# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**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, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/21 "2010-07-07T17:47:35Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > 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”. Iceland is somewhat like that, in that it is not a translation but just a conversion to Spanish spelling (coincidentally making it look like the name is a reference to it being an island); a direct translation would be _Hieloterra_. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/22 "2010-07-07T20:38:49Z")
> [@Gotterfunken](#): > > 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. 🆒 And to an extent, the Spanish usage may correlate historically to how when the Low Countries rebelled, the Hapsburgs held on to Flanders, but eventually had to yield the northern Netherlands, dominated by Holland, so the synecdoche stuck when referring to the breakaway provinces. And yes, the “-landias” are not meant to be translations but transliterations. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/23 "2010-07-08T06:29:41Z")
I don’t think that Jutland is a country unto itself, is it? I think it is part of Denmark. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/24 "2010-07-08T06:56:27Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > 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”. But it’s original name isn’t Greenland, it’s in Danish and it sounds to us as “Groenland”. The “landia” names aren’t translations, they’re the original name with that “a” or “ia” tacked on in order to be able to pronounce it. Jutlandia isn’t a country, no. And? ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/25 "2010-07-08T07:34:40Z")
Maybe it’s just because I’m unfamiliar with it, but “Inglalanda/Inglalandia” sounds really weird. That could be another reason. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see the _Real Academia_ try to suggest some ind of name change to make things more consistent. _Méjico_ indeed… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/26 "2010-07-08T08:22:34Z")
**ñañi** , the Méjico spelling wasn’t a proposal by the Academias. It was something people (non-academics) were doing. ---
**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 8, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/27 "2010-07-08T12:46:46Z")
> [@nani](#): > > Maybe it’s just because I’m unfamiliar with it, but “Inglalanda/Inglalandia” sounds really weird. That could be another reason. Anglolandia?, PelasgoCeltaRomanoAngloSajónNormandoLandia? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/28 "2010-07-08T13:40:10Z")
Eerk, if we did that would we also have to speak about the Península Celtibéricolusitanavasconaustrigona? And that’s leaving out a ton of tribes! ---
**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 8, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/29 "2010-07-08T13:48:18Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Eerk, if we did that would we also have to speak about the Península Celtibéricolusitanavasconaustrigona? And that’s leaving out a ton of tribes! Let me see, something like Peninsula IbericoCelticoRomanoVisigodoArabe? ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/30 "2010-07-08T16:58:17Z")
Well Deuschland / Germany is the weird one. I get Italia -\> Italy or even England -\> Inglaterra… But Deuschland / Germany / Alemania is pretty dramatic switches. I read up on that one, and the basic story here is apparently it basically has its roots in whatever a given people’s name was for _them-all-over-yonder_ (as in “Not us.”) ---
**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 8, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/31 "2010-07-08T17:01:45Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Jutlandia isn’t a country, no. And? No, it’s just another example of a geographical area (the large Danish peninsula, the “land of the Jutes”) that uses “-landia” in Spanish (and I said “countries and areas” in my post.) ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/32 "2010-07-10T06:15:05Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > **ñañi** , the Méjico spelling wasn’t a proposal by the Academias. It was something people (non-academics) were doing. Yeah, I was[totally wrong](http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=M%E9xico)about this. My bad. 🙂 ---
**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 10, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806/33 "2010-07-10T14:30:17Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Well Deuschland / Germany is the weird one. I get Italia -\> Italy or even England -\> Inglaterra… But Deuschland / Germany / Alemania is pretty dramatic switches. > > I read up on that one, and the basic story here is apparently it basically has its roots in whatever a given people’s name was for _them-all-over-yonder_ (as in “Not us.”) We hope you “read up on that one” [here](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/443/why-are-there-so-many-names-for-germany-aka-deutschland-allemagne-etc)! Gotta represent for ol’ Cecil…this is the **SD** MB, after all. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-england-is-inglaterra-but/545806.md?page=1)