# Names of Countries, but in other languages. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808 "2003-04-10T15:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/41 "2003-04-11T07:04:56Z")
Côte d’Ivoire was mentioned as the French name for Ivory Coast. In fact, 10 or 15 years ago they changed their English name to Côte d’Ivoire as well, sometimes without the circumflex. Rather bizarre, and I’m not sure what the motive was, but this is now accepted usage by English-speaking governments and institutions. Other recent name changes off the top of my head:[ul] [li]Upper Volta became Burkina Faso.[/li][li]Zaire became Democratic Republic of the Congo, not to be confused with the Republic of the Congo on the other side of the river.[/li][li]Burma became Myanmar.[/li][li]Rumania became Romania.[/li][li]The Ukraine clarified its preference for Ukraine (without the “the”).[/li][li]Byelorussia became Belarus.[/li][li]Moldavia became Moldova.[/li][li]Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.[/li][li]South-West Africa became Namibia.[/li][li]Some of the ex-Soviet “stans” clarified their English spelling after the breakup of the USSR: currently Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan.[/ul][/li] The silliest example I can think of, and the best to illustrate your concern about names being offensive, is Macedonia. A good chunk of ancient Macedonia is now in northern Greece, but a portion of it was also in what became Yugoslavia. The Macedonians of northern Greece are protective of their name and heritage, but neighboring Macedonia, one of six republics in Yugoslavia, wasn’t a real issue so long as it was under the boot of Tito (not the Jackson). When Yugoslavia broke apart, each republic became its own independent state: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, leaving Serbia and Montenegro to be discussed in another thread. Naturally, Macedonia wanted to keep its own name. Greece, was slightly fearful this newly independent Macedonia might have designs on ancient Macedonian territory in Greece, but was mostly annoyed that it was trying to appropriate Greece’s heritage. The selection of a shield design used by Alexander the Great for the country’s flag didn’t make things any easier. So Greece blocked entry into any international organization under that name. To put this into perspective, a Greek friend told me it would be similar to Mexico changing its name to Texas, and putting the Alamo on its flag. Eventually, Macedonia agreed to be admitted to the UN and elsewhere as “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” pending final resolution of the name. I’ve heard talk it may become Northern Macedonia, but that was a couple years ago. As a UN member, it is still alphabetized under T, for “the”. [UN Member States](http://www.un.org/Overview/unmember.html) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/42 "2003-04-11T07:09:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arjee \* > **I’ll have to look up the “Finland” / “Suomi” connection.** The word Finland derives from the Swedish name for the country. Finland was under Swedish rule for mumble years and about 7% of the people still speak Swedish as their native language. The country is officially bilingual. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/43 "2003-04-11T07:32:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Timmer \* > \*\*the way rice coutry was explained to me was that the chinese got here, saw how big it was and thought, “wow, you could grow a lot of rice here.” don’t know how accurate that is, but i don’t find it at all confrontational. \*\* I have my doubts about that, seeing as “mei” is the standard and I only recall seeing “mi” used by people who were bitching about America. Besides, that explanation doesn’t ring true on a simpler level: China’s pretty big too. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/44 "2003-04-11T08:22:17Z")
Cymru is the name that the Welsh call their own country, while the word Wales comes from the Saxon word for foreigner… notwithstanding the fact that it was the Saxons that were the foreigners in those days. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/45 "2003-04-11T09:33:37Z")
Actually, there is such a thing as “a canada” other than the name of a country. It’s the Korean equivalent of “A, B, C.” The Korean alphabet’s first three letters are often referred to as: Ka, Na, Da. Sometimes, though, folks will recite the first four, thus: Ka, Na, Da, La. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/46 "2003-04-11T10:04:57Z")
Bod = Tibet Yunanistan = Turkish for Greece Macaristan = Turkish for Hungary Lehistan = Turkish for Poland (literally ‘the land of Lech’ as in Lech Walesa) Egypt in Arabic is not al-Misr. It’s just Misr. In Hebrew it’s Mitsrayim. Anybody want to try Hayastan? Sakartvelo? al-Jaza’ir? al-Mamlakah al-Urduniyah? Of course, with Google at your fingertips, this will be easy. A fun learning experience. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/47 "2003-04-11T10:56:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flodnak \* > Finland was under Swedish rule for mumble years … I’d like to modify that a bit. What later became Finland was just the Eastern half of Sweden, so to say that it was _under Swedish rule_ is stretching things a bit. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/48 "2003-04-11T12:36:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BwanaBob \* > \*\* There no such “thing” as a “CANADA”,beyond that nations name, so no one has an excuse to call that country anything but CANADA. > \*\* I should have stressed that “Canada” doesn’t have any other meaning “in English” other than the nation name. Hence it doesn’t translate to anything in other languages. so other nations might as well call it Canada (or as close as their language/alphabet allows.) The fact that Ka-na-da may be the Korean equivalent of a-b-c is coincidental; a Korean speaker would being able to tell the difference by context (a homonym, if you will). ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/49 "2003-04-11T13:21:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*Anybody want to try > Hayastan? > Sakartvelo? > al-Jaza’ir? > al-Mamlakah al-Urduniyah? > > Of course, with Google at your fingertips, this will be easy. A fun learning experience. \*\* Hayastan = Armenia Sakartvelo = Georgia (the Soviet one, of course) the others I’ll have to Google for… How about Tyskland? Kitai? Lietuva? ---
**Author:** ![prow\_er](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4491bb/32.png) [@prow\_er](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prow_er)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/50 "2003-04-11T13:34:17Z")
now this is fun… Kitai=China…my guess, i’m not too sure Lietuva=Lithuania al-Mamlakah al-Urduniyah=Jordan? al-Jaza’ir=Algeria ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/51 "2003-04-11T13:35:41Z")
I think I know Kitai – Russian for China yeah? I’d guess Lietuva was Lithuania. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/52 "2003-04-11T13:37:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > **Lehistan = Turkish for Poland (literally ‘the land of Lech’ as in Lech Walesa)** Interesting. I wonder what the Turkish name for Poland was before Walesa came to prominence? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > **Egypt in Arabic is not al-Misr. It’s just Misr. In Hebrew it’s Mitsrayim.** Thanks … I suspected as much, but wasn’t sure. BTW, as a matter of academic interest: do you happen to know why _Misr_ doesn’t need an article in front of it, while the names of many other Arabic countries do? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > **Anybody want to try …** al-Jaza’ir = Algeria al-Mamlakah al-Urduniyah = Kingdom of Jordan > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Timchik_ > **Anybody want to try …** Tyskland = This is Germany … in some Scandinavian language Kitai = Russian for China Lietuva = Latvia ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/53 "2003-04-11T13:46:16Z")
My favorite of all time is - Shqiperia == Albania ---
**Author:** ![Finite\_Elephant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Finite\_Elephant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finite_Elephant)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/54 "2003-04-11T14:05:06Z")
Tae Han Min Guk = Republic of Korea The name “Korea” comes from the name of the Dynasty that was in power when Korea first made contact with Europeans and Middle Easterners. The name in various forms just stuck from there. In the ROK, they refer to themselves as “han-guk” while in the DPRK they use the older “choson,” perhaps to bolster their claim of being the True Korea. And as always, I apologize for inept romanization of han-guk mal. ---
**Author:** ![sotally\_tober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@sotally\_tober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sotally_tober)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/55 "2003-04-11T14:17:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Timmer \* > \*\*the way rice coutry was explained to me was that the chinese got here, saw how big it was and thought, “wow, you could grow a lot of rice here.” don’t know how accurate that is, but i don’t find it at all confrontational. \*\* LOL!! Seriously, though, America is called mei3 guo2 in chinese (mandrin) because it is a shortened form of mei3 li4 jia1 gong4 he2 guo2. mei3 li4 jia1…well, you’d be able be to guess it by now, yes, the chinese phonetics for America, and gong4 he2 guo2 just means federation of states. So mei3 guo2 literally stands for the American Country. But then again, names of places may not even have a definate translation in mandrin. Take for example, Sydney, Australia. It can be translated as xi1 ni2 or xue3 ni2. Both are execptable. Another example would be Singapore, which can both be xin1 jia1 po1 or xing1 jia1 po1 or xing1 zhou1. Singapore could be syo-nan-to or Tamesek or Singapura. In fact, in chinese, there are a lot of ways we can refer to a country; case in point, China can be ‘shen2 zhou1’ or ‘da4 lu2’ or a myriad or other stuff. Hence. Wrt the other recent re-namings, i can think of Calcutta to Kolcuta (sp?). ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/56 "2003-04-11T14:18:03Z")
Another good one is Bhutan, they call themselves Druk-Yul - Land of the Dragon. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/57 "2003-04-11T14:24:43Z")
A great resource for this is [here](http://www.fotw.ca/flags/iso3166.html). Not only does it have the names in native tongue but the flag as well. But then I’ve always been a geography nut so I love this site.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/58 "2003-04-11T14:46:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sotally tober \* > \*\*Hence. Wrt the other recent re-namings, i can think of Calcutta to Kolcuta (sp?). \*\* Kolkata apparently. If we’re including cities here we could add “Bombay to Mumbai” as a recent change and foreign/domestic alternatives would include Florence/Firenze, Padua/Padova, Venice/Venezia, Leghorn/Livorno, Naples/Napoli, Belgrade/Beograd, Cologne/Köln, Moscow/Moskva, Londres/London, Cardiff/Caerdydd, Dublin/Baile átha Cliath and many more. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/59 "2003-04-11T14:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Space Vampire \* > \*\*I do find it mildly upsetting that some people are changing it to “mi guo,” “rice country.” I can’t remember if I’ve actually read any discussion about this, but I’ve always assumed it’s meant as an affront of some kind. \*\* So far as I know, the “rice country” has always been standard in Japan, where it is pronounced Bei-koku. You see, “bei,” rice, can also be read “Mei” (albeit rarely), and it was the second syllable of the four-character a-me-ri-ka. This was back in the 19th century, when Japan used the same system for Western names as China still uses, i.e., find characters that kindasorta carry the pronunciation and, preferably, mean something auspicious, or at least inoffensive. Nowadays, Japan uses the katakana syllabary for this purpose, but the older system carries over for some uses. For example, Japan-US relations, a perennial in newspaper headlines, is inevitably Nichi-bei kankei. ---
**Author:** ![essohbee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71c47a/32.png) [@essohbee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essohbee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808/60 "2003-04-11T16:04:07Z")
Tyskland is Germany in Swedish and Norwegian, and quite possible in Danish as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-countries-but-in-other-languages/167808.md?page=4)