# Spanish: England is Inglaterra, but **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806 "2010-07-07T01:42:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/1 "2010-07-07T01:42:11Z")
Holland (Netherlands) is Holanda? Why not Holterra? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/2 "2010-07-07T02:03:05Z")
England got its name because it was the land of the Angles. I do not think Holland got its name because it was the land of the Hos (even though it does have that reputation now). In other words, I don’t think the “land” bit of “Holland” actually means land, wheres the “land” bit of “England” (and, indeed, of “Netherlands”) does, and is thus appropriately translated into Spanish as “terra.” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/3 "2010-07-07T02:10:04Z")
Nevermind. According to [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland#Etymology), the “land” bit of “Holland” _does_ mean land (although, disappointingly, it was still not originally the land of the Hos). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/4 "2010-07-07T02:52:21Z")
Countries or areas ending in “land” are more often translated with “landia” (or “landa”) in Spanish than with “terra”: Finland: Finlandia Iceland: Islanda Thailand: Tailandia Swaziland: Suazilandia New Zealand: Nueva Zelanda (or Zelandia) Ireland: Irlanda Greenland: Groenlandia Jutland: Jutlandia But: Scotland: Escocia Switzerland: Suiza ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/5 "2010-07-07T03:32:49Z")
Plus, the particular name “Nederland” (the Netherlands) is translated as “los Países Bajos,” literally the “Low Countries”–which, of course, is another way of saying the “Nether Lands.” I learned this from watching the World Cup on Univision. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/6 "2010-07-07T05:58:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Countries or areas ending in “land” are more often translated with “landia” (or “landa”) in Spanish than with “terra”: > > Finland: Finlandia > Iceland: Islanda > Thailand: Tailandia > Swaziland: Suazilandia > New Zealand: Nueva Zelanda (or Zelandia) > Ireland: Irlanda > Greenland: Groenlandia > Jutland: Jutlandia > > But: > Scotland: Escocia > Switzerland: Suiza Well in that case, teh question simply turns around: Why is England _Inglaterra_? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/7 "2010-07-07T07:18:52Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Well in that case, teh question simply turns around: Why is England _Inglaterra_? Why not? 😉 Or, rather, why try to apply logic and consistency to matters like these? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/8 "2010-07-07T12:30:13Z")
Exactly. Translations of other country names into another language are independent of each other. No one standardizes them. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/9 "2010-07-07T12:48:07Z")
The same holds in French and Italian too, by the way: _Angleterre_ and _Inghilterra_. Actually, the only other place I can think of that’s -land in English and -terra in the Romance languages is Newfoundland (Terre-Neuve, Terranova). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/10 "2010-07-07T13:07:15Z")
The names came from evolution in and from different languages, it wasn’t a matter of someone saying “oh noes, we have established relations with a new place and can not pronounce the name they give themselves to save our lives! What to do, what to do?” Some of those names evolved from Latin (the -terra ones), others from the “local” name (the -landa/ia names). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/11 "2010-07-07T13:21:27Z")
Even in English we don’t preserve the “land”. Exhibit A: _Deutschland_/Germany. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/12 "2010-07-07T13:49:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Even in English we don’t preserve the “land”. Exhibit A: _Deutschland_/Germany. Yes, we have a greater tendency to use Latinate endings than German does. Even for cognate cases (unlike Deutschland/Germany), witness Lettland/Latvia, Russland/Russia, Estland/Estonia, Griechenland/Greece (from _Graecia_). Or, for that matter, Österreich/Austria. On the other hand: die Schweiz/Switzerland. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/13 "2010-07-07T14:14:40Z")
Well, in fact it used to be “That damned island from which the fucking ships who steal all our hard plundered gold come from” but it got changed for brevity and diplomacy’s sake… ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/14 "2010-07-07T14:17:15Z")
Disneyland = Disneylandia ! ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/15 "2010-07-07T15:03:06Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Well in that case, teh question simply turns around: Why is England _Inglaterra_? Because Spaniards and Italians (Inghilterra) got England’s name via French _Angleterre_. The French were the first to have contacts with England. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/16 "2010-07-07T15:31:19Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > Because Spaniards and Italians (Inghilterra) got England’s name via French _Angleterre_. The French were the first to have contacts with England. Indeed. Fundamentally, the reason for all these language curiosities comes down to the history of the relationships among these different parts of the world, and since the history varies, so does the language. As someone said above, there was never anyone or anything to synchronize things. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/17 "2010-07-07T15:31:34Z")
> [@Livardo](#): > > Disneyland = Disneylandia ! Indeed, Spanish uses “-landia” so much more than “-terra”, hip Mexicans use it to coin somewhat-tongue-in-cheek words that only they will use amongst each other — e.g., “Chilangolandia” = “Mexico City and its environs” (“chilango” = “resident of Mexico City”). ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/18 "2010-07-07T15:45:58Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Indeed, Spanish uses “-landia” so much more than “-terra”, hip Mexicans use it to coin somewhat-tongue-in-cheek words that only they will use amongst each other — e.g., “Chilangolandia” = “Mexico City and its environs” (“chilango” = “resident of Mexico City”). Thus “Yankilandia” (USA) to the eternal fury of southerners 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/19 "2010-07-07T15:51:22Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Thus “Yankilandia” (USA) to the eternal fury of southerners 🙂 And “Gringolandia” here as tongue-in-cheek names for certain neighborhoods with high a concentration of expats. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/20 "2010-07-07T17:42:03Z")
I find it interesting that – as **Colibri** points out – the word “Greenland” is translated in Spanish as “Groenlandia”. I would have expected to see “Verdelandia”, since “verde” is Spanish for “green”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806.md?page=2)