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Whence does come the name of your country?

City Hall

Minitokyo » Forum » Main Fora » City Hall  Whence does come the name of your country?

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First , my thanks to Wapy for inspiring me with the following thread: " What's the meaning of your flag? "

Of course, most of the countries on Earth possess an etymology or a word designating a symbolic thing for an ancient civilization(which one grows for making our present nation) whose evolution through a long period of time rendered nugatory their significations.

For instance, England comes from Old English, Angleland which means the country of Angles. Then Angles is a people issue of Anglo-saxon: Angle= a type of hook,
and Saxon= from Old English, seax meaning "knife"

France was a country conquered by Clovis approximately in 500 AD. The people called Franks were eponymous of their own country. Nonetheless, this people name is akin to an old and famous ax used by them : the " Francisque"( pardon, there is no translation in English). By the way , it was the Vichy gouvernment symbol during World War II, prooving thereby the true meaning of France.

Enfin, My own country , Canada, comes from a native(Amerindians) name meaning " small village, thorp"

Anyway ,anyone, perpend and fetch me you knowledge!

Tnaxus Xast
:angry: :)

Well, my country, Indonesia, derives its name from Greek.
Indonesia = Indo + nesia
Indo = indus = India. I don't know why. However, our history had a strong relationship with it. Hindu and Buddha entered our country with the help of Indian's monks and merchants. Therefore, our culture gets a strong influence from it.
Nesia = nesos = Islands. (We have around 16000 islands. Too bad there is already a country called Polynesia)
That's it...

"What's the Meaning of Your Flag"? I believe it was me who created that thread...

my country Philippines, got it's name from a Spanish King, Philip. It was a Spanish Explorer named Villalobos who gave our country the name. at least that's what i remember history is not my best subject...

"The name Australia is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning of the South."

That about sums it up.

Quote by EmpixusXastFirst , my thanks to BumbleBee for inspiring me with the following thread: " What's the meaning of your flag? "

Of course, most of the countries on Earth possess an etymology or a word designating a symbolic thing for an ancient civilization(which one grows for making our present nation) whose evolution through a long period of time rendered nugatory their significations.

For instance, England comes from Old English, Angleland which means the country of Angles. Then Angles is a people issue of Anglo-saxon: Angle= a type of hook,
and Saxon= from Old English, seax meaning "knife"

France was a country conquered by Clovis approximately in 500 AD. The people called Franks were eponymous of their own country. Nonetheless, this people name is akin to an old and famous ax used by them : the " Francisque"( pardon, there is no translation in English). By the way , it was the Vichy gouvernment symbol during World War II, prooving thereby the true meaning of France.

Enfin, My own country , Canada, comes from a native(Amerindians) name meaning " small village, thorp"

Anyway ,anyone, perpend and fetch me you knowledge!

Tnaxus Xast
:angry: :)

well i come from the nether lands. basically my country is named that way because it lies below sea-level and several centuries ago most of the current districts (?) were countries. if i made a mistake please correct me :S

Quote by superfoolwell i come from the nether lands. basically my country is named that way because it lies below sea-level and several centuries ago most of the current districts (?) were countries. if i made a mistake please correct me :S

BTW, is "Nether" the Dutch term for "Below"? As for "Land", well, many languages share the same term for this, and I believe Dutch does too.
So?
:)

I'm from Israel,

The origin of the name is from the story of Jacob who built a ladder to "fight an angel" and fighting an angel means fighting god,in ancient hebrew,Israel is a pun on the term "sara ba-el" which means "fought the god"
his name was changed from Jacob to Israel because of that

The flag is an homage/immitation of a jewish scarf (of sorts) worn by prayers and religious people called "Talit"

It has 2 blue horizontal stripes and a David Shield in the middle on a white background,altough a real "Talit" usually doesn't have a David shield on it

South Africa

Duh - Southern bit of the continent known as Africa.

Africa on the other hand comes from Latin, Africa (the Roman general Scipio Africanus got his name from the province after the sack of Carthage). Roman Africa is basically the northen bit of modern Algeria and Tunisa. It was surronded by Mauritania (west) and Libya (east).

Anyway, the Latin Africa came from the people that lived there, the Afer (Phoenician name - probably refering to the Berbers. Afer in Phoenician means "dust". The word can be seen in Old Hebrew, Ugaritic ('afar) and even Egyptian ('aperu).

Dusty people in a dusty place, and I'm from the southern bit (oh well we do have running water here).

And the word South comes from the old-English suth, from Proto Germanic. Meaning and origen uncertain.

MEXICO

The word Mexico comes from the nahuatl (the language of the Aztec people) word "Mexica", a term wich aztecs used to call themselves in honor of their god Huitzilopochtli, also called "Mexi" or "Mexicali". Now, this last name, "Mexicali", is a term of uncertain origin, but the most accepted version is that it comes from from nahuatl words "metztli" (moon) and "xictli" (navel), having together the meaning of "Navel of the moon".

Whoa, there are so many interesting things you can find out about the countries of the world from this thread! Okay, my turn...

The name ROMANIA comes from the ancient Roman empire. Around the year 100, the current territory of our country was conquered and colonized by the Romans. In a few hundred years, the native people of this territory (the Dacs) completely assimilated the Roman language and way of life in all its aspects, so that with time they became to be considered Romans themselves. That's why the country is named Romania (=Country of the Romans) even now.

My country is basically a group of smaller, separate parts, called States, on the continent of America. As part of a country, these separate states are United. Hench, United States of America.

My country has the most unoriginal name in the world.. -_-

Quote by JmazingMy country is basically a group of smaller, separate parts, called States, on the continent of America. As part of a country, these separate states are United. Hench, United States of America.

My country has the most unoriginal name in the world.. -_-

Ah! Ah ! I already knew the origin of United States' name.
Seriously , thanks for your participation.

Quote by JmazingMy country is basically a group of smaller, separate parts, called States, on the continent of America. As part of a country, these separate states are United. Hench, United States of America.

My country has the most unoriginal name in the world.. -_-


So you wouldn't mind if I jumped the gun and looked "America" up, huh? Named after Amerigo Vespucci who clamed to have discovered it before Columbus. The name Amerigo was Latinized (as they did in those days). Check the link for a fuller explanation.

Brazil

My country's name comes from a wood tree that was abudant at the time of it's colonization, the wood tree is Pau Brasil (Brazilwood) and it's name came from the Pau=wood and Brasil=ember because the wood was ember color...
Brazil wood is used to make violine archs.

This was an intersting thread!

Puerto Rico

Once called "San Juan Bautista" 'cuz of the day of the ... Discovery {November 19, 1493} was the day of John the Baptist, when the Spaniels finally Colonized my nation, the name was changed to "Puerto Rico"
{in those times in was written Porto Rico} and they decided to make the Capital be called "San Juan Bautista"

But after the years the capital was know simply as "San Juan" ^_^

Other thing I will like to make clear is that Puerto Rico is a U.S colony...
I've heard horrible mistakes of people saying we are a U.S state WE ARE NOT ^_^
But this is an ongoing debate in here -_-

*lol*

anuyways,
~lunagata~

Poland

My contry's name comes from the name of one of the Slavic tribes - Polanie - they united (read: conquered) their neighbouring tribes - and their names comes from the word 'Pola' meaning 'fields' or 'plains', so basically Polanie means people 'living on plains', their name was distinctive because they lived in the fairy unwooded part of the land so their main source of income was horticulture.

I guess that's it.

Thanks - that's a really good thread. ^^

Quote by lunagataPuerto Rico

Once called "San Juan Bautista" 'cuz of the day of the ... Discovery {November 19, 1493} was the day of John the Baptist, when the Spaniels finally Colonized my nation, the name was changed to "Puerto Rico"
{in those times in was written Porto Rico} and they decided to make the Capital be called "San Juan Bautista"

But after the years the capital was know simply as "San Juan" ^_^

Other thing I will like to make clear is that Puerto Rico is a U.S colony...
I've heard horrible mistakes of people saying we are a U.S state WE ARE NOT ^_^
But this is an ongoing debate in here -_-

*lol*

anuyways,
~lunagata~

However, you didn't explain anything about "Puerto Rico" term. Its meaning, derived from what, etc...

I assume it's a Spanish term for "Rich Port" maybe? :D
Because I recall that "Costa Rica" means "Rich Coast."

Sorry if I'm wrong. Again, just guessing! I need someone to clear it up!
An interesting thread, I must agree! :)

hmmm if i can remember, Australia was derived or is taken from Terra Australis which is what it was called back when it was first discovered


kinda vague on this but im sure someone out there can correct me ^^;

I did not see a USA post above. forgive me if this is a duplicate. USA gets it name from the fact that it is made up of individually controlled areas known as states which are united under the consitiution. The America portion of the name came from the name of contenent where the original 13 states were located.

Well my country's Singapore...
Singa its actually a malay word for Lion and pore is another version of city....
So singa + pore = lion city
How it came about is unknown but it is said that the first pioneer who named this country saw a lion when he first step on our so beloved island thus he decided to call it lion city...

Quote by joemighty16

Quote by JmazingMy country is basically a group of smaller, separate parts, called States, on the continent of America. As part of a country, these separate states are United. Hench, United States of America.

My country has the most unoriginal name in the world.. -_-


So you wouldn't mind if I jumped the gun and looked "America" up, huh? Named after Amerigo Vespucci who clamed to have discovered it before Columbus. The name Amerigo was Latinized (as they did in those days). Check the link for a fuller explanation.

I like that Amerigo like to draw porn on the side. ( He drew maps)

Quote by joemighty16My country is basically a group of smaller, separate parts, called States, on the continent of America. As part of a country, these separate states are United. Hench, United States of America.

My country has the most unoriginal name in the world.. -_-


i'd have to agree. ^_^' i still love it though (the country itself not the government)

Quote by JmazingSo you wouldn't mind if I jumped the gun and looked "America" up, huh? Named after Amerigo Vespucci who clamed to have discovered it before Columbus. The name Amerigo was Latinized (as they did in those days). Check the link for a fuller explanation.


thats an interesting definition.

merged: 06-05-2006 ~ 12:41pm
to U2nekofan:
hahaha! that is really funny

Quote by EmpixusXast
My own country , Canada, comes from a native(Amerindians) name meaning " small village, thorp"


first off, sorry for picking on you in advance. secondly, amerindians is considered quite politically incorrect, they prefer the term native americans. third, yes, it comes from the huron-iroquoian word "kanata" meaning small village or settlement, though i've never heard of it having the meaning of thorp.

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