Submitted by bentobam t3_10ohrv7 in explainlikeimfive
TheVicSageQuestion t1_j6fyu5r wrote
Reply to comment by justlookingforajob1 in ELI5: How do they come up with names for countries in foreign languages? by bentobam
e.g. “Germany” is so named because of all the germs. Maybe. Idk.
justlookingforajob1 t1_j6g089o wrote
From the Latin Germania which is what the Romans called the Germanic tribes who lived beyond the borders of the empire in that direction. I don't know where that term came from.
But an example is Bahamas is from the Spanish words "Baja mar" for "shallow sea"
TheVicSageQuestion t1_j6g3325 wrote
See, I thought the Bahamas were named after Baja Blast.
herrbdog t1_j6gliwt wrote
it's from the name of a local tribe near the rhine with whom the romans had contact: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Germany#:~:text=Etymology,in%20the%201st%20century%20B.C.E.
aharryh t1_j6gvwyv wrote
We got New Zealand because it looked like the Old Zealand
BonelessB0nes t1_j6gzqeg wrote
And we have Newfoundland because, at the time, they had only just recently discovered it.
logicalmaniak t1_j6i2jao wrote
In Welsh, Germany is Yr Almaen, which is from the Alemanni, an ancient Germanic tribal confederation.
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