List of country name etymologies |
This is a list of English language country names with
their etymologies. Some of these are followed by native names and their etymologies. Countries in italics no
longer exist.
A
- Afghanistan: The name means 'land of the Afghans,' though the meaning of
the word 'Afghan' is unknown. One explanation is that it derives from Apakan, an 8th or 9th century Iranian ruler. Others point
out a 3rd-century-AD Sasanian (kings of
Iran who ruled most of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan during 241-642) reference to 'Abgan,' the oldest known mention of a word variant of Afghan. It also appears in the inscriptions of Shahpur I at Naksh-e-Rustam which mentions a
certain Goundifer Abgan Rismaund. Another possibility is that it comes from from the Sanskrit Upa-Ghana-Stan, "land of
the allied tribes."
- Albania: land of the highlanders. 'Alb' from the PIE root meaning "white" or "mountain". Mountain tribes from modern Kosovo
are thought to have brought their highland ethnonym to the narrow coastal plain.
- Shqipëria (Albanian name): means "land of the eagle", the eagle having probably been a tribal totem.
- Algeria: from the name of the capital city Algiers: French: Alger, from Arabic: Al Jazair ("The Island").
- America: see United States of
America below, and under "naming of America"
- American Samoa (territory of the United States of America): See Samoa and United States
of America below.
- Andorra: Unknown. Pre-Roman, possibly Iberian or Basque.
- Angola: From ngola, a title used by the monarch of the pre-colonial
Kingdom of Ndongo.
- Anguilla (territory of the United Kingdom): When Christopher
Columbus sighted the island in 1493 he called it 'Anguilla' - Spanish for 'eel,' - due
to it's elongated shape.
- 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.
- Argentina: from the Latin "Argentum"
meaning 'silver'. Early Spanish and Portuguese traders used the region's Rio de la Plata or 'Silver River' to transport silver and other treasures
from upstream Peru. The land around the terminal downstream stations became known as
"Argentina" 'Land of Silver'.
- Armenia:
- Hayastan (Armenian name):
- Aruba (territory of Netherlands):
There are two possible meanings. One is that the island was named by Spanish explorer
Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. He named it 'Oro Hubo,' meaning that gold was present ('Oro' is Spanish for 'gold'). Another possible meaning is that it derives from the Arawak Indian word 'oibubai,' which means 'guide.'
- Australia: from "unknown southern land" (Latin: terra australis incognita). The territory was named by early European explorers who were conscious of the
fact that the Australian landmass was far larger than they had yet investigated. Explorer Matthew Flinders (1774-1814),
the first to sail around and chart the Australian coast, used the term "Australia" in his publication.
- Austria: "eastern kingdom", c.f. modern German Österreich. 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. Charles the Great dubbed the region "Ostmark" 'Eastern border territory'. In the 11th century the term Ostarrichi first appeared.
- Azerbaijan: "land of fire", native spelling Azərbaycan (from
surface fires on ancient oil pools; its ancient names Atropatene or
Atarbatakan became Azerbaijan in Arabic)
B
- Bahamas: from the Spanish Baja Mar meaning 'Low (Shallow) Sea'. Spanish
Conquistadors thus named the islands from the waters around them.
- Bahrain: from Arabic, 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, and some believe that the 'two seas' are the waters of the bay on either side of the island. Others believe
that the reference is to Bahrain's position as an island in the Persian
Gulf, separated by 'two seas' from the Arabian coast to the south and Iran to the
north. Yet another claim is that the first sea is the one around Bahrain and the second sea is the abundant natural spring waters
under the island itself.
- Baker Island (territory of the United States of America): named after Michael Baker, of New Bedford, who claimed to have discovered it in 1832 (it had actually
been discovered before then).
- Bangladesh: from Bengali/Sanskrit, Bangla referring to the Bengali
speaking people, and Desh meaning "country", hence "Country of the Bengalis". The country was previously part of India
and Bengali culture spans a wider area over India (in the state of West Bengal) and Bangladesh.
- Barbados: Named by the Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos 'Los Barbados' ('The
Bearded Ones') in 1536 after the appearance of the island's fig trees, whose long roots
resemble beards.
- Bassas da India (territory of France):
- Belarus: "White Rus'", "White Ruthenia", formerly known as Byelorussia,
a literal translation from Russian, "White Russia". See below,
Russia. 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 nations. See Belarus: Name for more.
- Belgium: from the name of a Celtic tribe,
the Belgae. Possibly further derived from the PIE "Bolg" meaning 'bag' or 'womb' indicating common descent.
- Belize: traditionally said to be from the Spanish pronunciation of Wallace, the
name of the pirate who created the first settlement in Belize in 1638. Another possibility is that the name is from the Mayan word
belix, meaning "muddy water", applied to the Belize River.
- Benin: named after an old African Empire named Benin, on whose territory modern
Benin does not actually lie. What is now Benin
was previously known as Dahomey, after its principal ethnic group.
- Bermuda (territory of the United Kingdom): get it's name from the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez who sighted
the islands in 1503.
- Bhutan: land of the Bhotia. Ethnic Tibetans or "Bhotia" migrated from Tibet to Bhutan in the 10th century. The common root
is "Bod", an ancient name for Tibet.
- Druk Yul (Bhutanese name): land of the thunder dragon, land of thunder, or land of the dragon.
- Bolivia: from Simón
Bolívar 1783-1830, an anti-Spanish militant and first president of Bolivia after its independence in 1824.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Traditionally, the region
consisted of two distinct territories; the larger northern section was named after the Bosna river. The smaller southern
territory takes its name from the German noble title Herzog, meaning "Duke". The rank was conferred upon the territory's ruler
Grand Waywode in 1448 Stephan Vikcic by Emperor Frederick IV.
- Botswana: named after the country's largest ethnic group, the Tswana. The
former name Bechuanaland was derived from Bechuana: an alternative spelling of Botswana.
- Bouvet Island (territory of Norway): named after the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Lozier Bouvet who discovered the remote island in 1739.
- Brazil: from the brazilwood tree,
which in turn was named because its reddish wood was the color of red-hot embers (brasil in Portuguese).
- Britain: from Pritani, "painted"; a reference to the original
inhabitants of the islands use of body paint and tattoos; may also derive from the Celtic goddess Brigid. See also United Kingdom below.
- British Virgin Islands (territory of the United Kingdom):
- Brunei: in its full name "Negara Brunei Darussalam", "Darussalam" means "Abode of
Peace" in Arabic, while "Negara" means "State" in Malay.
- Bulgaria: "land of the tribe formed of many tribes", "Bulg" from a Turkic root
meaning "mixed"
- Burkina Faso: "land of upright people" or "land of honest men" or "land
of the incorruptible".
- Burma: after the Burmese people.
- Myanmar (ruling junta's preferred name): 'Myan' means 'quick/fast' and 'mar'
means 'hard/tough/strong.'
- Burundi: land of those speaking the Rundi language.
C
- Cambodia: from Cambu Svayambhuva, an ancient sage from whom the original kings of Cambodia claimed
descendancy.
- Cameroon: from Portuguese Rio de Camarões ("River of Shrimps"), the name given to the River Wouri by Portuguese
explorers in the 15th century.
- Canada: "little settlement" or "the village" in an Algonquian language (referring to Stadacona, a settlement near present-day Quebec
City)
- Cape Verde: from the Portuguese Cabo Verde, "green cape", after a
cape in Western Africa.
- Cayman Islands (territory of the United Kingdom): Christopher
Columbus discovered the islands in 1503 after being blown of course from Panama to Hispaniola. He called the islands
'Las Tortugas', meaning 'The Turtles' in Spanish, due to the large numbers of turtles on the islands. Around 1540 the islands gained the name 'Caymanas', a Carib word for 'marine crocodile,' as the animals can be found on
the islands.
- Central African Republic: Gets it's name from
it's geographical position on the continent of Africa.
- Chad:
- Chile: the exact meaning is unknown. Possiblities include that it comes from a native
Aracaunian term meaning "the depths", a reference to the fact that the Andes mountain
chain looms over the narrow coastal flatland. The Qechua or Mapuche Indian word 'chili/chilli' or 'where the land ends/where the
land runs out/limit of the world' is also a possible derivation. Another possible meaning is that it comes from the native word
'tchili,' meaning 'snow.'
- China: after the Qin Dynasty in
Sanskrit (see also: China in world languages)
- Zhong Guo (Chinese name):
- Christmas Island (territory of Australia):
- Clipperton Island (territory of France): named after the English mutineer and pirate John Clipperton, who made it his hideout in 1705.
- Cocos
(Keeling) Island (territory of Australia):
- Colombia: named after the explorer Christopher Columbus, despite the fact that he never actually set foot in the country.
- Comoros: from the Arabic "Djazair al
Kamar" - 'Island of the moon'.
- Congo:
- Congo, Democratic Republic of:
- Cook Islands (territory of New Zealand): named after Captain James Cook
who sighted the islands in 1770.
- Costa Rica: means 'rich coast' in Spanish, a name given to it by Spanish
explorer Gil Gonzalez
Davila.
- Côte d'Ivoire: means 'Ivory Coast' in French. It was named by the French in reference to the ivory that was present in the country.
- Croatia: *unknown, but thought to be Sarmatian in origin.
- Hrvatska (Croatian name):
- Cuba: Taino Indian, "Cubanacan" - 'center place'
- Cyprus: derived from the Greek for 'copper'
(in Greek: 'Kypros'), in reference to the copper that was present on the island.
- Czech Republic: from Čechové (Češi
, i.e. Czechs), the name of one of the Slavic tribes on the country's territory, which managed to subdue the other Slavic tribes
around 900. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown (according to a legend, it comes from their leader
Čech, who brought them to Bohemia)
D
- Democratic Republic of Congo: See
Congo, Democratic Republic of, above
- Denmark: from Proto-Indo-European *dhen "low" or 'flat' and Germanic "mark": "border land" and/or "border forest". Name used by the ancient Goths to describe
the Forest separating Gothland from (then Danish) Scania.
- Djibouti, 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. It is also possible, although unproven, that
Djibouti means "Land of Tehuti" or Land of Thoth, the Egyptian Moon God.
- Dominica: From the Latin "Dies Dominica" meaning "Sunday", the day of the week
Christopher Columbus first landed on the island.
- Dominican Republic:
E
- East Timor From the Malay word timur meaning "east". In its
official Tetun language East Timor is known as Timor Lorosae or 'east Timor'. To neighboring Indonesia it is known as
Timor Timur, etymologically 'eastern east'. But in Indonesia the name is usually shortened as Tim-Tim.
- Ecuador: "equator" in Spanish, as the
country lies on the Equator.
- Egypt: from Greek
Αἴγυπτος Aigyptos (attested in Mycenean), derived from the Egyptian name of
Memphis, meaning "temple of the soul of Ptah"
- Misr ( Egyptian Arabic name): a widespread Semitic word first
used to mean Egypt in Akkadian, and means "city".
- Kimi (Coptic name): simply means "black" (ancient Egyptian
kmt), as opposed to the desert, which was called "red"
- El Salvador: "the saviour" in Spanish, named after Jesus Christ.
- Equatorial Guinea: from the word 'equator' from that
country's geographical location, and perhaps from the Berber term "aguinaoui", which means "black".
- Eritrea: named by Italian colonizers, from the ancient Greek name for the
Red Sea "Erythrea Thalassa".
- Estonia: from the Germanic "eastern way". Usually wrongly derived from
Aestia of the ancient Greek writings, Aestia
actually being modern Masuria in Poland,
and probably derived from a Baltic root meaning "speckled", the land being 'speckled'
with lakes.
- Ethiopia: from the Latin "Aethiopia",
meaning "land of the blacks", its roots the Greek
αἴθειν aíthein "to burn" and ὤψ ṓps "face". The old name
"Abyssinia" is derived from the Arabic
"mixed", a reflection of the many ethnic groups inhabiting the country.
- Europa Island (territory of France):
F
- Falkland Islands (territory of the United Kingdom): the sound (straight) between the the two main islands was
named the Falkland Sound by
the English Captain John Strong
when he landed on the islands in 1690. The name was in honour of Viscount Falkland, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, and the term was
eventually applied to the whole island group.
- Islas Malvinas (Argentinian name): comes from the French sailors
who frequented the islands during the 1690's. They came from St. Malo in Brittany, France, and were often referred to as
the 'Malouines' which is where the Spanish name comes from.
- Faroe Islands (territory of Denmark): from Faroese Føroyar, 'sheep islands'.
- Fiji: from the Tonganese name for the islands 'Viti'.
- Finland: from the Germanic Finn, probably from a root meaning "hunter and gatherer" and
related to the word "find".
- Suomi (Finnish name): may derive from the Baltic root for "land".
- France: "land of the Franks", literally
"land of the free men". The region had earlier been known as Gallia (Gaul), from the name of a Celtic tribe.
- French Guiana (territory of France): see France above and Guyana below
- French Polynesia (territory of France):
- French Southern and Antarctic
Lands (territory of France):
G
- Gabon from the Portuguese name for the River Mbe: "Gabao" (a type of hooded overcoat)
from the shape of the river estuary.
- Gambia:
- Georgia:
- Sak'art'velo (Georgian name):
- Germany: from Latin "Germania", of the
3rd century BC, of unknown origin. The OED2 records theories about the Celtic roots gair, neighbour (from Zeuss), and gairm, battle-cry (from Wachter and Grimm). Partridge suggested
*gar, to shout, and describes the gar (spear) theory as 'obsolete'.
- Allemagne (French), Alemania (Spanish): either "land of all the men" i.e. "our many tribes" or from the Alamanni, a southern Germanic tribe.
- Deutschland (German name): from ancient German "theoda" (people)
and "land" (land): "land of the people"
- Nemetsy (Polish: Niemcy; Romanian: Nemţi; Czech: Německo; Slovak:
Nemecko; Hungarian: Német(ország)): "land of
the mute" (where "mute" is a metaphor for "those who do not speak our language"). The Hungarian word is a Slavic (Slovak) loan
word.
- Tyskland (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish), Tedesco (Italian adjective form):
from the Old High German word "diutisc", meaning "of the people."
This word in a different form also evolved into the word "Deutschland". (see above)
- Ghana: after the ancient West African kingdom of the same name. The modern territory
of Ghana was however never part of the previous polity.
- Gibraltar (overseas
territory of the United Kingdom): A corruption of the Arabic words 'Jebel Tarik' which means 'Tarik's Mountain,' named after Tarik-ibn-Zeyad. He was a Berber who landed at Gibraltar in 711 to launch the Islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.
- Glorioso Islands (territory of France):
- Greece: from the Latin Græcus
(Greek Γραικοί, claimed by
Aristotle to refer to the name of the original people of Epirus)
- [Hellas]]/Ellas/Ellada (Greek name): means "land of light" and is related to helios meaning "sun".
- Greenland (territory of Denmark):
named by Eric the Red in 982 to attract settlers.
- Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenlandic name): "lands of humans".
- Grenada: after the southern Spanish city of the same name.
- Guadeloupe territory of France):
Christopher Columbus named the island in honour of the
Santa Maria
de Guadalupe in Estremadura, Spain when he landed in 1493.
- Guam (territory of the United States of America):
- Guatemala:
- Guinea:
- Guinea-Bissau:
- Guyana: from the indigenous peoples who called the land 'Guiana,' meaning 'land of
many waters,' in reference to large number of rivers in the area.
H
- Haiti : Taino/Arawak Indian, 'Hayiti/Hayti' meaning 'mountainous land', the island it lies on is 'Hispaniola' roughly,
'little Spain', but was also originally known also as Hayiti.
- Honduras: Christopher Columbus named the country 'Honduras,' Spanish for "depths", a reference to the deep
waters off the northern coast.
- Howland Island (territory of the United States of America): Captain George E. Netcher named the
island after the lookout who sighted it from his ship the Isabella on September 9, 1842.
- Hungary: Turkic
on-ogur, "people of the 10 spears." In other words, "alliance of the ten tribes". Named after the seven Magyar tribes and three Khazar tribes who settled in
the region.
I
- Iceland: "land of ice" (Ísland in Icelandic). So named to dissuade
outsiders from attempting to settle on what was actually fertile land.
- India: After the Indus River in
modern-day Pakistan.
- Bharat (native name): 'Bharat' is often said to derive from the name of any of two ancient kings named Bharata.
- Indonesia: "Indies Islands" from the Greek νῆσος nēsos "island", added to the country name
India. (Indonesia was previously known as the 'East Indies').
- Iran: "land of the Aryans" or "land of the
free". The term "Arya" derived from the PIE (Proto Indo-European), and generally carrying the
meaning of 'noble' or 'free', cognate with the Greek-derived word "aristocrat".
- Persia: (former name): from Latin, via Greek "Persais", from Old Persian "Paarsa",
a placename of a central district within the region, modern Fars. A common Hellenistic folk-etymology derives 'Persia' from "Land
of Perseus".
- Iraq: from the city of Erech/Uruk (also known as
'Warka') near the river Euphrates. It is believed to be the first major Sumerian city (and therefore the world's first as well).
- Ireland: after Éire from proto-Celtic
*Īweriū "the fertile place" or "Place of Éire (Eriu)" a Celtic fertility goddess. Often mistakenly derived as
"Land of Iron"
- Israel: an alternative name for the biblical patriarch Jacob, literally "struggled with God."
- Italy: "son of the bull god" or "calf god", the term originally referring only to a
small region at the southern tip of modern Italy.
- Ivory Coast: see Cote d'Ivoire above
J
- Jamaica: Taino Indian "Hamaica", land of
wood and water, or perhaps "Land of Springs".
- Jan Mayen (territory of Norway):
the origin of the name is disputed. The general consensus is that it derives from a Dutch sailor named Jan Mayen who came across
the island in 1614 (he didn't actually discover it). Others say that it derives from 'Jan
Meys Hoel,' a promontory named by Joris Carolus in honour of the captain
of one of his ships.
- Japan: "ribenguo" in Chinese or "sun origin country" or "land of the rising sun", indicating Japan as lying to the east of China (where the sun rises). Japanese scholars
borrowed the term, simplifying it from Nippon-gu to Nihon-gu, currently simply Nihon or Nippon, "Origin of the sun."
- Jarvis Island (territory of the United States of America):
- Johnston Atoll (territory of the United States of America): named after Captain Charles J. Johnston, the
commanding officer of the ship H.B.M.S. Cornwallis, who came across the atoll on 14th December, 1807.
- Jordan: after the river, whose name derives from the Hebrew and Canaanite root yrd "descend" (into the Dead Sea.)
- Juan de Nova (territory of
France):
K
- Kazakhstan: means 'land of the Kazaks.' The meaning of the word 'Kazakh' is
hard to express exactly, but it means something along the lines of 'independent/rebellious/wanderer/brave/free.'
- Kenya: after Mount Kenya, from the Kikuyu name Kere-Nyaga ("Mountain of
Whiteness").
- Kingman Reef (territory of the United States of America): named after Captain W.E. Kingman, who came across the reef
whilst sailing in the boat Shooting Star on November 29, 1853.
- Kiribati: an adaption of "Gilbert", from the European name "the Gilbert Islands".
- Korea: after the Koryu Goryeo
Dynasty, the first Korean dynasty visited by westerners. The native name is Hangeuk. The ancient Choson meant "land of
morning calm".
- Kuwait: from the Arabic diminutive form of "Kut/Kout" meaning 'Fortress built near
water.'
- Kyrgyzstan: derives from three words - 'kyrg' meaning '40,' 'yz' meaning
'tribes' and 'stan' meaning 'land' - 'land of 40 tribes.'
L
- Laos:
- Latvia:
- Lebanon: from the Semitic "Laban", "white", referring to the snow on Lebanon's
mountains
- Lesotho: after the Sotho people.
- Liberia: from the Latin liber, 'free', so named because the nation was
created as a homeland for freed American slaves.
- Libya: after an ancient Berber tribe called Libyans by the Greeks and
Rbw by the Egyptians.
- Liechtenstein: "light stone" ('light' in weight rather than in
brightness). The country was named after the Liechtenstein dynasty purchased and united the counties of Schellenburg and Vaduz
and were allowed by the Holy Roman Emperor to rename the new property after its own family.
- Lithuania: Scholars still cannot figure out the origin of Lithuania, or
Lietuva in Lithuanian. A Latin form of the word, Lituae, was first used in a chronicle in 1009 describing how an archbishop "was
struck over the head by pagans in Lituae and then went to heaven." A 16th century scholar associated the word with the Latin word
litus, or tubes—a possible reference to wooden trumpets played by Lithuanian tribes. Modern scholars tend to brush this
explanation aside, saying, instead, that Lithuania must have derived from the name of a river. But while it doesn't necessarily
disprove the river theory, no one has been able to prove that a river resembling the name Lietuva ever actually existed.
- Luxembourg: (Celtic 'Lucilem' "small" and Germanic 'burg' "castle",
lucilemburrugh) 'little castle'.
M
- Macedonia:
- Madagascar:
- Malawi: from the native "Flaming Water", perhaps after the reflections on lake
Malawi.
- Malaysia: land of the Malay
people
- Maldives: From the Sanskrit mahal, 'palace', diva, 'island',
thus "palace island". The main island, Male, held the palace of the islands' Sultan.
- Dhivehi Raajje (Maldivian name):
- Mali: after the ancient West African kingdom of the same name, upon which a large part
of the modern state lies.
- Malta: from the Phoenician
MLT meaning "refuge". The term may have been kept long in currency by the existence of the Greek and Latin word melitta
or "honey", the name of the island in classical times, and also the major export from the island during those centuries.
- Marshall Islands named after British Captain John Marshall, who
was the first to document the existence of the islands in 1788.
- Martinique (territory of France):
When Christopher Columbus landed on the island in 1502 (he had sailed past it in 1493 but neglected to land) he
named it in honour of St. Martin.
- Mauritania: misnamed after the classical Mauretania in northern Morocco, itself named after the Berber Mauri
tribe.
- Mauritius: named after Dutch Staatholder, Prince Maurice of Orange.
- Mayotte (territory of France):
- Mexico: after the Mexica branch of the
Aztecs
- Micronesia: from the Greek words 'mikros' (small) and 'nesos'(islands) - 'small islands.'
- Midway Islands territory of the United States of America):
- Moldova: from the river "Moldova" in Romania, itself named from the open pit
mining its waters assisted. Molde is the German term for such a mine.
- Monaco: "himself alone" a reference to the Greek demigod Hercules.
- Mongolia:
- Montserrat (territory of the United Kingdom: Christopher Columbus
named the island 'Santa Maria de Montserrate' while sailing past it in 1493 because it
reminded him of the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrate in Spain.
- Morocco from the city "Marrakesh", believed to derive from the Berber roots tamart "land" + akush "God".
- Al Maghrib (Moroccan name):means "the Farthest West".
- Mozambique:
N
- Namibia: from the coastal Namib Desert. Namib means "area where there is nothing"
in the Nama language.
- Nauru:
- Navassa Island (territory of the United States of America):
- Nepal: "wool market"
- Netherlands: Germanic 'low lands'
- Holland (part of the Netherlands; the term is often used to refer to the country
as a whole): Germanic 'holt (i.e. wooded) land' (often incorrectly regarded as meaning 'hollow [i.e. marsh] land')
- Batavia (Germanic): 'arable land' (derived from Betuwe as opposed to -the
regional name "Veluwe" meaning 'fallow' or 'waste' 'land'
- Netherlands Antilles: (territory of Netherlands):
- New Caledonia (territory of France): Captain James Cook named the islands in 1774 in reference to Scotland. The mountains he saw
reminded him of those in Scotland ([['Caledonia' being Latin for 'Scotland').
- New Zealand: after the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands, which means 'Sealand' in reference
to the large number of islands it contains. New Zealand was originally named
'Nieuw-Zeeland' by the Dutch, meaning 'New Sealand.' It is believed that the 'Z' was retained to preserve the original Dutch
pronunciation.
- Nicaragua: named after Nicarao, a leader of an indigenous community inhabiting the shores of Lake Nicaragua.
- Niger:
- Nigeria: from a local African language "Ni Gir", "river Gir."
- Niue (territory of New
Zealand):
- Norfolk Island (territory of Australia): named by Captain James Cook in 1774, who was so struck by it's beauty that he named it in honour of the ninth Duchess of Norfolk, wife of a
noble peer and benefactor.
- Northern Mariana Islands (territory of the
United States of America):
- North Korea: see Korea above.
- Norway: from the old Norse northr and veg "northern way". The
Norwegian name Norge is from the roots northr and rike, "Northern Kingdom".
O
- Oman: disputed origin. Some sources claim that the name derives from an Arabic term for "settled" (as opposed to nomadic), or from other Arabic words meaning peace or trust. Others claim that it was named after a person, possibly
Oman bin
Ibrahim al-Khalil, Oman bin Siba' bin Yaghthan bin Ibrahim, Oman bin Qahtan, or Oman bin Loot
(the Arabic name for the biblical figure Lot). The name has been in
existence for some time, having been mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy (85 AD: 165
AD).
P
- Pakistan: the word has two meanings. The main meaning was coined by Cambridge student Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1933. He made the name
an acronym of the different states/homelands/regions, which break down into: P=Punjab,
A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, I=Iran, S=Sindh,
T=Turkharistan, A=Afghanistan and N=BalochistaN. However, there is another more common meaning for the
initials: P=Punjab, A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, S=Sindh and TAN=BalochisTAN. It is not known which is the 'proper' meaning of the initials. The secondary meaning is
the Urdu one, "land of the Paks," 'Pak' meaning 'pure' in Urdu and 'stan' meaning 'land.
- Palau:
- Palestine (occupied by Israel):
from the Roman name for the country, literally "land of the Philistines". The term "Philistine" itself is first attested in
ancient Egyptian, in the form "P-r-s-t", as a name for one of the Sea
Peoples.
- Palmyra Atoll (territory of the United States of America): named after the boat Palmyra,
which belonged to the American Captain Sawle. He sought shelter on the atoll on November 7, 1802, and became the first person to land on it.
- Panama: after a former village near the modern capital. From the Cueva Indian language meaning "place of abundance of
fish/place of many fish", possibly from the Caribe "abundance of butterflies", or possible from another native term referring to
the Panama tree.
- Papua New Guinea: "Papua" meaning "Land of the people with the
frizzy hair", named by the neighboring Malays (who generally have straight hair), or possibly the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Meneses. 'New Guinea' comes from the Spanish explorer
Inigo Ortiz de
Retes, who thought that the people looked similar to those of Guinea in Africa.
- Paraguay: the exact meaning of the word 'Paraguay' is unknown, though it seems
to derive from the river of the same name. One of the most common meanings attributed to it is that it means 'water of the
Payagua,' the Payagua being a native tribe. Another meaning is
that it comes from the native words 'paragua' and 'i' meaning 'crowned river.'
- Peru: the exact meaning behind thw word 'Peru' isn't known, the most popular theory
being that it derives from the native word 'biru' meaning 'river' (ie. the River Biru in modern Ecuador). Other explantions are that it comes from the name of an Indian Chieftan, Beru, who, due to his not
understanding Spanish, told explorers his name when they actally asked what the land
was called. Another possibilty is that it derives from 'pelu,' which is believed to be an old native region.
- Philippines: "lands of King Philip" (the 16th century Spanish
Monarch).
- Pitcairn Islands (overseas territory of the United Kingdom): the
remote islands were discovered by a member of the English Captain Philip Carteret's crew in his boat HMS Swallow in July 1767. The man who discovered it was son to Major Pitcairn of the marines, and the main island was called
Pitcairn's Island in his honour.
- Poland: (Polska) From the Polish pole, "field" in meaning "country of
fields". One of the theories assume, that Poland is translation of latin Kampania into Polish. Kampania used to be respectable
province and new Polish king Boleslaus I of Poland wanted
to be king of respectable kingdom. Other theory introduce the tribe Polanie, "field people", and Poland is the country
created by Polanie.
- Portugal: From the Latin portus, "port" and the name of the Roman port
of Cale, on the earlier Greek colony of Calle (beautiful in
Greek). The junction name cames after the name of the Portus
Cale (adding Portus to the old name), modern Oporto.
- Puerto Rico (territory of the United States of America): Christopher Columbus named the island 'San Juan' in honour of Saint John in 1493. A capital city was set up called 'Puerto Rico',
meaning 'rich port.' For still unknown reasons the island and capital city changed names in the early 1500's.
Q
- Qatar: The origin of the name Qatar is unknown.
R
S
- Saint Helena (territory of the United Kingdom: The Portuguese navigator Juan da Nova discovered the island on 21st May 1502, and as that was Saint Helena Day (mother of the Roman emperor Constantine) he named the island Saint Helena.
- Saint Kitts and Nevis:
- Saint Lucia:
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon (territory of
France):
- Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines: named after the Spanish Saint Vincent by Christopher Columbus on 22 January 1498, the day of the Feast of
Saint Vincent.
- Samoa:
- San Marino: gets it's name from Marinus, a Christian Stonemason who fled the island of Arbe (in modern day Croatia) to escape the anti-Christian Romans. He
made his refuge on Mount Titano
with his Christian followers in 301 AD/305 AD in the area that would be named San
- Italian for 'Saint' - Marino.
- São Tomé and Príncipe: Portuguese: Saint Thomas and Prince (Islands).
- Saudi Arabia:
- Senegal: after a Portuguese spelling of the Zenaga (Arabic Senhaja) tribe
which dominated much of the area.
- Serbia and Montenegro
- Serbia: unknown, possibly Sarmatian in origin; name of Sorbs in present day
Germany is of same origin, the Serbs having migrated into the Balkan area from the
region in Germany known as Lusatia, where the Sorbs are currently found. As amatter
of trivia, it is considered likely that a former sovereign State, the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, in deriving its name from
the German town of Zerbst also carried the Serbian ethnonym.
- Montenegro: Named by Venetian conquerors montenegro, "black
mountain", after the appearance of Mount Lovćen or most likely its dark coniferous forests. Crna
Gora, the modern native name for the country, is a literal translation of "Montenegro". The country had previously been
known as Zeta, Dioclea and Doclea. "Doclea" the name of the region during the early period of the Roman Empire, was termed for an
early Illyrian tribe. In later centuries, Romans "hyper-corrected" to "Dioclea" wrongly guessing that an I had been lost due to
vulgar speech patterns. The earliest Slavic name "Zeta" derives from the name of a river in Montenegro which itself derives from
an early root meaning "harvest" or "grain". (Contrary to popular belief, "Montenegro" is not Italian, as "black mountain" in
Italian is monte nero without the g.)
- Yugoslavia (former name): from "Jugoslavija" that means "Land of the South Slavs"
(South Slavic jug = English south).
- Seychelles: named after Jean Moreau de
Séchelles, Finance Minister to King Louis XV of France.
- Sierra Leone: adapted from the Spanish version: Sierra León -- of the Portuguese Serra-Leõa ("lion mountains"). Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra named the land
after the striking mountians that he saw in 1462 while sailing the West African coast.
- Singapore: the city was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 and he adopted the name Singapore from the Malay
Singapura which was the earlier name of the island. Singapura in turn has come from the Sanskrit
Simhapura (or Singhapura), which means the "Lion City". Another name of this island was Tumasik from
the Malay or Javanese
root tasik which means sea.
- Slovakia: from the Slavic "Slavs",
which in turn is probably derived from the Slavic "glory" or "the word" or "people from the water" (disputed)
- Slovenia: from the Slavic "Slavs",
which in turn is probably derived from the Slavic "glory" or "the word" or "people from the water" (disputed).
- Solomon Islands:
- Somalia:
- South Africa: gets its name from its geographical position on the
continent of Africa.
- South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (territory of the United
Kingdom: On 17th January 1755 the British Captain James Cook landed on the main island and named it the Isle of Georgia in honour of King George III. He named the South Sandwich Islands after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at
the time and who had helped fund Cook's explorations.
- South Korea: see Korea above.
- Spain: Phoenician/Punic ’Î-šəpānîm, 'land of hyraxes'. The Phoenician settlers found hares in abundance, and mistook them for hyraxes of Africa. The Latin-speaking Romans adapted the name as Hispania.
- Sri Lanka: "Resplendent Land" in Sanskrit.
- Serendip: ancient name derived from the Sanskrit "Sinhala-dweepa", meaning either "land of lions" or "land of the Sinhala
people"; sinha being lion in Sanskrit, and the Sinhalas being the early Aryan inhabitants of the
region.
- Ceylon (English), Cilan (Portuguese), Seilan: former names of the country from the Pali
Sinhalana meaning "land of the lions".
- Sudan: from the Arabic Bilad as-Sudan, 'Land of the blacks.'
- Suriname: after the Surinen people, the earliest known native American inhabitants of the region.
- Svalbard (territory of Norway:
- Swaziland:
- Sweden: an old English plural form of Swede. The exact development of the ethnonym is uncertain, but is at least known to derive from the Old Norse
Svithjodh. The etymology of the first element, Svi, is unknown. The last
element, Thjoth, means "people" and is the same as Deut in Deutsch
and Teut in Teutons. The term Svithjoth the Great was used to
denote the Varangian rule in Eastern Europe. The modern Swedish name of Sweden is
Sverige, which is derived from a Svia Rike meaning the realm of the Swedes (probably through Danish, even though the
same evolution is known to have happened within Swedish: mik->mig).
- Switzerland: from the canton of Schwyz, possibly derived further from the OMH German "Schweitz", meaning Swamp.
- Syria: probably from ancient state of Assyria
T
- Taiwan (de facto independent;claimed by China): "Terraced bay" in Chinese. Terraced rice fields are typical of Taiwanese landscape.
- Tajikistan: from a Turkic root tasi meaning 'Muslim'. The name
means 'land of the Tajiks.'
- Tanzania: a combination of the names of two states that merged to form this
country, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar.
- Thailand: from the native Thai "Land of the free". Previously the country had
been known as:
- Siam (former name): The name was given to the ancient Thai people by their neighbors the Burmese, and probably derives from
the Pali toponym "Suvarnabhuma" 'Land of Gold', the ultimate root the Pali root "sama", which variously denoted different shades
of color, most often brown or yellow, but sometimes green or black.
- Togo: from the settlement Togo, currently Togoville. In Ewe, to is 'water' and
go 'shore'.
- Tokelau (territory of New
Zealand):
- Tonga: from the native 'South' or 'southern'. In the 19th century, the territory was
known as "Friendship Islands", so named by Captain James Cook.
- Trinidad and Tobago: 'Trinidad' was named by Christopher Columbus in 1498, so called because of the Trinity
Hills/Three Sisters mountains on the island and the Christian trinity
(trinidad is Spanish for trinity or
trio). 'Tobago' is a corruption of "tobacco" (in Spanish: 'Tobaco'), which was grown and smoked by the natives.
- Tromelin Island (territory of France):
- Tunisia: after its capital Tunis, whose
name possibly derives from a Berber word signifying a small
capemaghreb/substratberbere.htm .
- Turkey: Türkiye can be divided into two words "Türk" which refers to "strong" in Turkish and usually signifies the habitants of Turkey or a member of Turkish nation; and "iye" which means "owner" or "one who
possesses". The general meaning of Turkey or Turkiye is "the Turk's
land".
- Turkmenistan:
- Turks and Caicos Islands (territory of the
United Kingdom: 'Turks' after the indigenous Turk's Head "fez" cactus
and 'Caicos' from the indigenous Lucayan term 'caya hico,' meaning 'string of
islands.'
- Tuvalu: from the native "eight islands" or "eight standing with each other". An
earlier name, Niulakita, was suppressed ; it was the name of the first atoll settled in 1949.
U
- Uganda: from the earlier "Buganda", "land of men", the ethnomym of the region's
dominant group.
- Ukraine: from the Slavic "border territory" etymologically identical to the word
"krajina"
- United Arab Emirates: self-explanatory; an emirate is a territory ruled by an emir.
- United Kingdom: self-explanatory; 'Kingdom' in reference to the
monarchy. see also 'Britain' above and List of subnational name etymologies.
- United States of America: The origin of the
word "America" is in some doubt, but one popular theory is that it is derived from the name of explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (see the article on the naming of America.) "United States" comes from the end of the Declaration of Independence, "WE,
therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled..." and was reiterated in the
preamble to the U.S. Constitution, "We the People of the United States..." (The phrase "united states" was
probably used in place of a list of colonies/states because the authors of the documents couldn't be certain which
colonies/states would sign off on the sentiments therein.)
- Uruguay: the name comes from the River Uruguay, (indeed it's official
name Republica Oriental del Uruguay - 'oriental' meaning 'east' - references it's
position east of the river). The word 'Uruguay' itself is thought to have derived from the Guaraní Indian word 'urugua' which means 'river of shellfish.'
Another possible meaning is that 'Uruguay' is made up of three component Guaraní
words: uru (a kind of bird that lived near the river); gua ('to proceed from'); and y ('water').
- U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the United States of America):
- Uzbekistan: means 'land of the Uzbeks.' The word 'Uzbek' was adopted as a
tribal name around the mid-1400's and means 'master/lord of oneself.'
V
- Vanuatu: From the Bislama "Forever on our Land". The territory was known earlier
as the New Hebrides, after the islands in Scotland.
- Vatican City 'Vatican' from the Latin vaticinari, "to
prophesy", from the name of the hill 'Mons Vaticanus' on which the Vatican is located, the street beneath having been used by
fortune-tellers and sooth-sayers in Roman times.
- Venezuela: "Little Venice", from
the diminutive form of "Venezia". The European explorers Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo
Vespucci were impressed by the native stilt-houses built on Lake
Maracaibo, which reminded them of buildings in Venice.
- Vietnam: "Southern land", The original core of Vietnamese civilization having
been farther north.
W
X
There are no countries that begin with this letter.
Y
- Yemen: from the Arabic root ymn,
whose basic meaning is "right"; however, its exact meaning is disputed. Some sources claim it is from the form yamîn,
meaning "right-hand side" and by extension "south" (many Semitic
languages, including Arabic and Hebrew,
show traces of a system in which south = right while north = left), while other sources claim that it is from the form
yumn, meaning "happiness" or "blessings" (arising from the widespread idea that right = good.) The name (to the
classical world "Arabia Felix") originally referred to the entire southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
Z
- Zambia: after the River Zambezi that
flows through the east of the country and also forms the border with Zimbabwe.
- Zimbabwe: "stone houses" in Shona,
referring to the stone-built capital city of the ancient trading empire of Great Zimbabwe.
See also
External link
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