How did your country get its name ?

X

Xion

Active member
Just wondering what do the names of different countries actually mean or at least where/how did they originate from..
Like China got it name from the Qin Dynasty...
India from the Indus River Valley civilization...

Can ppl from different countries post what does their country's name mean or how did their nation come to be called by that name ?
 
how did china get its name anyway? from Qin dynasty, could u give us some more details on that one, thanks

canada probably gets its name when fur traders came and asked natives what place is this, then natives answered Canada which means something else in native language
 
America was named after, surprise, not columbus, some guy with the last name America or something like that(this is history from a couple years ago, cant really remember... :roll: )
Im sure Nulli with his 97 in history could help a lil more... ;)
 
The English (derived from Latin Germania) and the German (Deutschland)name refers to a tribe called Teutons (literally Teuton's land) whereas the Italian and French for example refer to the tribe of the Alemanni.
 
United States of America:

States Who got United+ Name of the Continent they where on, realy not much imagination put into the name.
 
china, the english translation, i dont know how it came but the qin solution seems logical

it means middle kingdom, because us chiense position china as teh center of the world because countries surrounding china seems barbaric and underpopulated ( not any offence intended here)
 
Nice info.

Australia means land to the south.
Philippines I think was named after King Philip.
The countries with names ending with ...stan is pretty obvious, the name of tribe of ppl which live there.Like Kazakhstan, land of Kazakh people..

Anyone know the origins of any of these names Russia, Israel, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, Viet Nam, France, Egypt, Belgium , Denmark, Japan, Spain
 
AA said:
china, the english translation, i dont know how it came but the qin solution seems logical

it means middle kingdom, because us chiense position china as teh center of the world because countries surrounding china seems barbaric and underpopulated ( not any offence intended here)
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Hey, thanks a lot buddy :lol:
 
Japan (Nippon).
It's said as "Ni-hon" in Japanese. It means land of the rising sun. The character for Ni is the sun or day. Hon means self. Don't ask me how slapping "sun" and "self" has anything to do with land of the rising sun :lol:

Most importantly though, does anyone know how on earth Nihon became Japan???
 
Aotearoa = land of the long white cloud

i think is much better than new zealand (Zealand being small island near denmark for some reason?)
 
I think there are a few Zeelands out there. Means really "Sea Land."

Hey, no need to rub off EVERYTHING of European origin.
 
Some more info on the origins of the word 'India' :

The first Article of the Constitution of India, which deals with the official name, states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states." Thus, not only in usage but officially India and Bharat are both accorded primary status. The name India is derived from the river Indus.

The original name of the river comes from the Sanskrit word for river, sindhu, from which the 's' was dropped by its adoption into Persian. This gave the Persians the name of the land associated with the river, Hindu; and the Greeks, dropping the 'H', Indus. Its name was given to the entire subcontinent by the Romans, who adapted it to the current India.

The word India is the form used by Europeans over the ages.

Interestingly the Vedas did not assign any particular name for India, although some scholars assert that references to Indu in the Rig Veda relate to India's present name.

Some info on the origin of the word 'Bharat', India's pseudo name :

The name "Bharat" is derived from either of two ancient Hindu kings named Bharata, though it is more commonly accepted that the name derives from that of the son of Dushyanta, whom the Mahabharata credits with bringing the whole of Bharatvarsha under his rule and securing the title of an emperor. "Bha" in Sanskrit means knowledge or light, and "rat" is a verb for 'doing'. Bharat is therefore 'the one who is in search of knowledge.' Both names are commonly in use.
 
Xion said:
Anyone know the origins of any of these names Russia, Israel, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, Viet Nam, France, Egypt, Belgium , Denmark, Japan, Spain
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I did a little research on wikipedia and this is what i found:


  • Denmark: This name has something to do with "Danevirke" (Dane's work) which is a earthen defense structure.

    Belgium: Belgae, a celtic tribe

    Egypt: The name Egypt came via Latin Aegyptus and Greek ???????? (Aiguptos) from Ancient Egyptian Hi-ku-ptah, which was the name of a temple of the god Ptah at Memphis.

    France: This name comes from the Franks, a Germanic tribe, that overran the Gauls in the fourth centurie AD.

    Sweden: Sweden as a name was originally a plural form of Swede and is a so-called "back-formation", from Old English Sweoðeod, the land of the Suiones.

    Norway: According to Icelandic sagas, the "Nor" in Norway is from king Nor Thorrasson, who after he found his sister, went home to his territory. (See Orkneyinga saga.) There is no evidence of this; it is extremely insecure and should merely be taken as mythology. According to sober etymology, the country's name means "the northern way" (the way north), in Old Norse Norvegr or *Norðvegr, in Anglosaxon Norþweg, in mediaeval Latin Northvegia.

    Russia: The vast lands of present-day Russia were home to ununited tribes who were variously overwhelmed by invading Goths, Huns, and Turkish Avars between the third and sixth centuries A.D. The Iranian Scythians populated the southern steppes and a Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the western portion of these lands through the eighth century, until they were in turn displaced by the Scandinavian Varangians, who established a capital at Novgorod. The Varangian dynasty lasted several centuries, during which they affiliated with the Byzantine, or Orthodox church, and moved the capital to Kiev in 1169 A.D.. In this era the term "Rhos", or "Russ", first came to be applied to the Varangians and the pre-existing Slavs who peopled the region.
 
Bootboy82 said:
Russia: The vast lands of present-day Russia were home to ununited tribes who were variously overwhelmed by invading Goths, Huns, and Turkish Avars between the third and sixth centuries A.D. The Iranian Scythians populated the southern steppes and a Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the western portion of these lands through the eighth century, until they were in turn displaced by the Scandinavian Varangians, who established a capital at Novgorod. The Varangian dynasty lasted several centuries, during which they affiliated with the Byzantine, or Orthodox church, and moved the capital to Kiev in 1169 A.D.. In this era the term "Rhos", or "Russ", first came to be applied to the Varangians and the pre-existing Slavs who peopled the region.
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Russia was actually named after a tribe of scandinavians inhabiting the region known as the "rus", it's all documented in Ibn Fadlan's manuscript.

As well the meaning of Nippon was mistranslated, "Ni" does mean sun but "pon" means origin, hence land of the rising sun, it's the origin of the sun.
 
pimp_squeak said:
Bootboy82 said:
Russia: The vast lands of present-day Russia were home to ununited tribes who were variously overwhelmed by invading Goths, Huns, and Turkish Avars between the third and sixth centuries A.D. The Iranian Scythians populated the southern steppes and a Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the western portion of these lands through the eighth century, until they were in turn displaced by the Scandinavian Varangians, who established a capital at Novgorod. The Varangian dynasty lasted several centuries, during which they affiliated with the Byzantine, or Orthodox church, and moved the capital to Kiev in 1169 A.D.. In this era the term "Rhos", or "Russ", first came to be applied to the Varangians and the pre-existing Slavs who peopled the region.
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Russia was actually named after a tribe of scandinavians inhabiting the region known as the "rus", it's all documented in Ibn Fadlan's manuscript.
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That's exactly what my posting said :twisted:
 
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