How did your country get its name ?

NIGERIA

Like the name sounds, it is a litorial country, however the name emanated from the Word NIGER AREA, meaning parcel of Land around River Niger being one of the biggest river in the country. The name was given by British Colonial msters after the amalgamation in 1914.:rock:
 
We like to send missionaries to the less fortunate countries but we didn't name the country for it.

:)
 
Now that the thread's officially resurrected...



Actually, the terms 'deutsch' and 'Deutschland' have nothing to do with the 'Teutons'. They are derived from the Old High German word 'diutisc', which roughly means 'of the people' or 'speaking the language of the people' and was used to describe a number of Germanic tribes speaking a common language, in contrast to 'walhisk' used for Celtics and (Gallo-)Romans.
The words for 'German' in many languages are derived from this 'diutisc': Danish and Norwegian 'tysk' as well as the Swedish 'tyska', Spanish 'tudesco', Italian 'tedesco', Dutch 'duits' (and the term 'Dutch' itself)...

And mmarsh: it's 'Frankreich'. ;)

I know, but I translated it to literal English as not everyone understands German.
 
Well...I think 'Reich' is a term everyone understands since about 75 years ago...unfortunately...
 
Hey Monty, I think it was Piggy Muldoon who said Kiwis going to Australia raised the IQ of both countries. LOL.

You mean like this:

Kiwi bloke was on earth doing the Haka. Somewhere in space, Aliens were watching this unusual dance.

"Kamate, kamate, ka-ora, ka-ora......"

The Aliens were very interested and they wanted to see what would happen if they would take a part of his brain away without him even knowing. So with their alien technology they sent a laser beam down that hit the Kiwi's head and took a part of his brain away.

The Aliens then sat back to see what would happen.

"Ka-mate, ka-mate, ka-ora, ka-ora......."

What the??? The Aliens were amazed with what they were seeing. The Kiwi guy could operate with less than a full brain. So they decided to send the beam down and take another part of his brain. The Aliens watched on.

"Ka-mate, ka-mate, ka-ora, ka-ora......"

"WHAT!!!" the Aliens said to each other. "These Kiwis are very clever people even with half a brain. Let's see what happens if we take the rest of it away and leave him with no brain at all!"

So with a push of a button the Aliens sent the beam down and took away the final part of the Kiwi's brain.

"Now surely he won't know anything at all.He should be too dumb and stupid to do anything now?"

And sure enough, with no brain and no knowledge of anything at all as the Aliens watched on the bloke sang,





"WALTZING MATILDA, WALTZING MATILDA......"

Sorry boys; but it was just natural to make a joke here. :cheers:
 
Well...I think 'Reich' is a term everyone understands since about 75 years ago...unfortunately...

Don't be so sure, as a Europeaner you'd be astonished at the levels of ignorance and lack of education in the US these days. A few months ago I saw a poll taken amongst American "Christians" that showed that a large majority thought that Christianity was older than Judaism.
 
It's funny though that the French call Germany still by it's latin name Allemagne, derived from the Alemanen. And these guys walked the earth when the Romans moved in... not sure when that was.

The Netherlands... because we are an estuarium of many rivers (together with Vlemish Belgium) and lay beneath sea level. At least a large part of our country. Nether = Neder = low or lower. So you could roughly translate it as Low Country.
 
Great Britain,,,,well some one had to be the greatest

So much for history, just get right down to business eh?


Britain
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. Britain was the name made popular by the Romans when they came to the British islands.

England
Used to be known as Engla land, meaning the land of the Angles, people from continental Germany, who began to invade Britain in the late 5th century, along with the Saxons and Jute.

Great Britain
The term Great Britain was first used during the reign of King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) in 1603, to refer to the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland. On the same landmass, that was ruled over by the same monarch. Despite having the same monarch, both kingdoms kept their own parliaments.

United Kingdom (The uniting of kingdoms)
The 'United Kingdom of Great Britain' was formed in 1707 by the Act of Union that created a single kingdom with a single Parliament. (Scotland has always retained its own legal system) A hundred years later the Act of Union of 1801 joined Ireland to 'Great Britain' and the name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" was first used (Since 1921 only Northern Ireland has been part of the United Kingdom and so the name changed). United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 
Im not to sure about Ireland or 'Eire' as its known in Irish. But the very first name of Ireland was Inisfåil which means land of destiny
 
Ireland is the anglicised name of the island which is named Eire in the native Gaelic language. In mythology the land was named after the goddess Eiru by the Milesian Bard Amergin.
 
For my country, the name Singapura- it means the Lion City. Singa means "lion" and pura (a Sanskrit word) means "city".

Legend has it that a Prince from a neigboring country (what is now part of Indonesia) came to the island escaping his enemies, saw an animal and was told it is a lion- hence the name...

Singapore is the anglicised version of the true name...
 
The name Britain goes back to Roman times when they called England and Wales "Britannia" (or "Britannia Major", to distinguished from "Britannia Minor", ie Brittany in France). The Roman province of Britannia only covered the areas of modern England and Wales.

Hence, Great Britain as opposed to Minor Britain or Brittany in France


The area of modern Scotland was never finally conquered, because no one could understand a word they said. Ever heard a Jock in full tirade?:mrgreen:

Waits for the flak:hide:
 
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The area of modern Scotland was never finally conquered, because no one could understand a word they said. Ever heard a Jock in full tirade?:mrgreen:

Waits for the flak:hide:

Oh! if my C/Sgt read this…!
He will chase you to the end of the world. A pissed off Jock Marine, one should not wish for. ;-)

But you're right. One can´t ****ing tell whether they are sober or total pissed.:mrgreen:
 
Hahaha I love those accents. I don't know why, they just sound... I dunno...
Hard to explain.
 
Caesar called Belgium Belgica.

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Haywood: We do get it a lot!! It’s all good, we knew when we came up with this name that we’d have to explain it everyday for the rest of our lives. We were taking some photos one day in front of some old ‘antebellum’ style houses in Nashville, and that word came out and it just kinda stuck. The word has a nostalgic feel to it, and in a weird way we felt that reflected our sound and what we were going for
Read more: "Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood talks music, influence and how the trio got their name"
 
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