THE NAMES OF COUNTRIES

including some familiar names of provinces or peoples

 

In this list I propose some more acceptable etymologies for the names of some countries, or in many cases, a more elaborate research on the origin of names, than that found in common sources. In many cases I have chosen the etymology that seems more pertinent, and ignored other fancy, unjustified explanations.

 

References

 

Cherpillod, André, 1986. Dictionnaire étymologique des noms géographiques. Masson, Paris, New York etc.

Decret, François & Mohamed Fantar, 1981. L'Afrique du Nord dans l'Antiquité. Payot, Paris.

Deroy, Louis & Marianne Mulon, 1992. Dictionnaire des noms de lieux. Le Robert, Paris.

Desfayes, Michel, 1998. A thesaurus of bird names, etymology through paradigms. Museum of Natural History, Sion, Switzerland.

Egli, J.J., 1893. Nomina geographica. Leipzig.

Georgeacas, D. 1969. The names for the African continent. Intern. Kongress für Namenforschung 3: 329-353. Wien.

Grau, Juan, 2000. Voces indígenas de uso común en Chile. Glosario etimológico. 3a ed. Ediciones Oikos Ltda, Santiago de Chile.

Johnson Westropp, J. 1912. Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. 30, p. 240, 241, 1912.

Klein, Ernest, 1966-1967. A comprehensive dictionary of the English language. One-volume unabridged edition, 1971. Amsterdam, Oxford, New York.

Losique, S. 1971. Dictionaire étymologique des noms de pays et de peuples. Paris.

Salverte, Eusebius & L.H. Mordacque, 1864. History of the names of men, nations and places in their connection with the progress of civilization.

Muralt, Malou von, 1003. Un arbre devenu pays. Saussurea (Geneva), vol. 33, p. 39-61.

Muses, Charles, 1965. Celtic origins and the Arthurian cycle. In: Celticum XII. Actes du IVe Congrès international d'Etudes gauloises, celtiques et protoceltiques. Sarrebruck (Sarre) 4-9 septembre 1964. Supplément à Ogam. Tradition celtique, No. 98: 359-385. Rennes. This article has been republished in the Journal of Indo-European Studies vol. 7, p. 31, 1979.

Pearsall, Judy & Bill Trumble, editors, 1996. Oxford English reference dictionary, second edition. Oxford University Press.

Pokorny, Julius, 1959-1969. Indogermanisches Wörterbuch. Francke, Bern.

Ronsin, Albert, 1991. La fortune d'un nom, America. Le baptême du Nouveau Monde à Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. Cosmographiae Introductio suivi des Lettres d'Americo Vespucci. Jérôme Millon, Grenoble. 219 p.

Webster's new universal unabridged dictionary, 1996. Barnes & Noble, New York.

Wikipedia. On line dictionary.

Xhevat Lloshi, Albanian pp. 277-299, in Handbuch der Südosteuropa-Linguistik. Herausgegeben von Uwe Hinrichs unter Mitarbeit von Uwe Büttner 1999, Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden Slavistische Studienbücher, Neue Folge. Herausgegeben von Helmut Jachnow und Klaus-Dieter Seemann, Band 10.

 

Countries that have changed their name

 

Recently we have witnessed the renaming of some countries like Dahomey becoming Benin, Congo > Zaire (now back to Republic of Congo), Ceylon > Sri Lanka, Burma > Myanmar of which it is a corruption). There still is an obvious reticence in calling Burma Myanmar. Sri Lanka on the other hand has been readily and promptly accepted. I regret the forsaking of Ceylon. Couldn't we have conserved it ? After all the Germans are by no means disturbed if Deutschland is called Germany by the English, Allemagne by the French, Niemcy by the Poles or Tyskland by the Danes. The Magyars do not seem to mind being called Hungarians, the Hellens Greeks, and the Netherlanders Dutch (and their country Holland). Shqipetars are quite happy beeing called Albanians and the Kartvelebi Georgians, and their country Sakartvelo Georgia. Cerna Gora is universally known as Montenegro, Bhārat is called by the Westerners India, Suomi > Finland, Misr > Egypt, Zhon Guo > China.

 

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Abyssinia.  The former name of Ethiopia.

From Arabic al-habasha meaning "mixed", many inhabitants of this land being a mixture of black and Semitic peoples. See Ethiopia.

Acadie. A region in the province of Québec, Canada.

From Amerind academ, tedlacadem "here, where we live" (not from akadi "fertile land"; the Indians of this region were not cultivators).

Afghanistan. A country in south central Asia.

"Land of the Afghans", a Persian name of unknown meaning or origin; afghàn also means "lamentation" but the connection is uncertain.

Africa. From the name of an ancient tribe in Tunisia, the Afri (adjective: Afer). The name is still extant today as Ifira and Ifri-n-Dellal in Greater Kabylia (Algeria). A Berber tribe was called Beni-Ifren in the Middle Ages and Ifurace was the name of a Tripolitan people in the 6th century. The name is from the Berber language ifri "cave". Troglodytism was frequent in northern Africa and still occurs today in southern Tunisia. Herodote wrote that the Garamantes, a North African people, used to live in caves. The Ancient Greek called troglodytès an African people who lived in caves. Africa was coined by the Romans and "Ifriqiyeh" is the arabized Latin name. (Most details from Decret & Fantar, 1981).

Ainu. A population of northern Japan, distinct from the Japanese.

In the Ainu language the name simply means "man". The Chinese used to call them maomin "hairy people".

Alan. A people of Persian origin that immigrated into Europe.

Also a medieval name for the Ossets. The name Alan has been given a Greek etymology alènon "vagabond". The Ossets are a remnant of the Alans who called themselves As. The Greeks called them Asiaoi. The medieval Ossets were called Allons. See Asia.

Alaska. One of the United Sates of America

From Esquimo Alaxska or Al-ay-es-ka meaning "big land".

Albania. A country in the Balkans.

Foreigners call them albanesi (Itan), Albaner (German), Albanians (English), Alvanos (Greek), Arbanasi (old Serbian), the country Albania, Albanie, Albanien, Alvania, and Albanija, and the language albanese, Albanisch, Albanian, alvaniki, and arbanashki respectively. All these words are derived from the name Albanoi of an Illyrian tribe and their center Albanopolis, noted by the astronomer of Alexandria, Ptolemy, in the 2nd century. From Ancient Greek Albanoi, an Illyrian tribe, in Modern Greek Arvanitis and by themselves arbënesh/arbëresh, the country Arbëni/Arbëri, and the language arbëneshe/arbëreshe. For the etymology of this name, see Alps.

The Albanian call their language Shqip (whence the adjective Shqipëtar: those who speak the same language). The belief that the name means "eagle" arose from a confusion between Shqip the Albanian language and shkipjë or shqipjë a collective name for birds of prey (including eagles). The bird name is cognate to Albanian shqep "to tear", Serbo-Croatian shkopiti "to strike", a characteristic of hawks. The language name must evidently have another semantics; shqiponj means "I understand". "A new and more generalized ethnic and linguistic consciousness of all these people responded to this, distinguished against the foreigners as a community of men (shqiptarë) clearly understanding each other, that is understanding each other shqip. This adverb predominates in everyday use… There is nothing scientific in explaining Shqipëri as "the country of the eagle" and shqiptarë as "the sons of the eagle" (Xhevat Lloshi, 1999).

Albanians are called Arnaut by the Serbs, and Arnavutluk by the Turks, from Greek arneios "lamb" which should be taken as a collective name for "sheep", thus: sheep raisers; see Dalmatia, for parallel naming. The Tosks in southern Albania call their northern counterpart Gegë, from gegeri; gogë is the surname of the Romanians. Gegë and gogë refer to the quality of their speech as heard by the Tosks; in Serbocroatian guga is the babbling of a child.

Albion. A literary surname for Britain or England, attested by Pliny the Elder. Albanach is still used today by the Irish as a name for the Scotsmen. The name would mean "Highlander", from a root alb- "height", cognate to Alps.

Algarve. A province of Portugal.

From Arabic al-gharb "the West", see Maghreb.

Algeciras. A town in southern Spain.

From Arabic al-jazīra al-khadrà "the green island" a name for Spain.

Algeria. A country in North Africa.

In Arabic al-Jazà'ir meaning "the islands", formerly designating the islands near the coast. The Spanish Argelia is a metathesis or inversion of letters.

Allemagne. The French name for Germany.

The country of the Allemands. The names means "the other men", from a root al- "other" and "foreigner":

Greek	allos	other
English	else	other
Gothic	aljis	other
Welsh	aile	other
Latin	alius	other
English	alien	foreigner
Old High German	elilenti	from another land
Old High German	Elisâzzo	Alsace: land on the other side of the Rhine (from the point of view of the Germans)
Teutonic	Alamann	the men established on the other side of the Rhine

This etymology has been proposed by Klein, 1977. The usual explanation from "alle männer" "all the men" is devoid of sense.

Allobroges. An ancient people of Gaul.

The name has probably never been in use by any people. It seems to have been coined by some historian with the Greek allos "other" and Breton broc'h "land", and would be the equivalent of Alamann (see Allemagne).

Alsace. A French province. See Allemagne.

Ambrons. An ancient people from Denmark.

In Ancient Greek Ambrones, so named from the color of their hair (see Denmark):

French	ambré	having a yellowish tint
French	ambre	a reddish yellow substance
Latin	Ambrones	a people from Denmark
Anc.Greek	ambrosia	an amber-colored drink
Italian North	ambra	Yellow Bunting
English	amber	golden
English	embers	hot coal
English, regional	yalla ember	Yellow Bunting
German	ammer	Yellow Bunting
Italian North	amarot	Greenfinch

The Danish Ambrons have no relation whatsoever with the ancient peoples of southeastern France called Ambrons which were nothing but the inhabitants of the town of Embrun.

America. 1. The continent.

The naming of America

The earliest known use of the name America for the continents of the Americas dates from 1507. The western continent is named America on the maps of Martin Waldseemüller (ca. 1470 - ca. 1521/1522) a German cartographer. He was born in Radolfzell (or according to the Catholic Encyclopedia Wolfenweiler, near Freiburg, with his mother originating from Radolfzell) and studied at the university in Freiburg.

The derivation of America from Amerigo Vespucci was first proposed in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller from Saint-Dié (Lorraine, France) who wrote in his preface of Cosmographiae Introduction: "Je ne vois pas pourquoi on objecterait … de nommer cette partie [du monde] d'après Americus, c-à-d. Amerige" [I do not see why one would object…to name this part (of the world) after Americus, i.e. Amerige]. Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 - February 22, 1512),  a Genoan merchant, came to the world's attention chiefly through the publication in 1503 and 1504 of two brief letters called Novus Mundus "the New World" he purportedly wrote to Lorenzo de Medici about a voyage undertaken for the king of Portugal. Vespucci’s role in the naming issue, like his exploratory activity, is unclear.

The letters were the most interesting account of explorations in the Americas that had appeared up to that time and caused a sensation that if anything exceeded that created by Columbus's description of his first voyage ten years earlier. The letters were reprinted in every European language and soon came to the attention of Martin Waldseemüller and his friends.

The Waldseemüller group published Cosmographiae Introduction (Introduction to Cosmography), the first attempt to update the geography texts of the ancients. They were quite taken with Vespucci's idea that the Americas were a new land, since it meant they had gone beyond the knowledge of the ancients, in whose shadow they had long toiled. They thought it only appropriate that Vespucci's name grace the new land, of whose extent they had at that point only the vaguest inkling. The naming of America after Amerigo Vespucci was thus a bit capricious. The fact that this is the most ancient explanation is no evidence of being correct.

A few alternative theories have been proposed, but none of them have any widespread acceptance. This explanation is quite unsatisfactory and is certainly not the origin of the name. Why should a whole continent be name after the first name of a navigator who was not even the discoverer of this land, and why was America named after a man who was otherwise so obscure. For centuries it was argued that Amerigo Vespucci was a fraud who had never traveled to the continent that bore his name and did not deserve to have either of his names applied to anything. But it is now fairly well established that he made at least two voyages to the Americas, not as leader of an expedition but possibly as navigator, the first time in 1499.

He was not the first European of his era to set foot on the mainland, as was once thought, but probably was the first to realize that the land he helped explore was a separate continent and not merely the coast of Asia, as Columbus and others believed.

Notes from Albert Ronsin (1991), Wikipedia and other sources.

Origin of America as proposed here:

It seems more logical to consider that the name America, like Antilles, was first used by the Portuguese who were the greatest navigators at that time, with the meaning of  "the land beyond the sea" (mar); America is thus formed with the preposition a "in, with, toward" etc., and mar "sea", with the Romance suffixe –ic as in Lybica, Africa, musica, classico etc. This etymology is consistent with the accentuation of the middle syllable.

America. 2. The United States of America.

The country is usually called U.S.A and within the country U.S. which has pleasantly been taken as the initials of Uncle Sam. The southerners used to call the northerners Yankees. This name originated in early times when, in the predominantly Dutch-speaking New Harlem (later New York), the pronunciation of /j/ was like /y/ as yohn etc. Yanqui is sometimes used, somewhat pejoratively, by Latin Americans who resent the name American being usurped by the North Americans for themselves. On the opposite, Yankee is used by Americans to describe things they are proud of, such as Yankee ingenuity. The U.S.A. are called by the

Arabs	Wilayat Amrika al-Muttahidah
Finns	Yhdysvallat
French	Etats-Unis, abbreviated E.U.
Gaels	an t-Oilean-ur (New Iceland)
German	Vereinigte Staaten
Hebrew	Artzot Ha'Brit
Icelanders	Bandaríkin
Spanish	Estados Unidos which they abbreviate EE.UU. (the double letters meaning plural)
Welsh	Taleithiau Cyfenol or yr Unol Daleithian America
Yugoslavs	Zjdinjene Drzhave
Chinese	Mei-kuo (which is their pronunciation of
"America"); given a Chinese etymology the name would mean "beautiful country"; it is also called Mei zhou, in which mei "beautiful" has only a phonetical value for the accentuated syllable in America; zhou = continent. Japanese Beikoku is their pronunciation of the Chinese name! Given a Japanese etymology, the name would mean "land of the rice" which is unapplicable since the Japan used to produce much more rice than the U.S.

 

Anatolia. A region of Turkey.

From Greek anatellein "to rise", anatolè "sunrise, east"; thus: region of the rising sun. The Turkish Anadolu is from Greek.

Andalusia. A region of southern Spain.

Said to be from Vandals, a northern tribe who established themsemlves in Spain. This etymology is questionable. The loss of the initial V is unexplicable. For the Arabs, Andalus denoted the whole peninsula.

Andorre. A country in the Pyrenees.

In Navarra, andurrial is a scrub-covered, rough terrain.

Angleterre. The French name for England, "land of the Angles".

Angola. A country in southeastern Africa.

From the Kimbundu language n'gola "lord, chief". N'gola, name of a16th century king, when Portugal colonized the country.

Antigua and Barbuda.

Christopher Columbus named Antigua in honour of the Santa Maria La Antigua cathedral in Seville, Spain when he landed there in 1493. "Barbuda" means "bearded" in Portuguese. The islands gained this name after the appearance of the their fig trees, whose long roots resemble beards.

Antilles. Isles of the Caribbean.

From Portuguese ante ilhas "before the islands" so called by the early Portuguese navigators. The name was revived and given to those islands by Paolo Toscanelli. Aristotelis already mentioned a large island in the Atlantic that the "Carthagene" called antilia.

Aquitaine. A region in southwestern France.

A corruption of Basque Eskualdi; see Basque.

Aotearoa. Maori name for New Zealand, meaning "land of the long-white cloud". Some Maori leaders are now petitioning the government to restore the country's original Maori name.

Arabia. The land inhabited by the Arabs.

The name was apparently first bestowed upon this people by a population of the eastern Mediterranean who was in contact with them, cf. Hebr. 'aràbi the Beduins, the peoples of the tents. The name is of chromatic origin and alludes to the black color of their hair. It is cognate to the following terms :

Arabic	gariba, `arib	to be black
Arabic	`arub	sunset
Arabic	gharb	the west
Arabic	maghreb	the occident
Hebrew	ghārab	the setting sun
Arabic	ghurāb	crow
Akkadian	arāb	crow
Hebrew	`erebh	twilight
Chaldean	ereb	land of the setting sun
Ancient Greek	erebos	darkness
Latin	arabicus	a black-colored precious stone
Modern Greek	arapès	Arab
Modern Greek	arap	black (of animals)
Albanian	Arap	the Arabs
Ancient Greek	Europè	Europe (region of the setting sun)

 

Argentina. A country in South America.

The name was apparently given by the French, after the name of the river Río de la Plata, argent (silver) being a translation of the Spanish plata. The explanations for the name la Plata "because the natives used to wear silver ornaments", or "because there were silver mines", or "because the river was shining like silver" are just light guesses. Her capital Buenos Aires was named after a Spanish town of the same name.

Arizona. One of the United States of America.

A Papago Indian name meaning "small spring".

Armenia. A country in the Middle East.

From Ancient Greek Armenios, a name given to a people of the Middle East, by confusion with the Romanians and Aromanians which were also called by the same name. See Romania. The Armenians call themselves Haik (heros), their language Hai, and their country Hayastan. In Hebrew hàyah and Aramaic hayà means "he lived". A relation is improbable since the Armenians are not a Semitic people. In the Andi language heka means "man, hero". The Armenian hero Haik has been named after the country. The Persian call them Arikh (Aryans), the Georgians Mekhi or Sasomheti (Somekhi) and the Ossetians Somich.

Aryans. Originally an ancient people of south Asia.

From Sancrit Arya- to which the sense of "noble" has been given. A derivation from a pre-Indo-European hypothetical root *ar-yo- with a no less hypothetical meaning "to assemble skilfully" is non-explanatory .  See Iran for a more down to earth explanation.

Asia. The eastern part of the Eurasian continent.

For the ancient Greek, Asia was the region situated to the Levant. From a root signifying "red, dawn, the color of the rising sun:

Ancient Greek	eos	dawn
Ancient Greek	Asia	Anatolia, region of the dawn
Ancient Greek	Asioi	the Ossets
Ancient Greek	Aisa	Thracia
Assyrian	açu	the East
Old H. German	ostar	the East
English	east	the East
Georgian	Osi	name of a tribe related to the Alans, people of the East, the Ossets, cf. Asioi,below
Russian	osetin	Osset
Russian	vostók	the East
German	gestern	yesterday (Latin hesternus "of yesterday" is evidently a borrowing)
English	yesterday

 

Assyria. An ancient country in the Middle East. See Syria.

Australia. A country in the southern hemisphere.

The austral land. Explorer Matthew  Flinders (1774-1814), the first to sail around and chart the Australian coast, used the term "Australia" in his publication. Australia is called Ho-Chu by the Koreans.

Austria. A country in central Europe.

Austria is a Medieval Latin calque of Oesterreich "eastern kingdom", in French Autriche. In the 9th century, the territory formed part of the Frankish empire's eastern limit, and also formed the eastern limit of German settlement against the Slavic area. Carl the Great dubbed the region "Ostmark" 'Eastern border territory'. In the 11th century the term Ostarrichi first appeared. Austrians are called Avstrijskij by the Russians, Rakušan by the Czechs, Rakusko by the Slovaks, and Becz by the Hungarians.

Autriche. See Austria.

Avar. A people from Asia. From Turcic avar "vagabond".

Azania. A term often used by Black African nationalists for South Africa.

Azania is the name that has been applied to various parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In Roman times, perhaps earlier, the name referred to a portion of the east African coast south of Cape Guardafui, extending south perhaps as far as modern Tanzania.

The earliest attestations for the name Azania do not explain it. Recently, G.W.B. Huntingford offered two suggestions for the origin of the word. The first was from the Arabic `ajam "foreigner, non-Arab". The second, which he favors, comes from the Greek azainein ("to dry, parch"), which fits his identification of Azania with the arid coastline of modern Somalia.

Pliny the Elder (N.H. 6.34) mentions an "Azanian Sea" that began around the emporium of Adulis and stretched around the south coast of Africa. The slightly later Periplus of the Erythraean Sea offers more details about Azania (chapters 15,16,18). From chapter 15 of the Periplus, Huntingford argues that Azania properly referred to the Somali coast, plausibly identifying the "Lesser and Greater Bluffs", the "Lesser and Greater Strands", and the "Seven Courses" of Azania with landmarks of that country. However, chapter 16 clearly describes Rhapta, located south of the Puralean Islands at the end of the Seven Courses of Azania, as the "southernmost market of Azania." Modern identifications of Rhapta place it on the coasts of either Kenya or Tanzania, indicating that Azania referred to a far longer stretch of East African coastline than Somalia, perhaps an area identical to the later Arab Zanj. The name Azania may also refer to a locality in Arcadia in Greece, named for Azan.

Later writers who mention Azania include Claudius Ptolemy and Cosmas Indicopleustes. Cosmas records the fact that in his time Azania was under the control of Axum, and that gold was bartered for butchered beef.

Azania appeared again in 1958, when the name was proposed as a replacement name for South Africa, at the All-African Peoples Conference hosted in Accra, Ghana by Kwame Nkrumah.

But the modern use of Azania as an alternative name for South Africa only began to become popular in 1979, appearing in the names of groups such as the Azanian People's Organisation. At the time of the 1994 multi-racial elections, some proposed "Azania" as an alternative official name for the country, but this never received widespread support. While South Africa had diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the People's Republic of China officially referred to South Africa as "Azania".

Reference: G.W.B. Huntingford (transl. and ed.). Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Hakluyt Society. London, 1980.  All notes about Azania are from Answers.com.

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Azania&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1

Azerbaijan. A country in the southeastern Caucasus.

Said to be of Persian origin: Pers. àzar fire, Middle Persian àtarpàtakan in which one may recognize àtar "fire". (From surface fires on ancient oil pools) ?

Azores. Atlantic Islands belonging to Portugal.

From Portuguese açor "hawk", presumably because of the numerous hawk-like frigate-birds cruising along the coasts (these birds may be easily be mistaken for hawks by the uninitiated). At any rate not the Goshawk which does not occur in these islands; the only hawk occuring in the Azores is the Buzzard which is by no mean characteristic.

Bahamas. A group of island to the south of Florida.

From bahama "large upper middle land", the Lucayan word for Grand Bahama Island (Wikipedia).

Bahrain. A emirate in the Arabian Peninsula.

From Arabic al-bahrayn meaning "two seas". Exactly which seas are being referred to is debated. Bahrain is located in a bay formed by the Arabian mainland and the peninsula of Qatar.

Balkans. The southeastern part of Europe, forming a peninsula.

From Mount Balkan in Bulgaria; from a root bal- "convex": balkan is said to mean "mountain" in Turkish; it is however a borrowing from the Indo-European substratum; the Turkish name for "mountain" is dagh.

Baltic Countries.

From Lithuanian baltas "white". The Baltic Sea is also called the White Sea.

Baluchistan. A region in Pakistan and Iran on the Indian ocean coast. Land of the Baluchi. The Baluchis were named by the Persian from their large headdress; the name is cognate to the following terms belonging to the root bal- "something convex":

Persian	baluch	mountain top, crest, the Baluchis
Serbian	baljin	crest, tuft
Sanscrit	bhàla	forhead
French	baleine	whale
Gaelic	balla	udder, bucket
English	ball	a round thing

etc.

The Baluchis call Greece Yunan, from Iaonos, Ionos, Ian the name of an ancient Greek tribe in Attica (see Yàwan).

Bangladesh. A country situated between India and Burma.

From Bengali Bangla referring to the Bengali speaking people, and desh meaning "country".

Bantu. A people in southern Africa

From the Bantu language in which ntu means "man" and the particle ba- indicates the plural, thus bantu "the men". In the singular muntu "the man", with the singular particle mu-.

Barbados. An island in the Caribbean.

Named by the Portuguese explorer Pedro A. Campos "Os Barbados" ("the bearded ones") in 1536, from the appearance of the island's lichen-covered trees, whose long roots resemble beards.

Basque Country. A land in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula.

From the French Pays Basque. The Basques call their country Euzkadi, of which Basque and Spanish Vasco are corruptions. Gascony, in French Gascogne, and Guask, a residual speech in the Pyrenees, are also derived from the same term. Euskalerri is the Basque Land, Euskara the Basque language and euskaldun the adjective Basque. The correct and logical etymology of Euzkadi has been given by Louis Charpentier in Le mystère basque, Paris, 1975: Euzkadi is from esku "hand" because of the magnification of the hand in the Basque tradition.

In Galicia (museum of Guimarães) some human forms are represented with hands reaching ten times their normal size. Other examples are found in Charpentier, chapter 19.

Bavaria. A region in Germany.

In German Bayern. From Baioarii "the land of the Boii", an ancient Gaulish people. The name is from Slavic boj "warrior" and Romanian boier "noble". In the ancient Romanian social organization land owning was the privilege of the aristocratic class who accomplished their military obligations. The Bayards were nobles who were established in France. Bayard is still a common surname in Savoie.

Béarnais. A region in southwestern France.

A name cognate to Gaelic bearna "gap": A gap in the Pyrenees.

Beduin. A desert people

In Arabic Badàwi the inhabitants of the desert, from badia "desert". The name badia "desert" implies something bad or worthless, as in the following cognates, froma root bad- "evil, worthless, boorish":

Kurdish	bad	bad, evil, ill-natured
Persian, Tadzhik, Kashmiri, Pashto, Waziri	bad	bad
English	bad	not good; having an evil character (OE baeddel, baedling "womanish man" are derived from bad)
English (archaic)	bedlam	an insane asylum; a scene of wild uproar (the etymology "from Bethleem" offers no explanation)
English	budzat	evil fellow
English	budmash	worthless fellow
Gaelic: Ireland	beudach	evil
Arabic	badi`	dirty
Arabic	bàdia	desert: barren, bad
Gallego	bedro	waste land
Arabic	badawin	Beduin, inhabitant of the desert (considered boorish, little appreciated by the Arabs). Perhaps a French loan-word (the French bédouin has been widely borrowed)
French	bédouin	Beduin (quite possibly the Sarrasins, cf. bediel, below)
French: Neuchâtel (Switzerland)	bédouin	name given to the partisans of the king of Prussia (they were little appreciated)
Old French	bedel	mercenary given to plundering
Old French	bediel	an injurious epithet (le sarrasin bediel)
Ital.: Abruzze	bbëdujimë	(a boorish, wild, evil person)
French: Valais	bedjui	the inhabitants of the mountain village of Isérables, considered boorish by the lowland people
Albanian	bedevë	Beduin
French: Limousin	badef	ugly, dirty, Wartburg, Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch vol. 23: 190
Old French	bade	futility, stupidity; aler en bades "to be useless"
French	badaud	foolish, clot; more recently "gawper"
French	bedier	ignorant
French: Vaud	bedan	clot, clumsy; bedâ to miss
French: Neuchâtel	bedrognure	very bad meat, carrion
Portuguese	badan	lean meat
Portuguese	badalada	rubbish, nonsense, sillyness; badajo boring talker
Italian	sbadéto	negligence
Lettish	bèd	worry
Lithuanian	beda	misfortune
Czech	bída	misfortune; běda alas!, woe!
Albanian	beditem (I)	I bother him
English	bother	to annoy, pester ("origin obscure")

 

Belgium. In French Belgique, in Flemish België. From a root bel- meaning light-colored, on account of the people's blond hair:

Provençal	beluganço	splendour
French, dialectal	abaloucà	to dazzle
Lithuanian	baltas	white
Russian	beluga	white whale
Gaulish	Belgae	the Belgians

The other proposed etymologies such as "Bulgarians" are totally unacceptable.

 

Belarus. Formerly Byelorussiya "White Russia" (see also Belgium and Baltic "the White Sea). The name was changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union to emphasize that Belarus and Russia were and would continue to be two separate countries. The new term was marketed as having an independent etymological root Rus from Ruthenia. In fact Ruthenia and Russia are derived from the same Viking Rus root. Thus the Ukrainian region Ruthenia (known commonly as Rusynia) can be found in old texts as "Red Russia" where the term doesn't refer to the whole of the Ukraine or to the Soviet Union.

Belize. A county in Central America, formerly British Honduras.

Perhaps from to the Maya word belix "muddy water", applied to the Belize River.

Benin. A country in west central Africa.

Named after an old African Empire called Bīnī or Ibnī, on whose territory modern Benin does not actually lie. What is now Benin was previously known as Dahomey, after its principal ethnic group.

Berber. A people in northern Africa.

From ancient Greek Bárbaros, a name given to the foreign people who did not speak their language. The name has remained for the Berbers who call themselves Kel or, according to another source, Amzir (singular), Amazerqt, Tamazight ("free men"). Berbers from Algeria call themselves Kabyle ("men of the tribe"). Berber is cognate to the following terms :

Arabic	barbara	to babble
Basque	berbartun	stammering
Basque	berbeta	language
Italian, dialectal	barbotà	to stammer
French, dialectal	barbotter	to babble (of ducks when feeding)

 

Bermudas. Small islands in the Caribbean.

So called because they were discovered by Juan Bermúdez.

Bhàrat. Hindi name of India.

From Bhàrata, mythical hero of ancient India. From a root bhàra "to bear, support".

Bhutan. A country in the eastern Himalaya

From Hindi, Bhotàn, Bhota "Tibet", Tibetan Bod id. The Bhotia migrated from Tibet to Bhutan in the 10th century. The Bhutanese call their country Druk Yul "land of the Dragon", and themselves Drupka.

Bohemia. A region in Czechoslovakia.

From Boii, an ancient Gaulish people (see Bavaria), and German Heim "home".

Bolivia. A country in South America

Named after Simón Bolivar 1783-1830, an anti-Spanish militant and first president of Bolivia after its independence in 1824.

Borneo. An large island in southeastern Asia.

A corruption of Brunei which, today, is a Sultanate in the island. Borneo is called by the Indonesians Kalimantan.

Bosnia. In Serbocroatian Bosna, from the name of the Bosna river.

Botswana. A South African country formerly called Bechuanaland.

The country (bo) of the Tswana people.

Brasil (Brazil). The largest country in South America.

The coast of South America was formerly considered as part of an island; it was called by the Portuguese Ilha da Vera Cruz, "...uma ilha outra Antilha mais" (an island beyond the Antilles). Brasil is from Bran's Isle, the isle of St. Brandon, a famous navigator. This etymology was proposed by Ch. Muses, 1965: 380. The Vinland Map also shows an island called Magnae Insulae Beati Brandani Branzilliae dictae (Great islands of the Blessed Brendan called Branzil). This lost or hidden land of ancient Celtic tradition was located about 100 miles west of Ireland as indicated in navigation charts as late as 1850. The name was first mentioned on a map by a Genoese, Angelino Dulcert in 1325 as "Insula de montoniis sive de brazill" (island of mountains or of Brazil) (T. JOHNSON WESTROPP, Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. 30, p. 240, 241, 1912). One may note also that the continental Brazil has not been called an island and, as seen by the discoverers, is not mountainous. Cf. also Dalorto, Angelino, 1325. L'isola brasil. The explanation "from Portuguese braza `hot coal´ because of the red-colored wood from a tree that was found there" is a folk etymology. Bresil was already utilized by Marco Polo in 1250 as a name for certain wood from the Nicobar islands, Sumatra, Ceylon and the coast of Malabar (India). The name appears to come from Arabic wars the name of a red wood, transformed in Italian verii, verzi, verezino (Venice, 1243) and, progressively brasile (Ferrara, 1194), brezel (France, 1208), brasile (Barcelona, 1221). (Malou von Muralt, 2003). The term results from a mixture between bresil, the material, and Brasil the country so named by the Portuguese. The association with the country's name appears thus to be a coincidence.

Bretagne. The French name for Brittany. See Britain.

Britain

A Welsh name Latinized in Britannia "land of the Britons". In the Welsh language brython means "warrier", bruth "combat" and bryd "courage". Briton is the same as Brezhon "Breton" a name deriving from brezel "war", brezeliad "warrier" (not from brezh "motley"; there is not a single evidence that the Britons were motley or painted. See Picts). Britain is called Lloegr by the Welsh.

Brittany. A region in France. See also Britain.

Brittany is called by the Welsh Llydaw and by the Gaelic Irish Letha. An ancient name was Letauia which can be compared to Lithuania: land on the littoral (Pokorny, p. 833). In the Breton language, ledenez means "peninsula".

Brunei. A sultanate in the island of Borneo.

Its full name is Negara Brunei Darussalam. Negara means "state" in Malay while darussalam means "abode of peace" in Arabic, an Islam import.

Bucovina. A region bordering Romania and Ukraine.

From Slavic byk "beech", from the extensive beech forest in the region.

Bulgaria. A country in the Balkans.

The Bulgarians originated from the eastern Slavic land, in the region of the Volga. The Slavic people known to the Ormuri in neighbouring Afghanistan were called by them burghàl "bulgar". The suffix –gar also indicates an eastern origin, as in hunghar (Hungarian), madjghar (Magyar), Dzunghar (in northern Singkiang). Volga Bulgaria or Volga-Kama Bolghar, is a historic state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers. The republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia are considered to be descendants of Bulgaria in terms of territory and ethnicity.

Burgundy, in French Bourgogne. This region of France was occupied by a German speaking people that came from Burgundrholm, today Bornholm, a Danish island.

Byelorussia. See Belarus.

Burkina Faso. A country in western Africa.

From the Moré language burkina "honest, deserving", and from the Dioula language faso "country" thus "country of honest people". Previously the country was named "Upper Volta", after the Volta's two main tributary rivers, both originating in Burkina Faso. It was changed in 1984 by president Thomas Sankara who had taken power in a coup.

Burma. See Myanmar.

Burundi. A country in central Africa.

From the Kirundi local speech Burundi, Kiswahili Urundi. A name formed with the prefix bu- "country", ki- "language, and rundi: those who speak the Rundi language".

Caffre. Formerly designated the people of southern Africa.

From Arabic kafir "infidel" (see Kafir).

Caledonia. The Latin name for Scotland.

Borrowed from Welsh Celyddon which is from Gaelic Gaeldoine "land of the Gaels".

California. One of the United Sates of  America

The name was given to that region by its discoverer, Cortez, on account of its bountiful land and pleasant climate. Califerne was an imaginary land in the Chanson de Roland (1100-1125) and was also the name of a terrestrial paradise in the 16th century Spanish novel "Las Serges de Esplandian". The etymology is simply "worthy of a caliph or khalif" the name of wealthy Arab dignitaries.

Cambria. Latinized form of C ymru (see this word).

Cambodia.  A country in Southeast Asia.

In Khmer language Kampuchea. Kambuja or Kamboja was the ancient name of Cambodia. The name derives from Sanskrit Kamboja, which is the name of an ancient tribe still living as Kamboj & Kamboh in northern India and Pakistan. It is important to remember that Kamboja frequently referenced in ancient Sanskrit literature always refers to Kamboja located in the Uttarapatha of Indian Subcontinent and not to Kambuja or Kamboja located in Indochina archipelago as is erroneously supposed by some writers (Wikipedia).

Cameroon or Cameroun. A country in western Africa.

From Portuguese Rio de Camarões "River of Shrimps", the name given to the River Wouri by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century.

Canada. The largest country in North America.

From Huron kanata "establishment, village (Onomastica 10, 1955).

Canary Islands. Spanish islands in the Atlantic.

In Spanish Islas Canarias. The Latins called these islands insula Canariae. This name means nothing else than "island of the canaries" where these well-known cage birds originate. The people of the Iberian peninsula are fervent amateurs of cage birds. The canaries are prized for their song, and called by the Spaniards canarios meaning "songster", Latin canor "song", canorus "that utters a melodious song". The etymology "from canis `dog´ because of the large dogs that were found there" is an explanation given by Pliny who just supposed that the word derived from canis "dog". Guanches, the first natives of the islands, called the Canaries Tamaran "land of the forts".

Cape Verde. A country consisting of a group of islands in the Atlantic.

From the Portuguese Cabo Verde "green cape", named after the most westerly cape in western Africa.

Catalonia. A land in the northeastern Iberian peninsula.

Apparently so named by their neighbors on account of their garrulousness (the Catalans, like the Spanish talk loud and fast), from a root cat- "prattle, noise" etc.

 

French: Béarnais	catarinade	gossip
Catalan	catarineta	bagpipe
Spanish, regional	catarina	parrot and other noisy birds
Romanian	catalan	gull
Italian: Otranto	catalogna	magpie
Spanish: Malaga	catalinita	tern (a bird with a shrill voice)
French, regional	coteler	to prattle

etc.

The Catalans are said to have been called Lemosin (Limousin is a region in France); however, it is not known to which Catalans this name applies (other Gaulish tribes were called Catalans).

Cathay. See China.

Cayman Islands. A territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Caribbeans.

A Carib word for "crocodile".

Ceylon. Former name of Sri Lanka, an island and country in the Indian Ocean.

Ceylon, in Portuguese Ceilão, appears to be a corruption of Hindi silon, sinhal which is said to be from sinha, singh "lion". There is no explanation for this etymology. There are no lions on the island and probably never have been. Singh, sinha "lion" is coincidental with Sinhala, the indigenous people which were called Cinghalese and the language Sinhala. The island was called Taprobanè by the Ancient Greek and Sarandib by the Arabs (see those words). Taprobanè is a corruption of Sanskrit ta:Mradvipa, and Sarandīb from Sanskrit siMhabadvi:pa (Sinhala-dweepa), meaning "land of the Sinhala people"),  both meaning "island of copper".

Chad. A country in central Africa.

The country has been named after the lake Chad, which is from tsad, a local word meaning "a large expanse of water".

Chechnya. See Ichkerya.

Chile. A country in South America.

Said to be the name of a valley. Several etymologies have been posited. We opt for the most logical, proposed by Grau (2000): an Aymara name meaning "the most remote, the deepest". The Qechua word chili "limit of the world" is also a possible derivation. The Incas used to call Chili or Chilillaqta "land of Chili" any land situated south of Taltal, which the conquistadores called Chilimapu (in the Mapuche language mapu means "land"). When Pedro de Valdivia arrived in this country, the Aconcagua gap was called Valle del Chili.

China. A large country in eastern Asia.

Interestingly, China is not a Chinese word. The Oxford English dictionary (2^nd ed., 1991) says that it is found in Sanskrit writings from about two thousand years ago, and appears in various forms in several Asian languages. The earliest European usage is by Marco Polo, and the earliest cited English usage dates from 1555. The country was called Tchin or Tsinstan, by the Ancient Persian, before the Qin (or Tsin) dynasty, and Sinai by Ptolemy. However the Qin dynasty could not have inherited the name since the Chinese do not call their country Tsin but Zhon Guo (Tchung-kuo) which means "land of the middle" or "central country". China is called Chungoku by the Japanese, Kitat by the Mongols and Kitay by the Tatars (whence Kitaj by the Russian and Cathay by Marco Polo), the name of a Tatar kingdom; also spelled khotai. Kitay derives from Khitan the name of a people who conquered China in the 10^th  century.

Colombia. A country in South America.

Named after Christopher Colombus.

Comoros. An archipel in the Indian Ocean.

From Arabic Djazair al Qomr "island of the moon".

Congo. A country in Africa.

So called after the tribe Congo, a name later given to the river Zaire (see this name).

Corsica. A large French Island in the Mediterranean.

In the Corsican language Córsica, in French Corse. Origin of the name unknown.

Cossack. A people from Asia. In Russian kazak, from Turkish qàzàq "vagabond".

Costa Rica. A country in Central America.

The name means "rich coast". Costaricans are called Ticos by Latin Americans, a short for Costarriqueños.

Côte d'Ivoire. A country in western Africa.

The name means "Ivory Coast" in French. The French named the region in reference to the ivory traded from the area.

Crimea. Peninsula of the Black Sea. From Russian Krim (see Cymru).

Croatia. A region in the Balkans.

The country's name is Republika Hrvtska. From krvat "mountain", a name cognate to Albanian krep, Italian dialectal crap "rock", whence also the Karpathian Mountains. In ancient Greek Choroatès.

Cuba. An island and country of the Greater Antilles.

Apparently named from the Portuguese town of Cuba. There are some indications that the Portuguese discovered the Caribbean island before Colombus: they called the region ante ilhas, whence the later name Antilles. Also said to come from the Taíno Indian name Cubanacan "center place".

Cumbria. A county in nowthwestern England (see Cymru).

Cymru. An ancient Greek name for Wales.

Like the Scyths and the Scots, the Welsh were named by the ancient Greeks who called Kimbroi several peoples living in the far North: Kimbroi in Denmark and in the British Isles, Kimmerios in Campania (Italy) and in Sarmatia, whence Russian Krim the Crimea. Crimea Cambrua and Cumbria are latinisations of Krim and Kimbroi. The Skythos were also peoples from Sarmatia and the British Isles. Kimbroi means "peoples from the dark regions, the North" and belongs to the root k-m "dark":

Icelandic	skum	obscurity
Danish	skummel	obscure
Lettish	skumjas	obscure
Anc.Greek	Kimmerios	a people from Sarmatia
Italian	cimerio	obscure
Persian	kamar	a mythical bird who hides the sun and creates darkness
Hebrew	Kemet	Ancient Egypt (land of dark people)
Hebrew	Khām	son of Noah: the dark one
French, regional	camaiar	to blacken

etc. The etymology of Cymry "from a hypothical *com brog "compatriot'" is a Welsh etymology given to a foreign word.

Cyprus. An island in the eastern Mediterranean.

In Greek Kypros; the island of cypress trees (KLEIN, 1987, sub Cyprian) or from kypros "copper" because the island was the place par excellence where the ancients obtained copper (KLEIN, sub copper); the second explanation is probably correct.

Czech Republik. A country in central Europe.

The origin of the name is unknown. The proposed "etymologies" are unsatisfying.

Dahomey. Ancient name for Benin.

From the Dauma kingdom mentioned by Léon l'Africain in his Description de l'Afrique (1526) (Deroy & Mulon, 1992).

Dalmatia. A region on the Adriatic Sea.

From Albanian delmë "sheep": land of the sheep raisers. See Albania for parallel naming of the people of this region.

Deccan. The southern part of the Indian peninsula.

The name means "the South". In Sanskrit dak shina is "the right hand" (when one looks toward the rising sun).

Denmark. A country of Europe.

Literally "march (frontier) of the Danes". The Dani were mentioned by Jordanes (6^th century). The Danes were named for the color of their hair:

English	dun	reddish brown
English	dun crow	Hooded Crow
English, regional	dane	a red-haired man; a pink color combination; several plants with red flowers or berries
English	danish crow	Hooded Crow
English	Dane	a people characterized by the preponderance of fair-haired individuals

See Ambrons and Vandals. The Danes are called Datskij by the Russians.

Deutschland. The German name for their country.

From a name meaning "the people" and cognate to Lettish tauta "people", Lithuanian tauta "people, Germany". Old High German diot "people", diutisk "German", Middle High German tiutsche and German deutsch "German". See Dutch.

Djibouti. A country on the easte coast of Africa.

Named after the bottom point of the Gulf of Tadjoura. Possibly derived from the Afar word "gabouti", a type of doormat made of palm fibres. (Wikipedia).

Dominica. An island republic in the Lesser Antilles.

From the Latin "Dies Dominica" meaning "Sunday", the day of the week Christopher Columbus first landed on the island.

Dominican Republic. A country in  the Caribean, the eastern part of Hispaniola. Derived from Santo Domingo, the main city, which bears the name of the Spanish Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the founder of the Dominican Order (Wikipedia).

Dravida. Land in southern India where Dravidian language is spoken.

The name means "country of the hot sun".

Dutch. A name given by the British to the Germanic peoples.

The people of Germany were named named later by the more literary German borrowed from the Latin. Dutch, from Middle Dutch dutsch, Dutch duits, has remained the equivalent of Deutsch but has been restricted to the Netherlanders. See Deutschland.

Egypt. A country in northeastern Africa.

The country was first named Aegyptos by the Greek from a root meaning "to burn, hot, the South" to which belong the following terms:

Touareg	eg	to burn
Nubia	ug	day
Basque	egun	day
Basque	aguantz	dawn
Basque	ego	the South
Albanian, Slavic	jug	the South
Albanian	agim	dawn
Etruscan	aukèlos	dawn (in Hesychius)
Ancient Greek	aygè	dawn, sunlight
Ancient Greek	Aegyptos	Egypte
Basque	eguzku	sun
Ancient Greek	aygoustos	August: the hot month (the "month of the emperor August" by folk-etymology; August was not born when the Greek named the month)

The Egyptians call their country Misr (Persian masreg "the East"), the Hebrew call it Mitsrayim. Al Kimtà was the name of "Egypt" according to Herodotus. This name appears to come from Cham, the Semitic name for black people (see Hamite). Egypt was called Yàwan by the Hebrew (see this name).

El Salvador. "The saviour" in Spanish, named after Jesus.

England. Often taken improperly as a synonym of Great Britain.

"Land of the Angles", the name of a Teutonic tribe who came to Britain from the region of Angul, east of Schleswig in Germany. The etymology "from angle "fishing hook", "because of the hook-shaped district they came from" cannot be taken seriously. The English people are called by the Welsh Saisneg and by the Bretons Saez (Saxons). Lloegyr is the Welsh name for England. The modern Greek name for England is Anglia. The Koreans call England Igirisu (English).

Epire. A region in northern Greece.

In Ancient Greek Epeiros, from ēpeiros "firm land, continent".

Eritrea. A country in eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea.

Named by Italian colonizers, from the ancient Greek name for the Red Sea Erythrea Thalassa.

Eskimo. A people around Hudson Bay.

They have been called Eskimo or "eaters of raw meat" by their Indian neighbours of the South; from eski "raw meat" and mants "eat". Eskimos call themselves Inuit "the men"; compare Bantu and Ainu. The Eskimos dub the Europeans Qavdlumat "big eybrows".

Estonia. One of the Baltic countries.

In Estonian Eesti. Likely to have been named by the Swedes. In Swedish östan "East". The Ancient Greek Aestia, thought to be a region in Poland is probably the same word. The Estonians are called Iggauni by the Letts, Chukhonets by the Czech, Routsians (Russians) by the Swedes, and Ven by the Russians (see Vandals). Estonia is called Viro by the Finns, after the name of an ancient tribe in eastern Estonia.

Ethiopia. A country in eastern Africa.

Called Aithiopis by the Ancient Greek, a name meaning black face and applied to all black people. The name has been borrowed by the Ethiopians themselves as  Ityopya. The ancient Egyptians called it Kāsh, the Hebrew Kush, the name of a son of Cham. See Abyssinia.

Etruscan. An Illyrian people who lived in what is today northern Italy and Tuscany.

Both Tuscany and the rhotacised form Etruscan are cognate to Tosk, an Albanian people. According to Dionysius, the Etruscans called themselves Rasena or Rasna. The ancient Greeks called them Tyrrhenos.

Europe.

For the ancient Middle Eastern peoples, Europe was the region of the setting sun. From a Semitic root meaning dark:

Akkadian	erèbu	to go down (of the sun)
Hebrew	`érebh	sunset, evening
Anc. Greek	erebos	a place of nether darkness
Anc. Greek	Europè	Europe

The Greek word is borrowed from Semitic.

 

Falkland Islands. A territory of the United Kingdom. Named in honor of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, and the term was eventually applied to the whole island group. Malvinas

Fiji. An archipel in the western Pacific.

From the Tonganese name for the islands Viti.

Faroe Islands. Islands in the North Sea, territory of Denmark.

From Faroese føroyar "sheep islands".

Finland. A country in northern Europe.

Land of the Finns. So named for their blond hair, apparently by Gaelic people:

Gaelic	finne	whiteness
Gaelic	fionne	beautiful, blond, clear
Gaelic	finnog, feannog	Hooded Crow
Gaelic	Finngeinte	Norwegian, Finnish

The Finns are called Suomi by themselves, Soome by the Estonians (Sami is also the name by which the Lapps call themselves), and Chud by the Czechs.

Florida. One of the United States of America.

So named by the Spanish explorers from the extensive white sand beaches. From a root flor- meaning "white" :

Aromanian	flor	white
Romanian	flore	blond; white goat
Romanian	Flore	blond-haired goddess
Spanish: México	pascua florida	a white buzzard (Leucopternis)
Spanish	Florida	a peninsula with extensive white sand beaches (as seen by the first travellers)

 

Formosa. See Taiwan

France. The country of the Gauls.

The Franks were a Germanic people who dominated the northern part of Gaul. Their name means "the real ones". See Germany and Deutschland. The value of the word is still conserved in today's franc "true" as in Moineau franc, the House Sparrow, the true sparrow (as compared to the other species). France is called by the Finns Ranske (loss of initial /f/), by the Japanese Furansu, by the Chinese Falansa, Fa (Fa guo: land of the Fa), by the Koreans Pulanso, by the Indonesians Parancis (pronounced pranchis), by the Middle Eastern people Ferenghistan (country of the Franks). France is also called by the Welsh Gàl (Gaul), by the Irish Ghael, by the Bretons Broc'h Gall or Broc'hall (land of the Gauls), by the Greek Gallika (see Gaul). In Irish Letha was the name of Gaul and in Welsh Llydan is the name for Brittany. For these two names, see Lithuania. France is called Tsarfati by the Hebrews (Tzarfat was a place of exile as part of the Babylonian exile. Two biblical commentators, Radak and Rashi, who were living in France during the medieval times, connected the Tzarfat of the exile to the France of their era).

Gabon. A country in western Africa.

From the Portuguese pronunciation of the river name Mbe or Mpongo. The Portuguese discoverers called the river "río de Gabão". No sensible explanation can be put forward for a derivation from Portuguese gabão a type of hooded overcoat.

Gambia. From the river Gambia that runs through the country.

Gascony. A region in southwestern France.

Land of the Gascons, in Spanish Vascos "Basque"; these names, including "Basque", are all corruptions of the Basque language euskal "Basque".

Gaspésie. A region in the province of Quebec.

From Amerindian gaspeg "tip, extremity"; the region is situated at the eastern end of Canada.

Gaul. The ancient name of France.

Before the occupation of the land by Romance speaking people, Gaul was inhabited by a Celtic people. The name means "(land of the) braves", from a root gal-, val- "brave, powerful":

Italian	valda	power
Lithuanian	valdyti	to gouvern
Etruscan	valt, volt	greatness, glory
German	Geltung	value, authority, importance
English (slang)	gall	brass, cheek; to have gall: to be bold
English	gallant	brave, dauntless, fearless
French	gaillard	brave; a strong, vigorous  man
French	vaillant	valiant, brave
Old Irish	galda	brave
Gaelic Ireland	goil	bravery
Gaelic Scotland	gaoidheal	hero
Gaelic Scotland	Gael	Gaulish, Celtic; Gaeldoine "land of the Gaels"
Gaelic Scotland	Gaidheal	their own name (pronounced gayal)
French	Pays de Galles	Wales
English	Wales	country inhabited by a Brittonic people
English	Welsh	the people of Wales
German	Welsch	the Gaulish people
Slavic	Valach	the Gaulish and Roman people on their southern borders

 

Georgia. A country near the Black Sea.

The name is a western adaptation of Gurz, a people of Georgia. From Gurz are derived the Persian Gorji (the country is Gorjestàn), Turkish Gurdzi, archaic Russian Gurzi, today Gruzij (the country is Gruzija), Turkish Görcö, ancient Greek Georgoi, from which the western name Georgia. After the christianisation, the name has been associated to Saint George by folk etymology. The Armenians call the Georgians Virq and the country Vrastan. The Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ebi is the plural) and their country Sakartvelo which means "enclosure, fortified place".

Germany. A country in central Europe.

The English name is borrowed from the Latin Germanus which means "real". It was first mentioned by Poseidonios, Tacitus and Caesar. It is the exact equivalent of the French franc which is also the name of the Germanic tribe who immigrated into northern France and means "the real ones":

Italian	germano	true, real
Italian	cugino germano	natural cousin
Italian	germano	mallard, common duck: the real one
Italian, regional	jermanaru	in French moineau franc House Sparrow: the true sparrow (see France)
Spanish	hermano	brother: natural (true) brother

The Germans were called by the Ancient Greek Gnesioi (the true ones), a translation of the latin Germani. The Germans call themselves Deutsch (see Deutschland and Dutch). They are called Tedeschi (Teutons) by the Italians, Tysk by the Scandinavians, Saksa, Saksalaiset by the Finns (Saxons), Vàcietis (those from the West) by the Lithuanians, Allemands by the French (see Allemagne), Nemetes by the Romanians Nemets by the Russians, Nem by the Hungarians, Neamts by the Romanian, Niemcy by the Poles, and Nemdzios by the modern Greek. The eastern European people having suffered many invasions by the Germanic tribes have come to call them "the enemy", the actual meaning of nemets:

Italian	nemico	ennemy
Latin	inimicus	ennemy
Ancient Greek	nemesitos	guilty, criminal
Ancient Greek	Némesis	the personified vengeance
Slavic	nemu	barbare
Russians	Nemets	the Germans

These terms are formed with amicus "friend" preceded by the negative particle ne: the inimical people. The German invaders who extended to the Black Sea and southern Spain were certainly not welcomed as friends.

Ghana. A country in western Africa

After the ancient West African kingdom of the same name.

Gibraltar. The southern tip of the Iberian peninsula.

A corruption of Arabic Jebel Tarik "Tarik's mountain", named after Tarik ibn-Zeyand, a Berber who landed there in 711 to launch the Islamic invasion.

Goth. An ancient Germanic people.

The people from Gotland, southern Sweden. Several etymologies have been proposed, none of them satisfactory. One may retain gaot "the sea"; thus "people of the sea" or "from beyond the sea". Poland is also called Gudais (the Goths) by the Letts.

Granada. An island in the Caribbeans.

After the southern Spanish city of the same name.

Greece. A country and its islands in the eastern Mediterranean.

Graecus was the name given by the Romans to an Illyrian Epirotic tribe, the Graes. The name Graecus is said to be frequent in Etruscan onomastic. Also said to be from Graikos, the inhabitants of Graia in Boeotia. Perhaps not coincidentally, one may mention the Albanian village of Greci in Campania (Italy). From a root gr-k having the notion of raucous or having a desagreable voice. The Illyrian speech sounded unpleasant to a Roman ear. One might compare the name gringo given to foreigners by the Spaniards:

Breton	graka	to grate; grakal to crow
Ancient Greek	graukalos	a crow-like bird
Serbian, Russian	grak	crow
Polish	gracz	to talk loud; a card player
German, regional	gretsch	Nutcracker (grating call)
Italian, regional	greca	Garganey (duck with a rattling call)

gr-g:

Gaelic: Ireland	grág	raucous call, crowing
English: Scotland	graig	to make a noise in the throat
Gaelic: Ireland	grágaíl	cackling
Breton	gragala	to chirp
Breton	gregach	jargon
Spanish	gringo	unintelligible (language); foreigner
Breton	grigonsa	to gnash one's teeth

etc.

The Hungarian name for Greek is Görög. The Greek call themselves Hellen (see this word) and Rumi or Romaios (see Romanian). The modern Greek language is Romeka. They are also called Rumi by the Arabs, Rumeli by the Turcs, Hurumistan by the Kurds, Sasberdznetsi by the Georgians, Yunanistan by the Arabs. The Egyptians call the Greek Yevana, in Sanscrit Yavanah, in Old Persian Yaun, in Baluchi yunan. In Akkadian Yàvanu (Hebrew Yàwan) was the name of Egypt. These names appear to be from the Greek Iaones, Iaonos, Ionos, Ian the inhabitants of the Attique or the region bordering the Ionan Sea (see Ion).

Greenland. A country and island in the North Atlantic.

Groen Land (green land) was so named in 982 by Erik the Red. The explanation "in order to lure the colons" is rather naive. What advantage would Erik get by lying to lure the colonists? Compare with the no less naive etymology given to Iceland, attributed to an attempt to dissuade outsiders from attempting to settle on the land ! It is most probable that the land he described by that name was the North American continent, and that the name Greenland, along with Iceland, have shifted westwards: it seems logical that Greenland is in fact the Ice Land, and that western North America is the Green Land. On some ancient maps, Greenland and America were represented as one continent. The natives of Greenland call their country Kalaallit Nunaat "land of the men" i.e. themselves.

Guadeloupe A territory of France in the Antilles.

Christopher Columbus named the island in honour of the Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Estremadura, Spain when he landed in 1493.

Guam. An island in the western Pacific, territory of the United States of America.

From the native Chamorro word guahan "we have". (Wikipedia)

Guatemala. A country in Central America.

From an Amerindian language quauhtemalah "land of the trees".

Guinea (Bissau), and Equatorial Guinea. Countries in western Africa.

Formerly the Guinea was the name of all the coastal region between Senegal and Angola. This name means "the South", from a root guin- "red" to which belong the following terms:

Aramaic	gehina	red
Hebrew	gehinnon	hell, gehenna
Albanian	xhehenëm	hell
Arabic	genub	the South
Touareg	igenni	the sky
Berber	aguinaon	the inhabitants of a country to the South, whence Guinea
Persian	gunà	color
Gaelic Scotland	gineal	blood
French, dialectal	guinet	a red cow
French	guigne	cherry
Spanish	guindilla	a kind of red pepper, also called pimiento de guinéa
English	guinea	a gold coin (French guinée)

 

Guinea Bissau. A country in western Africa.

In Portuguese Bissão, the name of a tribe. See Guinea.

Guyana. A country in northern South America.

In Spanish Guayana, from the Amerindian tribe Ouayana, said to mean "land of many waters". Cayenne, the capital of French Guyana is from the name of the tribe Roucouyenne.

Gypsy, Gipsy. The name of a wandering people originating from India. For practical reasons, I still use this name which may not be "politically correct" any more.

The Gypsy earned themselves many names according to the region they were thought to come from, their occupation or their own qualities or defects as seen by outsiders:

From their supposed origin:

By themselves	Rom		The Gypsies opted to call themselves
Rom, a shortened form of Romani at their first congress in 1971. The name simply reflects the Romanian origin of most European Gypsies (cf. the following names). They radiated throughout Europe from Romania (rom in the Gypsy language does not mean "man" (as in Klein, sub Romany) but "a member of the Gypsy people". Claims that Rom is not related to Romanian are unfounded and are part of the "new pride" of the Gypsies
By the French (Gascony)	Roumani	(Romanian)
By the French (17th century)	Roumes
By the Hungarians	Romungre	Hungarian-speaking Gypsies
By western Europeans	Romani
By the French	Romanichel	probably so called originally by themselves: in their language chel means "people, race", Russian chelavek "man"
By the Norwegians	Romanisæl
By other northern Europeans	Romanichal, Romnichal, Romnichel
By the Italians	Valachio	(from Valachia = Romania)
By the right-bank Ukrainians	Volóxuja
By the Slavs	Vlax	<!--[if !supportMisalignedColumns]-->
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The Vlax (also Vlach, Wallachian) are a branch of European Romanies. Their dialect is characterized by a large lexical and structural influence from Romanian.

 

The Egyptians

By the French (in Provence)	Egyptiens
By the Albanians	Agupti
By the Romanians	Ighiptean
By the Turks	Kibtian
By the English	Gypcian, Gipson, Gypsy	East York. Gipsies, Ghypseys, Cumberl. Gyp, Scotland, Cheshire Egyptians
By the Irish Gaels	Giofog
By the modern Greeks	Jyptos, Jyphtos
By the Greeks  of the Peloponnese	Yifti	(the non-settled Gypsies)
By the Albanians and Macedonians	Evkos
By the Basques	Ijiito, Xito	the Spanish Gypsies
By the Italians	Gitano
By the Spaniards	Gitano
By the Spaniards in Aragon	Chitan
By the French (South)	Gitans
By the Albanian and Macedonian	Yevkos	the Greeks. For this word, see Greece
By the Albanians	Evgjit, Jevg