What We Call Countries vs What They Call Themselves

In which country is the German Republic? For a list of all countries globally with endonyms, check out the endonymmap.com website. It is possible to zoom in and look around the site’s map. However, the following close-ups are particularly noteworthy.

A country’s English name might vary widely depending from where you are. Finnish, Magyarország (Hungary), and Kalaallit Nunaat are the three official languages of Finland (Greenland).

Kodörösêse Tî Bêafrîka (Central African Republic) is the Sango language term for the country. The official writing system of a country is used to identify it. On the continent of Africa, Arabic and Ethiopic scripts can be found.

The Marshall Islands’ official name in Marshallese is An Aolepn Aorkin Maje. “Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini,” or “Independent State of Papua New Guinea,” is how the Tok Pisin language refers to the country.

Controversial issues arise while determining a country’s official name (or even if it should be regarded as an independent country). Several possible objections to the Endonym Map are addressed here by the project’s creator in this post.

Enhancing the Map’s Interactivity

Taiwan, Canada, and Germany are all named after countries in Asia. What an unusual thought that there was a period when no place had a name. It’s essential to know the origin of these names and who made the final decision.

The oceans, sky, beaches, and mountains weren’t referred to until there were humans and languages. As we grew older, we developed our own cultures and languages. Then we started naming things, too, and no one knows how or why we started giving places names.

Names for places can be traced back to prehistoric periods when they were given based on their physical attributes, such as the existence of trees or a hill. Their names became deformed, twisted, and misunderstood as time went on. Lands conquered were turned over to the original occupants, who then repopulated the area with their people.

The words we use today result from thousands of years of human creativity. While some names may be traced to their original meanings, some cannot.

The Symbolism of a Few Mystifying Names

Newly discovered lands are usually named after their leader, the local topography, or something that reminds them of their homeland if they are on a conquest mission. In most cases, a country’s English name was given by settlers or traders who arrived and either named it after the tribe they encountered or used the name the tribe already had.

While some may be named after people, others may have been given their names just due to chance.

Lucia: An Island in the Caribbean Sea

Only a few countries are named after women, and this is one. Christopher Columbus named many of the new islands he discovered in the Caribbean after admiring saints. The island bears the name Christopher in honour of St. Christopher, the patron saint of sailors.

Canada.

“Village” is referred to as “Kanata” in slang. When Jacques Cartier, a 16th-century explorer, met the people, he confused their language for French.

The Republic of China is the designation given to Taiwan in official documents. In practice, the Republic of China is rarely referred to as such. “Beautiful Island” in Portuguese was how the Portuguese referred to Formosa back then.

Reoccurring Themes

Most countries are named after a country’s direction, a powerful tribe, or a significant male character in history.

However, there are certain exceptions. For instance, in German, the country is referred to as Deutschland. The only way to find out what a name means is to translate it. It’s conceivable to fall into a rabbit hole of tribal names, distant countries, and foreign languages.

Why Does Germany Have So Many Names?

German names are unusual because they take on diverse meanings depending on their spoken language.

According to historical evidence, Germania is most likely a Gaelic-derived Roman Latin term. In many cases, the Celtics had already named many of the tribes the Romans encountered before they could do so.

As it is today, Germany was not established as a sovereign state until the late 19th century.

The 1871 unification of Prussia, Bavaria, and neighbouring principalities was dubbed “Deutschland,” which means “land of the people” in Old High German. Many other countries have now adopted the term “Germany” for the region, which has since been referred to as “Germania.”

Conclusion:

In specific ways, the Germanic tribe that was initially encountered may have influenced the language’s designation of Germany. It doesn’t matter whose tribe the name comes from, as long as it’s one of the following:

The name given to a country is unique in that it predates the names given to it by any other country.