Countries whose names you'd never guess from their native language?

[Emperor Platypus]

China (in mandarin) is called Zhongguo. Zhong is 'central' or 'in the middle'. Guo means 'nation'. Like any other civilization in the course of history they figured they were the most important thing to ever happen and named their country accordingly.

 

[Nickolai77]

Cymru/Gymru=Wales, although I like the Welsh name for England, Lloegyr=Lost Lands. Espana=Spain as well so pretty similar.

Lloegyr means Lost Lands? That's interesting, i'm remembering that. Plus how the Japanese call England the land of lost hero's, and France the land of buddha's, strange but interesting.

Unfortunatly i havn't got anything to contribute "England" just means "Angle-Land" Or land of the Angles, a sub-tribe within the Anglo-Saxons. Whom took over what the Welsh today call the "Lost Land". The English for "Wales" or "Welsh" i think means foreginer or foregin land, or outsider. Scotland just means land of the Scotti, the Scotti being an Irish tribe whom migrated into Scotland i think sometime in around the 6th century.

 

[Stasisesque]

There's records to suggest the original Angles fled to Wales at some point during history (probably when the Normans invaded, maybe before), so it's understandable the meaning of England in Welsh is "lost lands".

 

[Nickolai77]

There's records to suggest the original Angles fled to Wales at some point during history (probably when the Normans invaded, maybe before), so it's understandable the meaning of England in Welsh is "lost lands".

My interprtation was that the Anglo-Saxons kicked out the native-Britons in the 5th century and sent them into Wales, hence why the Welsh decendents of the native Britons refer to England as "the lost land". If you have any online sources relating to Angles fleeing to Wales then i'd be interested, dark age history interests me.

 

[Valiant The Gamer]

Nederland = The Netherlands(Offical name cause holland = 2 provincies together(south and north)).

 

[Stasisesque]

There's records to suggest the original Angles fled to Wales at some point during history (probably when the Normans invaded, maybe before), so it's understandable the meaning of England in Welsh is "lost lands".

My interprtation was that the Anglo-Saxons kicked out the native-Britons in the 5th century and sent them into Wales, hence why the Welsh decendents of the native Britons refer to England as "the lost land". If you have any online sources relating to Angles fleeing to Wales then i'd be interested, dark age history interests me.

Now you're asking. Information was suggested from exhibits at The British Museum yonks ago, I've no doubt there are online sources, but I've never thought to look for them. All I remember is that it has something to do with one of a number of theories on Stonehenge, but my knowledge is patchy at best and confused at worst.

http://www.white-history.com/hwr28iii.htm Scroll down to Wales. This just confuses me more.

 

[Cyan.]

In finnish, Finland = Suomi

 

[Evilsanta]

Japan in Japanese is Nihon which isn't even close to 'Japan'. When you translate how it's written, however, it becomes more obvious as it says literally "Land of the (Rising) Sun". What's funny is that you can tell the English had a part in saying how the Japanese write 'Igirisu' (England) as that translates as "Land of Heroes" when written.

Well, not "Igirisu" specifically, that's just the katakana transliteration of "England." Japanese does have specific names for other countries that can be written in kanji, meaning England is probably ?p? - Eikoku, which does mean "Land of Heroes/Bravery."

Incidentally, as far as I know America is Beikoku, "Land of Rice." I think France is "Land of Buddhas," but I'm not sure how to spell that.

I had heard 'Eikoku' before but I recently had to stop learning Japanese due to time constraints and my kanji knowledge was always terrible so yeah, I was just going off 'Igirisujin' for how it was said. But hell, either way I've learned something today.

Wait what? America is the "Land of Rice" Can you eleborate that please.

Well Sweden becomes Sverige in swedish though i dont really know if it has a backstory to it.

*Edit: And how France becomes Land of buddahs, shouldnt it be the land of alcohol (im joking about the alcohol thing)...Hmm..gotta check what sweden means.

 

[SpecklePattern]

In finnish, Finland = Suomi

Yeah! Try to guess that!

Nation: Finland
Residents: Finnish
To us (Nation): Suomi
To us (Residents): Suomalainen

That china thing was actually familiar because I think it is said, or I have heard, it lots of times in chinese films.

 

[Keepitclean]

Oh yeah keep on boasting about your rich cultural heritage...

Stupid Australia...

Edit:

Oh look Wikipedia says that its derived from the latin 'Australis' - meaning southern. Still a horribly boring thing to name a country...

It was 'Terra Australis'. Sounds cooler now right? No not really.
The Aboriginals didn't even have a word for it. Not surprising considering that the Aboriginals didn't have any real sort of civilization or cartography.
Around here all our town names are silly too; Manjimup, Gidgegannup, Nannup, Coobellup etc

Can anyone tell me why Germany is Germany in english and not Deutchland?

I can make an educated guess for Ireland.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Japan in Japanese is Nihon which isn't even close to 'Japan'. When you translate how it's written, however, it becomes more obvious as it says literally "Land of the (Rising) Sun". What's funny is that you can tell the English had a part in saying how the Japanese write 'Igirisu' (England) as that translates as "Land of Heroes" when written.

Well, not "Igirisu" specifically, that's just the katakana transliteration of "England." Japanese does have specific names for other countries that can be written in kanji, meaning England is probably ?p? - Eikoku, which does mean "Land of Heroes/Bravery."

Incidentally, as far as I know America is Beikoku, "Land of Rice." I think France is "Land of Buddhas," but I'm not sure how to spell that.

I had heard 'Eikoku' before but I recently had to stop learning Japanese due to time constraints and my kanji knowledge was always terrible so yeah, I was just going off 'Igirisujin' for how it was said. But hell, either way I've learned something today.

Wait what? America is the "Land of Rice" Can you eleborate that please.

Well Sweden becomes Sverige in swedish though i dont really know if it has a backstory to it.

*Edit: And how France becomes Land of buddahs, shouldnt it be the land of alcohol (im joking about the alcohol thing)...Hmm..gotta check what sweden means.

It sounds a bit like Sværd-Rige Sværd being sword and Rige being Nation/Country "Sword-Nation" Guess some viking thought the land was full of swords?

Yet. Danmark/Denmark is pretty close.

Danskere/Danes is a bit further away.

Dansk/Danish '^'

I guess the name comes from the flag Dannebrog(National Flag) that fell at some battle in one of the many raids.

 

[Evilsanta]

So it means that Sweden is the land of swords...

Awesome!

*Edit: Grammer fail.

 

[Sprong]

New Zealand: Like the Dutch province of Zealand, but updated and improved!

Nah, it's because Abel Tasman, a Dutchman, discovered it first (I don't think he actually landed, though ? I'm pretty sure Captain Cook was the first to do that) and named it after a province of his homeland.

In Maori, the indigenous language here, it's Aotearoa, which translates to 'land of the long white cloud'. I've always liked that.

 

[Elle-Jai]

China calls itself Zhongguo, or "Middle Country". Since when they named themselves they were under the impression they were the centre of the Universe. Nothing much has changed, then...

[sub]DISCLAIMER: I am not a racist. I was raised with Japanese and other Asian "sisters" and "brothers" (homestay students), and I love my extended inter-country family very much.[/sub]

 

[Toriver]

Japan in Japanese is Nihon which isn't even close to 'Japan'. When you translate how it's written, however, it becomes more obvious as it says literally "Land of the (Rising) Sun". What's funny is that you can tell the English had a part in saying how the Japanese write 'Igirisu' (England) as that translates as "Land of Heroes" when written.

Well, not "Igirisu" specifically, that's just the katakana transliteration of "England." Japanese does have specific names for other countries that can be written in kanji, meaning England is probably 英国 - Eikoku, which does mean "Land of Heroes/Bravery."

Incidentally, as far as I know America is Beikoku, "Land of Rice." I think France is "Land of Buddhas," but I'm not sure how to spell that.

Yes, England is 英国, which is "brave land", America is 米国, "rice land", and "Buddha land", France, is written 仏国. China is "chuugoku", which is written 中国, meaning "middle country", for obvious reasons. Korea is "kankoku", which I honestly don't know what it means, but the kanji is 韓国.

Most of the kanji names in Japanese have nothing to do with Japanese, or anyone else's, perception of the country itself. It derives from the old Chinese way of rendering foreign names in kanji by picking kanji with readings that sound like the name. In actuality, most of the time, country names are simply written in katakana, which is phonetic. So America (Amerika) is アメリカ, England (Igirisu) is イギリス, France (Furansu) is フランス, Italy (Itaria) is イタリア, Australia (O-sutoraria) is オーストラリア, and so on. The kanji representations are most often used in things such as newspapers, when they need to condense space on the page. Japan, China and Korea are always written in kanji, though.

 

[Nickolai77]

Now you're asking. Information was suggested from exhibits at The British Museum yonks ago, I've no doubt there are online sources, but I've never thought to look for them. All I remember is that it has something to do with one of a number of theories on Stonehenge, but my knowledge is patchy at best and confused at worst.

http://www.white-history.com/hwr28iii.htm Scroll down to Wales. This just confuses me more.

Yeah, but i think whats causing the confusion is the websites use of the word"nordic".

WALES

ANCIENT WALES

The Old European Mediterranean peoples were the first inhabitants of the region of Wales, and traces of their descendants can still be seen amongst the White Welsh people of the present day.

The Indo-European Celtic invasions of Britain, during the first millennium BC, saw the Old Europeans absorbed into the new wave of Nordics, and by the time of the Romans, the two sub-racial types had virtually completely assimilated each other and were speaking the Celtic Gaelic tongue, calling themselves the Cymry.

I wouldnt call the Celts "nordic". They pre-date nordic culture and orginate from central Europe, spreading all over the continent. I also think Wales only became a distinct entity after the Roman conquest and the constuction of Offa's Dyke. For instance the celtic Deceangli, Cornovii and Dobunni tribes all straddle the present day border between England and Wales.

 

[thylasos]

But can someone from Croatia explain "Hrvatska" to me? I'd never have guessed Hrvatska = Croatia.

I think it's from Hrava, being corrupted at the French court to Crava, and eventually Croatia.
Also the root of cravat, since the item of neckwear was worn by Croatian mercenaries at the court.

 

[vrbtny]

English = America?

 

[Binerexis]

Japan in Japanese is Nihon which isn't even close to 'Japan'. When you translate how it's written, however, it becomes more obvious as it says literally "Land of the (Rising) Sun". What's funny is that you can tell the English had a part in saying how the Japanese write 'Igirisu' (England) as that translates as "Land of Heroes" when written.

Well, not "Igirisu" specifically, that's just the katakana transliteration of "England." Japanese does have specific names for other countries that can be written in kanji, meaning England is probably ?p? - Eikoku, which does mean "Land of Heroes/Bravery."

Incidentally, as far as I know America is Beikoku, "Land of Rice." I think France is "Land of Buddhas," but I'm not sure how to spell that.

I had heard 'Eikoku' before but I recently had to stop learning Japanese due to time constraints and my kanji knowledge was always terrible so yeah, I was just going off 'Igirisujin' for how it was said. But hell, either way I've learned something today.

Wait what? America is the "Land of Rice" Can you eleborate that please.

Well Sweden becomes Sverige in swedish though i dont really know if it has a backstory to it.

*Edit: And how France becomes Land of buddahs, shouldnt it be the land of alcohol (im joking about the alcohol thing)...Hmm..gotta check what sweden means.

It all depends on how the first impression would be made on Japan. Americans could have gone to Japan to say that they're from 'The Land of the Plentiful' and the thought pattern went along the lines of "Well if they have plentiful supplies of everything, they probably have more rice than anything else". I honestly don't know for sure but it's just how the literal translation of the written name gets translated back into English. As well, I think that 'China' in Japanese translates to something like 'The Middle Land' which could be due to the fact that it's landlocked.

 

[Kwaren]

Japan in Japanese is Nihon which isn't even close to 'Japan'. When you translate how it's written, however, it becomes more obvious as it says literally "Land of the (Rising) Sun". What's funny is that you can tell the English had a part in saying how the Japanese write 'Igirisu' (England) as that translates as "Land of Heroes" when written.

Well, not "Igirisu" specifically, that's just the katakana transliteration of "England." Japanese does have specific names for other countries that can be written in kanji, meaning England is probably ?p? - Eikoku, which does mean "Land of Heroes/Bravery."

Incidentally, as far as I know America is Beikoku, "Land of Rice." I think France is "Land of Buddhas," but I'm not sure how to spell that.

I had heard 'Eikoku' before but I recently had to stop learning Japanese due to time constraints and my kanji knowledge was always terrible so yeah, I was just going off 'Igirisujin' for how it was said. But hell, either way I've learned something today.

Wait what? America is the "Land of Rice" Can you eleborate that please.

Well Sweden becomes Sverige in swedish though i dont really know if it has a backstory to it.

*Edit: And how France becomes Land of buddahs, shouldnt it be the land of alcohol (im joking about the alcohol thing)...Hmm..gotta check what sweden means.

It all depends on how the first impression would be made on Japan. Americans could have gone to Japan to say that they're from 'The Land of the Plentiful' and the thought pattern went along the lines of "Well if they have plentiful supplies of everything, they probably have more rice than anything else". I honestly don't know for sure but it's just how the literal translation of the written name gets translated back into English. As well, I think that 'China' in Japanese translates to something like 'The Middle Land' which could be due to the fact that it's landlocked.

Japan = 日本 = Nihon
United States = アメリカ　= Amerika
England = イギリス = Igirisu