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

[Danzaivar]

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...

Be glad we didn't go with "the bin" or "great prisonia" or anything else like that. Australia actually sounds like a nice place.

 

[Milney]

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.

Or not?

30seconds of research shows you just how wrong you can be, to wit:

The Japanese word for Britain has its origins in the Portuguese word for English: Ingl¨ºs became ¥¤¥®¥? Igirisu.

 

[bificommander]

I was always curious to how Dutch came from Netherlands and Holland... im sure it got explained to me in the past tho ive just forgotten again

It isn't that difficult really, Dutch stems from the (old)Dutch word "Diets" which means "(of the) people" and is essentially the same word as the german Deutsch. Though we don't use it anymore in Dutch (besides our national athem) it stuck in the English language.

The net result is that in English you call the languages German and Dutch, but in those countries' own languages, it's called Deutsch and Nederlands respectively. I have a russian co-worker (phd student) who actually went to the wrong embasy to get his workers permit, thanks to this. He thought the Deutsch embasy was the Dutch one.

 

[Rhino of Steel]

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

Germany derives from the Latin word for the region, Germania, which in turn came from the name Julius Caesar derived from the Gauls for the people across the Rhine. Most of the former Roman lands kept their naming conventions.

 

[The_Healer]

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...

Be glad we didn't go with "the bin" or "great prisonia" or anything else like that. Australia actually sounds like a nice place.

Indeed. We attract so many gullible people...

 

[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.

Or not?

30seconds of research shows you just how wrong you can be, to wit:

The Japanese word for Britain has its origins in the Portuguese word for English: Ingl¨ºs became ¥¤¥®¥? Igirisu.

I didn't post that as someone who speaks the language fluently, it was just my understanding of it. You didn't have to be a dick by saying "Well I found this in thirty seconds, YOU ARE SO WRONG".

 

[Doitpow]

China=Zhonguo (pronounced Jong-gwo).

and basically means middle-earth.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

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.

Abel Tasman discovered and landed on Tasmania.
EDIT: According to wiki, he did sight New Zealand as the first European explorer, but called it Staten Island, mistaking it for an island near Argentinia....
As for New Zealand being improvement on Zealand: sometimes, a remake really DOES improve on the original.