What does the name of your country means?

[South killer]

I thought this could be a good idea for a thread:

Most names of countries have a hidden or not-so-hidden meaning. I'll start with mine:
Argentina: Argentina comes from the latin word 'Argentum' that means silver. This is because of our river main river called ''Rio de la Plata'' (silver river) that was named like that because the spanish conquerors thought that this land had a lot of silver.
Argentino, also, means pure, noble.
So there you got it; Argentina=land of silver; purity

So, what does the name of your country means??

[Lazer]

United States of America:

A bunch of states united in a land named after a guy who didn't actually discover it but thought it'd be cute to name it after himself.

[Frankychan]

[Willem]

Canada is an North American Indian word, I'm not positive about the tribe but I think it's Huron, that means village. The original word was actually Canata.

[cinch]

If those Heritage commercials are to be believed:

Canada was the name of a small Native tribe, or the region in which they lived. Ignorant European explorers, when told that the land they were in was called "Canada", took it to mean the whole area, and not the little town or plot of land that it actually was.

As for what it means in the native tongue: haven't the foggiest.

And if I'm wrong: Don't blame me, blame the Heritage Ministry!

[cinch]

Well, I was close...

Somewhat...

[Willem]

Originally posted by cinch
Well, I was close...

Somewhat...

Obviously you weren't paying close enough attention to that particular Heritage commercial, that's where I got that info from as well.

[Ted Striker]

United States of Azz Kickers

[cinch]

Obviously you weren't paying close enough attention to that particular Heritage commercial, that's where I got that info from as well.

I'll admit, I was always more partial to the one where Nellie ripped the leaf off of the man's unmentionables in that medical lecture room.

Now THAT'S feminism!

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
United States of Azz Kickers

Az ?

[Winston]

Denmark, or Danmark as it's called here, quite simply means 'Land of the Danes'.

Dan ~ (belonging to) the Danes
mark = ancient word meaning land; a present day form of the word, spelled the same way, means 'field' in Danish.

Denmark/Danmark has been in use as designation for the peninsula of Jutland and its surrounding islands since the beginning of historic times, at least for 1,400 years.

The official name of my country is Kongeriget Danmark which would be The Kingdom of Denmark.

[St Leo]

United States of Azz Kickers

United States of Australia? What is that?

[Space05us]

United States of America:

A bunch of states united in a land named after a guy who didn't actually discover it but thought it'd be cute to name it after himself.

this is the guy hes talking about

Vespucci, Amerigo (Latin Americus Vespucius) (1454-1512), Italian navigator, for whom the continents of North and South America are named. He was born in Florence. In 1495 he took over the business of a merchant in Seville, Spain, who had furnished supplies to ships voyaging to the West Indies. Vespucci later set out for the New World himself and left accounts and maps of four voyages.

Most scholars agree that Vespucci explored a large section of the northern coast of South America during an expedition led by Spanish soldier Alonso de Ojeda in 1499 and 1500. Most also believe that he might have explored part of that continent's eastern coast on a subsequent voyage. German geographer and cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, who translated Vespucci's narrative in 1507, suggested that it might be proper to name the new continent America, an adaptation of the explorer's given name of Amerigo. Applied first to the southern continent, the name gradually came into use as that of the two western continents after it appeared on a planisphere published by Waldseemüller in 1516.

Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

[orange]

Originally posted by Lazer
United States of America:

A bunch of states united in a land named after a guy who didn't actually discover it but thought it'd be cute to name it after himself.

But would you rather be the United States of Columbia?

[Space05us]

and he didnt name it either.


The Spanish investigated further. Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sailed to the northern coast of South America in 1499 and pronounced the land a new continent. European mapmakers named it America in his honor.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.