There are some countries that have names other than what we call them. Deutschland/Germany is one example. During the Soviet period, Russia was called Rodina Mat (Motherland -Родина ). Hungary is Magyar, Greece is Hellas (Ελλάς). Yet, we, in the US, rarely say we're United States of America even though there are two continents called America. Other countries, however, call us USA. Thoughts?
Yet, we, in the US, rarely say we're United States of America even though there are two continents called America. Other countries, however, call us USA.
I'm not clear what you mean here. Are you using US/USA/United States of America interchangeably? Or do you mean something else- that you don't give a name to the country at all, perhaps?
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Well, this was originally Geoff's question, and as you know, he has been taking a break from this site. However, it really should be the United States of America, though we here don't say that here - we just say the United States.
Geoff, though, had a broader question - why do countries have other names, like Deustschland?
[Geoff, it's time to get posting again because you're getting me all confused. ]
Still not clear what the question is. They have other names because they speak other languages. The name of the country in their language doesn't have to be the same as in English. (Come to that the French name for Germany is neither Germany nor Deutschland, it's Allemagne.)
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
The country that many of us call Holland is called by its citizens Nederland, which is also used (as the Netherlands) by English speakers. Holland is, in fact, is a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands, albeit the most populous.
To also confuse things, we use the adjective 'Dutch' to describe the county and its language, whereas they use Nederlandse. Deutsch (German) sounds very like this (the two languages are, of course, closely related). This gives rise to a phrase like 'Pennsylvania Dutch' in the the USA, which refers to people originating in Germany, not the Netherlands.This message has been edited. Last edited by: arnie,
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I've always wondered about Dutch being from the Netherlands. I found this fun website about the English and French names of countries and then the local name. For example, the English name is Albania, but the local name is Shqiperia.
Fun fact (thanks to QI): In the 1630 Croatian mercenaries served in France. They wore scarves knotted about their necks and their use became a fashion among the French. The scarves were named cravats, a corruption of the French Croate, or Hrvatska in Croation.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
French cravate was borrowed from German Krabate, borrowed from Serbian/Croatian Khrvat/Hrvat. Croatian Hrvat was adapted into modern Latin Croatæ, then borrowed into English as Croat.
Again we have Geoff peeking in on us - he wonders, from your link, Bob, if Niemcy is Poland's name for Germany, is that maybe where the Polish surname Niemann or Niemec or Niemiec came from?
[Edited for accuracy]This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
Thanks, Goofy, for correcting me. I have now corrected the post.
I'm thinking that is where those Polish surnames were derived, though it's hard to say.
Yes, Z. I should have looked a little more. Here is a link that says it comes from an Old Slavonic word, nemoi, as Z posted, that means "dumb." The site also says, "Apparently the intrinsic dislike of foreigners is not just a British trait, it is one shared rightly or wrongly with most nations, and especially ones who have suffered from continual foreign invasions of one sort or another." - I hadn't realized that to be a British trait.
Accoring to that site's About us page the research was started by the founder of "Name Origin Research", a Michael Brook. It looks like he is (or was) Irish as
quote:
The business grew to a team of 5 researchers based in the Republic of Ireland
Judging by the use of 'British trait' I'd have expected it to be written by someone from the UK, but I suppose he might have been aiming at a UK audience.
In general, most languages' words for foreigners, whether from specific other countries or just those not from the same country as the speaker, tend to mean something along the lines of 'nonsense speaker' or similar.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
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