Country's real names

[crpgnut]

Glad to see all the responses to this thread. I got really busy at work after posting it and just got caught up.
@Philistine; My dad's best friend is from England and he comes over every year or two for visits. Dad has been over there several times too. Both Dad and John are big fans of the youtube channel Lost in the Pond. It's about a guy from Grimsby? England that moved here about 14 years ago when he fell for an American woman. You might check out the channel.

I also like one with a younger couple from....Jersey? I think it's an English owned island close to the mainland...called the Beasley's or Beesleys maybe. Both are good for laughs between to two friendly nations.

 

[DArtagnan]

My country is called Danmark natively - and it essentially means "Field of Danes" or "The Danes' Field".

 

[Shagnak]

My country's other name is "Aotearoa" (in Maori).
It means something like "land of the long white cloud", though I'm not certain that our clouds are any longer than anyone else's.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

cute thread

I am Canadian, though technically a former citizen of Canada according to my US Citizenship papers, which aren't a legal document in Canada.

We call ourselves Canucks, though in some parts of the United States it's considered rude or even racist to say that in spite of us constantly telling them it's not. This is no different from the Canadian government calling the Eskimo "Inoo" in spite of them insisting it's okay and that they are neither Inoo nor Inuit (the Inuit also do not like being called Inoo).

We only find it rude (or stupid) if Americans pronounce it Canuke, as in "What's a Canuke?"
The answer to that of course is, "It's a Canadian. What's a Yankee?"
"Oh," is the usual reply after that.

Where did the word come from? That's another story.

I am also from British Columbia aka BC. Technically we are British Columbians but that's a mouthful so we call ourselves BCer's. My hometown is the city of Prince Rupert. We call ourselves, Rupertites. We sometimes get mixed up with our neighbour city 8 hours away, Prince George, who refer to themelves as from "Prince".

I know a few Canucks from an Enya fan community.

Recently, I came across a small exhibition about the knowledge of the Canadian Natives : It is called "The ones we met" : http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71...tional-knowledge-and-the-franklin-expedition/ and it is about the Franklin Expedition.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

The Name of Germany has not much to do with "Germans", as this was a namw given by Romans (by Caesar, I think, even) for the sole purpose of describing folks there. There might have been a single tribe with that name, and that name got used by the Romans to describe everyone else there, a similar thing happened with the Celts the Romans met.

"Deutschland", however, the name of Germany in its own language, has its own history. "Teutsch" were the common folks, the common people, and Martin Luther was the very first one who used the "common language" for the Bible. Everyone who was noble used Latin.

Modern Germany consists of German and Celtic parts - and within both, of several tribes. This can be read on Wikipedia.
A look on how complex this was, can be found in Wikipedia as well . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples

In the medieval times, there were literally hindreds of tiny kingdoms and lesser kingdroms, and they all had their own language / dialects. Martin Luther kind of unified them by using 1 common language.

So much later, the Nazis exploited everything "Germanic" and took that for their own idiology.
And because of that, scientific research about "Germans" can never be fully neutral again in Germany. Everything got so deeply tainted by the Nazis.

 

[largh]

My country is called Danmark natively - and it essentially means "Field of Danes" or "The Danes' Field".

At least over here in Norway "mark" means land (in the sense of ground). Then there are regional twists depending on geographic position: in Southern Norway people often mean woods/forest by "mark" (i.e. Nordmarka), while in Northern Norway, people associate "mark" with tundra (Finnmark, which translates Samiland based on the twisted once racist perception of the indigenous people there).

Since your forefathers cut all the trees and there are only fields (and pigs ) left, I bet you associate the word similarly to the Norwegians and the word probably originates from the old Norse language. Hence, a better translation would be Daneland.

Source, e.g. https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_(grenseområde)

 

[DArtagnan]

At least over here in Norway "mark" means land (in the sense of ground). Then there are regional twists depending on geographic position: in Southern Norway people often mean woods/forest by "mark" (i.e. Nordmarka), while in Northern Norway, people associate "mark" with tundra (Finnmark, which translates Samiland based on the twisted once racist perception of the indigenous people there).

Since your forefathers cut all the trees and there are only fields (and pigs ) left, I bet you associate the word similarly to the Norwegians and the word probably originates from the old Norse language. Hence, a better translation would be Daneland.

Source, e.g. https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_(grenseområde)

You could well be right, I really don't know

That said, Denmark is known for its heavy emphasis on farming/agriculture and could be considered more as one giant field than anything else, so I'm not entirely convinced.

 

[largh]

"Norge" derives from - well, there are of course at least two opinions. Most peoplle think that it comes from old norse "nordvegr" which means "the land in the north".

The etymology could also come from domestic rivalry between "austmenn" (the people in the east, Oslofjorden and the border region between current Norway and Sweden) and "nordmenn" (the people from the north; Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim). Hence, the name could also mean "the land of the people from the north". Note how "vegr" gets translated to "way". I think those words ("way" and "land") are somehow related in old Norse and old English.

Source: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norges_navn

To add my other country: Finland which is "Suomi" in Finnish. That could originate from "Suomaa", meaning "swamp land". Finland had more swamps than lakes (they call it "the land of thousand lakes" these days) before people drained them to make space for fields.

 

[largh]

You could well be right, I really don't know

That said, Denmark is known for its heavy emphasis on farming/agriculture and could be considered more as one giant field than anything else, so I'm not entirely convinced.

The name is certainly older than the fields. According to many sources, Denmark used to be covered in broadleaf forests before the Vikings cut them down to make boats and burn wood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperate_broadleaf_and_mixed_forests).

 

[DArtagnan]

The name is certainly older than the fields.

Well, "we" started farming six-eight thousand years ago (apparently, we were quite advanced early on) - according to the great bible of the Internet - so that's arguably not quite accurate.

That said, again, I really don't know. I'm not terribly invested either.

But I do know what mark means as a word today.

 

[largh]

Well, "we" started farming six-eight thousand years ago (apparently, we were quite advanced early on) - according to the great bible of the Internet - so that's arguably not quite accurate.

That said, again, I really don't know. I'm not terribly invested either.

But I do know what mark means as a word today.

I am not an anthropologist/archeologist either, but am a researcher. As far as I have understood, people were relatively gentle with the nature during the stone age. The Romans, and Vikings thereafter, changed things during the middle ages. They did not only murder people, but also destroyed the nature. What we associate "normal" these days was not how the nature was before the destruction. Most of Europe was covered in woods until people cut them down.

This source kind of shows what I mean. I.e. it's associated with field now in Danish, but according to the source meant "wilderness" in Old Norse. See how the association varies among Germanic languages. Fascinating...

 

[purpleblob]

I'm from Korea (altho living in Australia now)

In Korean, its called 대한민국 (pronounced "Dae Hahn Meen Gook" meaning Republic of Korea) or 한국 (pronounced "Hanh Gook" meaning Korea)

 

[purpleblob]

My country's other name is "Aotearoa" (in Maori).
It means something like "land of the long white cloud", though I'm not certain that our clouds are any longer than anyone else's.

I used to live in NZ

Imagine my confusion on my first day of school, when everyone sang NZ national anthem in Maori first - I was thinking ??? This doesn't sound like English??

 

[Pladio]

I'm from Korea (altho living in Australia now)

In Korean, its called 대한민êµ* (pronounced "Dae Hahn Meen Gook" meaning Republic of Korea) or í•œêµ* (pronounced "Hanh Gook" meaning Korea)

Any idea why Hahn Gook became Korea ?

 

[Lucky Day]

I know a few Canucks from an Enya fan community.

Recently, I came across a small exhibition about the knowledge of the Canadian Natives : It is called "The ones we met" : http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71...tional-knowledge-and-the-franklin-expedition/ and it is about the Franklin Expedition.

nice! thanks.
The Franklin Expedition is the theme of Canada's "Other National Anthem" by the legendary, late Stan Jonathan

Its not the positive hope and individualism of Americans in it's theme, but very Canadian in it's brave, tough ever pressing forward in it's ambition but ultimately forgotten in it's sheer loneliness and futility

 

[Lucky Day]

I'm from Korea (altho living in Australia now)

In Korean, its called 대한민êµ* (pronounced "Dae Hahn Meen Gook" meaning Republic of Korea) or í•œêµ* (pronounced "Hanh Gook" meaning Korea)

Ah, you are from the Choson Empire then

An Yong Ha Se Yo
My roommate was Korea but Young Gi Up Sir Yo

 

[bkrueger]

I'm from Korea (altho living in Australia now)

In Korean, its called 대한민êµ* (pronounced "Dae Hahn Meen Gook" meaning Republic of Korea) or í•œêµ* (pronounced "Hanh Gook" meaning Korea)

In a northern German dialect "Dae Hahn Meen Gook" sounds like "The cock says (means) gack." or better "The cock gackles." So may be Korea was founded by a bunch of chicken?

 

[purpleblob]

Ah, you are from the Choson Empire then

An Yong Ha Se Yo
My roommate was Korea but Young Gi Up Sir Yo

Hello.

What do you mean with second one? It sounds like either "I don't have courage" or "He/She isn't here"

 

[Couchpotato]

Well I lived all my life in the United States in a few different states.

Guess you could say British America, British West, Thirteen Colonies, United States, America, U.S, U.S.A, and of course North America. Yeah not very original like other posts.

 

[Lucky Day]

Hello.
"He/She isn't here"

"Hello, this is Young Gi's father. I want to speak to my son, Hong Young Gi."

at which I replied, "Young Gi Up Sir Yo"

at which he laughed, "HAHAHA, I understand, I understand"

So, Young Gi is not here