Both come from the Roman names, Florentia and Graecia
Well then why for how come “Firenze”, since Italian derives from Latin?
I think this may have been addressed in some of the earlier threads (different names for places in other languages is quite a popular topic in GQ) but probably the original Florentia just became Florenza or Fiorentia at some point, then came the medieval Fiorenza and finally, in 1500s, Firenze. Italian is different from Latin anyway, remember that it also has some influence from various Germanic tribes’ languages among others, possibly it’s just that ‘Fio’ was easier to pronounce than ‘Flo’, or something similar. Basically those sounds just changed a little and gradually. Two thousand years is a lot of time and languages are always under change.
Interestingly, the Florentine football club is called ACF Fiorentina even today. And obviously the original Florentia comes from Flora, flower or blossom.
Which, I would mention, is a pain, because I consistently mistake E.U. (Etats Unis, USA) for U.E (Union Europeenne, European Union) when reading papers (especially since I’m accustomed to read E.U. standing for European Union in english).
True. The short answer is “No.” However, neither poster responded “No.” In responding to the line
each poster provided a list of countries in which English uses the original spelling, giving the impression that they might have missed the second portion of the post to which they were respoonding. It is not true in English, but may well be true in Icelandic.
Fair enough. Although I’m still interested in knowing the Icelandic for Kyrgyzstan.
Cayo Hueso is a re-translation of Key West in which Hueso is a Spanish corruption of West. I can’t find the original explanation for this.
In Google:
Cayo Hueso is how Cubans call KEY WEST.
Casa Cayo Hueso, which means “Key West House”…
That reminds me… in French, Libya has all the same letters as in English, but in a different order: Lybia. Does any other country work out like that?
And indeed it is in most cases; thanks tomndebb–like so many other souls whose intentions are good, I tend to be somewhat misunderstood.
Through a complex filtering of Icelandic grammatical rules and traditions, and after a dash of creative brilliance, it is ultimately Icelandized as …“Kyrgistan”. As it turns out, we’ve really only translated names of places of some significance to Iceland–makes sense, I guess.
Don’t know if it’s a moot point but there are of course differences in geographical names from one language to the other; the Germans call Belarus “Weisrussland” while we call it “Hvíta-Rússland” but it’s all the same name, “White Russia”. I actually think relatively few countries share the exact same Geographic name for one city or country, just look at a fairly simple names like Zimbabwe/Simbabwe/Simbabve.
C’est pas vrai. Libya in French is Libye.
Thanks for the correction. All of the French speaking folks I worked with spelled it that way, so I thought it was French but now maybe it was just a very common mistake. There are scads of “cites” for that spelling on other sites, including this one for the “Lybia Embassy in London”. It also turns up spelled this way very frequently on Italian sites.
Hebrew has a host of completely different name places. To name but a few:
USA - Artzot Ha’Brit (literally – States of the Union)
France – Tzarfat
Spain – Spharad (hence the term Sephardi for North African Jews – they got there from Spain). Ashkenaz, while no longer used as a place name, could have been used in the past to refer to modern-day Germany
Egypt – Mitzra’yim (which is pretty much what they call themseves, IIRC)
China – Sin (think of the prefix sino- in English)
India – Hodu
Greece – Yavan (similar to Ionia)
Dani