An Incredible World Map That Plots the Literal Translation of Every Country Name In the World

[steve2470]

https://laughingsquid.com/literal-translation-of-country-names/



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The Literal Translation of Country Names is a remarkably researched map that plots the etymological origins of every country name in the world. Drawing from sources such as The CIA Factbook and Oxford University Press, the map offers insight into the spirit behind each name.

[Glorfindel]

1. Fascinating...thanks for posting this, steve2470.

I love the fact that Mali means "hippopotamus." What a great name for a country.

[steve2470]

2. my pleasure! nt

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Oooops, missed French Guiana.

And that was the only one I was really wondering about !


Seriously, though, I was interested to see the origina of "Suriname", which is next door. And put "French" in front of "Guyana" and you have the missing label.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. It should be "The United States of....

An Italian explorer, financier, navigator, cartographer and seafarer"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci

[DFW]

5. Some of those translations are a little off

Sverige ("SVEH-ree-yeh" or Sweden) just means the realm of the Svea people ("Svea riken" shortened)
Österreich just means "Eastern Empire" or Eastern Realm"
France means land of the Franks, the main tribe in the area (the Germans and Dutch still call it "Frankreich" and "Frankrijk" )
Iceland means exactly that, not "Snowland." In Icelandic, it's "Island", where "Is ("ees" ) is their word for "ice"
Suomi (Finland in Finnish) is the land of the Suomen (Finnish people). Finland is the Swedish word for the place.

The Austrians have a joke about Canada. They say it was named by an early expedition of the Austrian navy (think about that: the Austrian NAVY?). They supposed sailed there in the dead of winter in the early middle ages (like there was a place called "Austria" in the middle ages!), found no one, and returned reporting "Keiner da" which is German for "no one there." In some parts of Austria, that would be pronounced "Kana da."

[steve2470]

7. thanks for the great input!

I hope you get a nice weekend off soon, and all the best to MrsDFW! I'm relishing all my European memories.

[DFW]

14. I got THIS weekend off!!

I had to be in Sprout City TWICE this past week, got a bunch to do before I head off to the States next month. French strikes, Catalan independence demonstrations, all that stuff has to be worked in to the equation. I had to blow off Paris on Thursday because the public transportation was on strike. You got while the gettin' was good! I'm (so far) taking Air France to the States (Delta back). I hope I make it past the check-in counter!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. "Deutschland" has interesting origins.

It doesn't seem to relate obviously to anything in modern German that I know of, but with a little quick research in Wiki I learned: "The name Deutschland and the other similar-sounding names above are derived from the Old High German diutisc, or similar variants from Proto-Germanic *Þeudiskaz, which originally meant "of the people". This in turn comes from a Germanic word meaning "folk" (leading to Old High German diot, Middle High German diet), and was used to differentiate between the speakers of Germanic languages and those who spoke Celtic or Romance languages. These words come from *teuta, the Proto-Indo-European word for "people" (Lithuanian tauta, Old Irish tuath, Old English þeod)." In all of the Scandinavian languages, which are also Germanic, or tyskisk, Germany is called Tyskland. "Germany" is from what the Romans called the area, Germania. Seems like people in most countries called themselves something like "the people" - differentiating themselves from those other ... whatevers ... elsewhere.

This etymology also seems to explain the word "diet," as in, e.g., the Diet of Worms, which was not actually a weight-loss program involving the consumption of annelids.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Another translation that might be "a little off" is

that Norway means "way to the north." According to one historian, "the ”veien mot nord”-explanation is the result of so-called popular etymology, where words change and are reinterpreted over time. He thinks the new interpretation of the country name already started in the early Viking Age. When Ottar refers to Norway as ”Norðmanna land” (Northmen's land) and ”Norðweg” (Northway), we already have a reinterpretation of the original, he says.

Schulte argues for a second theory, where the names come from Old Norwegian ”nór” and New Norwegian ”nor”, meaning ”narrow water, inlet”, related to the English ”narrow” and last but not least the mythological dwarf king ”Nor”." https://www.uia.no/en/research/teft/teft-artikler/raising-doubt-about-norway-s-origin

[DFW]

11. "Norway" is not what they call it there

They just say "Norge (NOR-yeh)," though that could well be a shortening of a longer version, just like Sverige is a shortened Sveariken.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. I know; that's why I posted the comment.

The historian is saying that the Norwegian name Norge comes from the word nór (narrow inlet) and is not a back-formation of norðweg (northern way).

[DFW]

15. I'll be seeing a friend from Oslo next month. I hope I remember to ask him. eom

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. That might be the case in Swedish, but

in Norwegian (Bokmål), the g is hard. G has a y sound only before i or y, so it would be Nor-geh.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/No-Norge.oga

[Yavin4]

17. The actual translation of Norway is...

"Not America!!! Thank God for that. Look at who they just elected president. "

It's a very specific translation.

[WestwardWind]

6. This is fascinating, thank you

for sharing this.
I have downloaded all the graphics and bookmarked the article. I like "The Village" for Canada.

[Generic Brad]

10. What does this mean for Antarcticta?

That would mean it translates to "Antarctica"?

[DFW]

12. The way I heard it

It just means, "my dad's sister, Arctica."

I might have been on something at the time, though...........

[smirkymonkey]

18. Fascinating!

Thank you for posting this!