, the opposite is true when spelling and the "Cz" is an issue (that "ch" is not that uncommon, such as "chemistry" or "mechanic" but "cz" is rare and I can't think of another word right now that isn't a name). I think a lot of people learn the pronunciation of "Cz" more easily because there isn't any alternate english pronunciation, whereas "ch" has 3 English pronunciations.


With regards to Canada it is kind of odd that that was selected as the name instead of something neutral. But the truth is that nobody really cared about New Brunswick and Nova Scotia even back then, with things like the selection of Ottawa as the capital done to keep Ontario and Quebec happy (hell, Nova Scotia only stayed in because London wouldn't let them out).

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

Washington is a nice name. Even if it does get confused with that tiny backwater swamp on the East Coast. Spokane is an even better name.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

Poland, or Polska in our language, after tribe which called themselves "Polanie". Managed to conquer & unite all other neighbouring tribes and that's how country was created. And I like it. Just as I like Polish names of other countries. For example Germany is called "Niemcy" in Polish and there are two explanations: that it is derived from Nemeti tribe, or from slavic word for "niemowa" ("mute") because they were not speaking our language.

 

[Pangur Bán]

After the failed Scottish Jacobite uprising in 1746(?), the English systematically destroyed the highlander way of life, executing most of the clan leaders, building massive cattle fences across the previously-open highland plains, and forcibly suppressing the Gaelic language and customs. Many of the survivors of this cataclysm went west to the New World and founded Nova Scotia.

It got its name before that. At one stage btw the place was called "New Galloway", which would have been cool.

Cape Breton Island had a significant Gaelic speaking population until quite recently. The number of Gaelic speakers in Canada should be close to the number of French speakers, but now there are only a few mainly because Cape Bretoners and others, like the fellows in Scotland, abandoned their culture in favour of the English one. It's quite surprising given that Gaelic-speakers in Canada were economically more successful than French-speakers in that era, and indeed Canada had Prime Minsters of Scottish ethnic background from 1867 until 1891 (self-hating Scots I guess ).

 

[Babbler]

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.

I've heard the origins of the name "Montreal" comes from a Portuguese (maybe Spanish) translation of "Mount Royal".

And that's just ONE of the potential acts of genocide/ethnic cleansing directly related to the creation of Nova Scotia.

Ontario is derived from the Huron term Ontarí:io, meaning "Great Lake", the name was first given to Lake Ontario, and applied then to the province that grew alogn its shores. It's fairly appropriate for one of the two State/Provinces that border four out of five Great Lakes (the other is Michigan).

On the other side, Québec is derived from Montagnais "Kébec", meaning "where the river narrows", applied to the place where the estuary of the Saint Lawrence narrows down from several kilometers wide to just one kilometer wide, which is where the city of Québec was built. Then the highly imaginative British government decided to apply the city name to the entire province, and we've been stuck with it since, especially after the doofuses in the RoC stole Canada from us .

During the run up to Confederation, the British government proposed that, on the analogy of Quebec, Upper Canada/Canada West should be named after its capital, Toronto (i.e. Quebec:the Province of Quebec::Toronto:the Province of Toronto). The proposal was disliked by the Upper Canadians beyond Toronto, as so they named the new province after the lake it was on.

 

[Pangur Bán]

I've heard the origins of the name "Montreal" comes from a Portuguese (maybe Spanish) translation of "Mount Royal".

No, it's from French. Montreal is a better phonetic rendering of the sound when it was coined than modern standardized "Mont Royal" is, such is the nature of spelling and sound change.

 

[Phrossack]

My state is named after what the summer climate produces.

 

[sophie]

My state is named after what the summer climate produces.

The Beatles pay wonderful homage to the just delightful little state:


Link to video.

 

[Winner]

Poland, or Polska in our language, after tribe which called themselves "Polanie".

I always thought it was derived from "pole" - a field. Kinda fits, considering how Poland looks like.

 

[wilycoyote]

My state is named after what the summer climate produces.

How do you pronounce it?

 

[mitsho]

Switzerland, the country, is named after one of its 26 sub-states, the canton Schwyz (=Switz(erland)), which is named after its main town, Schwyz (Switz in English I'd guess ).

Nobody knows what it means.

The guess that makes the most sense is that it is some sort of allemannic rendering of "forest clearing". Which is funny, since the name Switzerland got its own new meaning during the romanticism of the 18th century (more or less) of "mountain range with beautiful sceneries" and now you've got little Switzerlands all over the world. Mountainous Regions named after a cut down forest. So yes, I get the point of the opening post about the meanings of names...

Additionally, nobody knows what the name of my home town means as well, with guesses ranging from "boar" to "some name of a Roman" to "King".

 

[Pangur Bán]

@ mitsho, I'd bet if more Swiss historians did Celtic languages a lot of mysterious place-names would become obvious in meaning. Much of the Allemanic-Bavarian area was Celtic well into the Roman era if not beyond in some parts, being replaced with Latin/early Romance, and then by Germanic-- very similar to England actually.

 

[mitsho]

Yes I know, after all we name ourselves after a Celtic Tribe, the Helvetians. Confoederatio Helvetica is an official name of the state of Switzerland. (And the two other tribes, the Rhaetians and the Raurachians, living in what is now Switzerland, also feature heavily in our lore).

But that's not the point.

Swiss Historians are well versed in Celtic History and Language. As stated, we celebrate it more than our more prominent Alemannian or Burgundian Heritage. See for example the Belenus Triangle(s). However, the term "suittes"/Swiss is a bit more difficult. It is probably Celtic, as there's no Alemannian or Latin explanation. But that doesn't help us really, does it? As for the other example, the list of possible meanings for Basel features many Celtic terms - boar being one of them -, but how can we know the right one after which it was named?

 

[Pangur Bán]

Yes I know, after all we name ourselves after a Celtic Tribe, the Helvetians. Confoederatio Helvetica is an official name of the state of Switzerland.

Isn't that just modern classicizing?

Swiss Historians are well versed in Celtic History and Language. As stated, we celebrate it more than our more prominent Alemannian or Burgundian Heritage. See for example the Belenus Triangle(s). However, the term "suittes"/Swiss is a bit more difficult. It is probably Celtic, as there's no Alemannian or Latin explanation. But that doesn't help us really, does it? As for the other example, the list of possible meanings for Basel features many Celtic terms - boar being one of them -, but how can we know the right one after which it was named?

No, I mean a lot better versed than that. Celtic-languages are living languages today in Wales and elsewhere, and have huge bodies of early literary and place-name sources which are almost untouched since the golden age around 1900. There are almost certainly many patterns that are being missed, and I suspect many place-names of unclear origin would become much more obvious, were they investigated today in this region. Continental Celtic names generally aren't well studied (which is not the same as having nothing written about them).

 

[Pangur Bán]

I always thought it was derived from "pole" - a field. Kinda fits, considering how Poland looks like.

Both are derived from "field" I think. A lot of Slavic names probably come from common models for forming ethnonyms, rather than from common origins.

 

[Winner]

Both are derived from "field" I think. A lot of Slavic names probably come from common models for forming ethnonyms, rather than from common origins.

Well, Slovakia and Slovenia are both derived from "slovo", meaning a word, the same root that forms the basis of the name "Slavs" in all Slavic languages.

 

[Pangur Bán]

Well, Slovakia and Slovenia are both derived from "slovo", meaning a word, the same root that forms the basis of the name "Slavs" in all Slavic languages.

Indeedie. The area around Novgorod had a similar name too, as did one of the tribes now taken over by "Croatia". Maybe it has got something to do with bordering/being surrounded by non-Slavs at some stage?

 

[Winner]

Indeedie. The area around Novgorod had a similar name too, as did one of the tribes now taken over by "Croatia". Maybe it has got something to do with bordering/being surrounded by non-Slavs at some stage?

Slavs were a quite coherent linguistic community for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Maybe such names were supposed to signify belonging to this larger community, I don't know.

 

[Pangur Bán]

Slavs were a quite coherent linguistic community for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Maybe such names were supposed to signify belonging to this larger community, I don't know.

This is true. My thoughts here is that linguistic ethnicity is usually only stressed, pre-mass media, when one language group borders/is in charge of another. In the 10th century Slavic was spoken from almost the gates of Hamburg to Sparta, and from Sparta to the Volga. Someone in the middle would hardly have thought of themselves as slavs ... but those on the edges would have done so.

The tribe on the Ilmen, surrounded by Finnic speakers, was called "Slovienie". It was conquered by Scandinavians called Rus (Ruotsi today is the Finnish word for Sweden), who subsequently added trading posts to the south, converted to Christianity and thus established "Russia" forever. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Christianity tends to fossilize previously fluid political divisions because it comes with writing and permanent ecclesiastical structures.

 

[Winner]

Well, Czechs/Moravians always used to be on the fringe of the Slavic world, but we don't call ourselves thus. Slovaks do, probably due to the 1000 years they spent being dominated by Hungarians.

I actually have no idea what the name of Czechia means