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Styrbiorn
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Topic: Origin of etymology of countries Posted: 14-Aug-2004 at 18:56 |
Originally posted by Lord Anatolius
Belorus (or Belorussia) is litteraly 'White Russia'. Ukraine is, I've been told although I can't confirm, is 'Little Russia'. |
I don't think Ukraine as a word has anything to do with Little Russia, but it is true that Ukraine was officially called "Little Russia" until rather recently.
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Posted: 14-Aug-2004 at 19:35 |
Well i can take a chunk out of this puzzle by pretty much summing up Central and Southern Asia for you...
all the "Stans" like Uzbekistan, Kazakistan, Turkmenistan etc literally
mean "land" - so Uzbekistan means "Uzbek Land" or "Land of the Uzbeks"
just as Turkmenistan = Land of the Turcomen
Afghanistan = Land of the Afghans etc
you get the idea...
When it comes to "Pakistan" = Land of the Pure, since "Pak" in Persian and Urdu means "Pure".
Edited by Khan
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Cywr
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Posted: 14-Aug-2004 at 20:13 |
Hmm, regarding Pakistan.
http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/P.html#Pakistan
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Arrrgh!!"
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Quetzalcoatl
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Posted: 14-Aug-2004 at 23:13 |
France
France derived from the tride known as the Franc(Frank) which means bold, fearless or wild or Free.
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Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 04:52 |
You make good points Mosquito and styrbiorn, although as I said I do not know. If we, say, divide Ukraine into 'uk' and 'raine', then that might well mean 'southern region' (i.e. юг = yug = south, район = rayon = region).
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demon
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Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 12:14 |
IIRC I read somewhere once that during the Middle Ages there were stories of a legendaric island in the Atlantic called Brasil. When the first Europeans reached Brazil they thought it was the island Brasil. Do you know whether this is true? |
I asked my Brazilian History Teacher and she said no. But that statement made sense in the fact that Amazon was called because of a similar analogy.
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Grrr..
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Tobodai
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Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 14:32 |
Originally posted by demon
The word Brazil originated from Brazill wood, a common type of tree that was found in Bahia, where the first explorers set foot on. Now they are almost gone due to human activity...
Brazil-Brazilwood
The word Korea originated from Corea(The Japs changed the initial to K so that their country came before), originated from French Coree(last e with accent), originated from Arabic Coreia, which originated from Goryo(Koryo,), a Korean country which was named to follow Koguryo(Goguryo,ϣ). The Arabs got Goryo because in Goryo dynasty the gov was open to foreign trade while in Choson era, they closed the country except to China and Japan.
Ko=Big, Guryo=Koguryo language meaning fortress, highland.
So Koguryo= Big Fortress
Korea-Corea-Coree'-Coreia-Goryo-Goguryo
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I am curious, are you half Korean half Brazillian, or an immigrant living in Brazil? Does that mean you know Portugese?
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"the people are nothing but a great beast...
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value."
-Alexander Hamilton
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demon
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Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 14:50 |
Demon's profile.
Blood: Korea
Birth at: Brazil
Living in: Brazil
Speakable Language: Korean, Portuguese, English, Spanish
Guess
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Grrr..
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ihsan
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Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 17:39 |
Trkiye comes from Arabic Turkiyya which definitially comes from Latin Turchia meaning "Land of Turks".
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boody4
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Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 18:05 |
I would rather say that it is land of plains not fields. Polans were the tribe who was living on plains and thats what it really means. At least thats how most of historians explain it. |
Oops, I was trying to look for the word plains but i just couldn't find it. Anyways, I meant flat terrain type and the only word that came to mind was field.
And about Ukraine, in Ukrainian its called "Ukraina", am I right? So if you divide it U-kraina, kraina would mean land or country. So it might mean in-land or in-country or "fill in the blank"-country/land?
The "Little Russia" is probably not the meaning. I know that an ancient polish province that was in today's Ukrainian territory was called "Red Ruthenia".
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Yiannis
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Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 06:02 |
It's not clear where the names Hellas and Greece come from. Some common explanations are that Hellenes comes from the Troyan war and means "children of Hellen" because that was the first time the Greeks of the time united (Helen was also the daughter of Zeus and Leda). Another explanation is that it derives from a small Greek tribe that settled in Thessaly. Helenos in ancient Greek means "the bright one".
Greeks, probably comes from the name of an Eboean colony in Italy with which the Roman came first in contact thus naming all Hellenes as "Greeks". Aristotle, who was the first to use Graikhos as equivalent to Hellenes ("Meteorologica" I.xiv) wrote that it was the name originally used by Illyrians for the Dorian Greeks of Epirus, from Graii, native name of the people of Epirus.
Btw, Aigyptos is also a Greek word meaning "sunburned" :-)
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The basis of a democratic state is liberty. Aristotle, Politics
Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
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fastspawn
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Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 10:13 |
i don't think it can be the "helen" theory. Why would the Hellenes name
themselves after a mortal woman who was not the first woman alive and
thus not their "mother"?
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Yiannis
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Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 10:46 |
I did some extra research and enhanced my knowledge on the matter. Of course I was ridiculously wrong in my previous post (the Hellen part). So here goes:
In Greek mythology, the Hellenes were descendants of Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, survivors of the Deluge. The Aeolians, Dorians and Ionians were descendants of Hellen's sons,Aeolus and Dorus, and Hellen's grandson Ion.
After the Deluge, Pyrrha bore Deucalion, king of Phthia, in Thessaly, five children: Hellen, Amphictyon, Protogeneia, Pandora and Thyia.
Amphictyon became the king of Athens, after deposing Cranόs (Cranus), his father-in-law. Amphictyon ruled for twelve years before Erichthonius deposed him.
From Zeus or Aeolus, Protogeneia became the mother of Aλthlius or possibly of Endymion (?). Her other sisters, were also seduced by Zeus. Pandora bore Graecus, eponym of the Greeks. Thyia became mother of Magnes and Macedon.
Hellen became the eponym of the Hellenes. Hellen married the nymph Orseοs (Orseis), who bore him three sons: Xuthus, Dorus eponym of the Dorians, and Aeolus, eponym of the Aeolians.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Prometheus.htm
Edited by Yiannis
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The basis of a democratic state is liberty. Aristotle, Politics
Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
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Rava
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Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 17:16 |
Originally posted by boody4
Poland, in English, basically just means "land of the Poles". Poles take their name from the Polanie, the founding tribe of the country who lent their name to the country. "Pole" means "field". The Polanie were people who did a lot of agriculture in the fieldy part of Poland. I'm going to guess that they chose their name because of this. So logically Polska(in polish) means "land of fields". |
The evidence of Polanie tribe is weak and doubtles. Some scholars belive that the name didn't existed.
At the time of Polish tribes settlement in the country the area was covered all over by the forest therefore why should they called themselves this way?
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boody4
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Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 17:39 |
Well maybe, originally the Polanie tribe was called after Lech(in the legendary story of the founding of Poland)just like the Czechs and Russians. And perhaps later, they changed their name because the country became plains, after they cut the trees, and they thought it sounded better than Lechs? I mean Polska sounds way better than Lechska, don't you think?
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Temujin
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Posted: 17-Aug-2004 at 10:57 |
Originally posted by Clovis
France
France derived from the tride known as the Franc(Frank) which means bold, fearless or wild or Free. |
where you have that from? I thought Frank is the name given to them after their favourite weapon, the throwing axe?
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Rava
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Posted: 17-Aug-2004 at 13:51 |
Originally posted by boody4
Poland, in English, basically just means "land of the Poles". Poles take their name from the Polanie, the founding tribe of the country who lent their name to the country. "Pole" means "plain". The Polanie were people who did a lot of agriculture in the plainy part of Poland. I'm going to guess that they chose their name because of this. So logically Polska(in polish) means "land of plains". |
Slavic tribes generaly took their names after the name of the territory they dwelled or the name of territory was transferred onto the tribal name. These terms: "field" or "plain", are not specific geografical names. The problem is that the closest toponym Lach /Lah/ is placed in... Turkestan. There's an interesting information about Central Asia:
The third chapter of the Chinese chronicle of Bejshu (from the beginning of the VII c.) mentions Ferghana under the name of "Bokhan"
"When describing the possession of Ninjuan the Tanshu chronicle says that it is "in fact a possession of Bokhanna, otherwise known as Bokhan. At the time of the Juan Vej dynasty it was called Polona"." (sic.)
"The compilation of the evidence in the ancient source and the archaeological data made B.A. Litvinskij suggest that Ferghana was connected with particular group of Hephthalites the "Red Chiones". [www.kroraina.com]
Isn't it wondering?
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Styrbiorn
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Posted: 17-Aug-2004 at 14:09 |
Originally posted by Temujin
Originally posted by Clovis
France
France derived from the tride known as the Franc(Frank) which means bold, fearless or wild or Free. |
where you have that from? I thought Frank is the name given to them after their favourite weapon, the throwing axe?
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A franka was not a throwing axe, but a throwing spear - a javelin. The traditional theory is that the Franks indeed were named after these, and later the word got stuck with "free" in the French language since the Germanic Franks became the only freemen in the land they conquered (nowadays France, just for clarification).
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Jalisco Lancer
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Posted: 17-Aug-2004 at 17:37 |
Mexico
Comes from the Nahuatl and means " in the middle of the moon ".
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Temujin
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Posted: 17-Aug-2004 at 19:45 |
Originally posted by Styrbiorn
A franka was not a throwing axe, but a throwing spear - a javelin. The traditional theory is that the Franks indeed were named after these, and later the word got stuck with "free" in the French language since the Germanic Franks became the only freemen in the land they conquered (nowadays France, just for clarification).
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where you ave that from? to my knowledge the javelin was called angon and the axe francisca...
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