Reply #20: By old custom [View All]

[Bear down under]

dating from the Middle Ages. Florence (from the Latin Florencia) is of course the classic example, but they can be multiplied indefinitely -- Rome, Turin, Athens, Venice, Lisbon, Cologne, Greece, Spain, Italy itself... all places with which the English have traded for many centuries, from the time when both modern English and the languages of the countries concerned were still in the process of formation. It's noteworthy that places that weren't important in trade or diplomacy, like Palermo -- or which are of more recent importance, like San Francisco -- tend to retain their native form.

It's not arrogant to use the English forms when speaking English, quite the reverse.
I recall some time ago when I was staying in Germany with a German friend who announced that the following morning we would be going to Cologne to see the cathedral.

"How far is Koln from here?" I asked.

"Don't be pretentious, Bear! Either speak English or German, but not a mishmash of both!"

The reverse is also true. When I'm speaking French, I call my own country "Australie" and the British capital "Londres" without thinking about it.