aput raised a thought by saying here that he is "in favour of Ruritania or Grand Fenwick" (personally, I'd have suggested Fredonia ).

Grand Fenwick is the country featured in Peter Sellers' The Mouse that Roared; Fredonia is from the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup; and I have no clue about Ruritaninia.

But are those the original sources? What other mythical countries are there, and in what works were those countries created?

"Erewhon" by Samuel Butler, 1871

Erewhon is "nowhere" reversed and this work is a satire about a future in which machines become intelligent. Considered a ridiculous idea in 1871 it seems rather less so now.

Ruritania is the fictional country where The Prisoner of Zenda is set.

Of course let's not forget

Lilliput
Blefescu
Brobdingnag
Laputa
Balnibarbi
Glubbdubdrib
Luggnagg
The Country of the Houyhnhnms
and, rather bizarrely, Japan.

Erewhon

And, of course, Erewhon is a calque of the Greek Utopia (< ou- 'non' + topos 'place') from the book on the same title by Saint Sir Thomas More.

quote:

---

Originally posted by jheem: Erewhon is a calque of the Greek Utopia (< ou- 'non' + topos 'place')

---

I'd thought Utopia was from Greek (< eu- 'good' + topos 'place')

No, eu- is a reanalysis, since in (modern) English eu- and u- sound the same. More's Latin Utopia can only represent the Greek Ou- 'no'.

I'm not sure whether the pun on eu- and u- would have worked in More's time; I suspect the two English pronunciations hadn't coalesced yet. But from (say) 1700 they had, and so we can treat 'utopia' as if it contains eu- and therefore form an opposite 'dystopia'.

Narnia
Middle Earth
Avalon

Vulgaria, where Charactacus Potts flies his magnificent Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Of course we can't forget about Oz!

CW, that's a new one on me.

CW: "where Charactacus Potts flies his ..."
Major General Stanley: "Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform, / And tell you ev'ry detail of Caractacus's uniform" (Gilbert & Sullivan, Pirates of Penzance)

Any connection here?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Of course we can't forget about Oz!

---

What? Oz is a real place! Kangarees and wallaboos and redback spiders live there with Sheilas and other strange critters!

There's two Ozes though: one in the southern hemisphere, called by others Australia, and the imaginary land in a series of books by L Frank Baum. I'm sure she was referring to the latter and not the former.

Lest we forget, there's also the Land of Ahs, as in "Ah! Kansas!!

(This is apparently the product of a creative State-of-Kansas Public Relations person. Its aim is to change the popular idea that Kansas is flat and uninteresting, to invite the visitor to stop, look around, and be inspired to say, "Ah!")

Speaking of Oz, there is also Norstrilia, from the eponymous book by Cordwainer Smith.

quote:

---

Originally posted by jerry thomas:
Its aim is to change the popular idea that Kansas is flat and uninteresting, to invite the visitor to stop, look around, and be inspired to say, "Ah!")

---

But - Kansas IS flat and uninteresting. The only interesting to ever come out of Kansas, JT, is YOU!

quote:

---

Originally posted by jerry thomas:
Lest we forget, there's also the _Land of Ahs_, as in "__Ah! Kansas!!__

)

---

I think that's wrong! They took a pirate there, and he said, "Arrr, Kansas!" It got shortened to "Arkansas," which is a bit more interresting!

Oh, add Thuleto le list!

And Zembla, not to be confused with Novaja Zemblja. I thought that Ultima Thule is what the Romans and the Greeks called Scandinavia.

quote:

---

I thought that Ultima Thule is what the Romans and the Greeks called Scandinavia.

---

Welll, yes, but I've heard some more erudite folks than I (it wouldn't take much!) use it as a "Shargri-La." Ohh, there's another 'un!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hic et ubique:
CW, that's a new one on me.

CW: "where _Charactacus_ Potts flies his ..."
Major General Stanley: "Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform, / And tell you ev'ry detail of _Caractacus_'s uniform" (Gilbert & Sullivan, _Pirates of Penzance)_

Any connection here?

---

You've never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? So you don't know about Truly Scrumptious, either? Yikes! I have no idea if there is a connection to Pirates. Might be interesting to investigate.