How Did The Countries Of Europe Get Their Names?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Europe: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe
Nearly every country on earth is named after one of four things: qz.com/1070266/the-name-of-a-...
Albania: www.etymonline.com/word/Alban...
Andorra: www.etymonline.com/search?q=a...
Armenia: www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/...
Austria: www.etymonline.com/word/Austr...
Azerbaijan: www.etymonline.com/word/Azerb...
Belarus: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/W....
Belgium: www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingLi...
Bosnia: www.etymonline.com/word/Bosni...
Herzegovina: www.etymonline.com/word/Herze...
Bulgaria: www.etymonline.com/word/bulgaria
Croatia: www.etymonline.com/word/Croat...
Cyprus: www.etymonline.com/word/Cypru...
Czech: www.etymonline.com/word/Czech...
Denmark: www.etymonline.com/word/denmark
Estonia: www.etymonline.com/word/Eston...
Finland: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finns#E...
France: www.ancient.eu/Franks/
Georgia: slowtours.com/blog/food-wine/...
Germany: www.etymonline.com/word/Germa...
Greece: english.stackexchange.com/que...
Hungary: www.etymonline.com/word/Hunga...
Iceland: metro.co.uk/2018/06/23/icelan...
Iceland: www.nationalgeographic.com/ne...
Ireland: irishstudies.sunygeneseoengli...
Italy: www.etymonline.com/word/italy
Kazakhstan: www.etymonline.com/word/Kazak...
Kosovo: www.britannica.com/place/Kosovo
Latvia: www.etymonline.com/word/latvia
Liechtenstein: www.etymonline.com/word/Liech...
Lithuania: www.etymonline.com/search?q=l...
Luxembourg: www.etymonline.com/word/Luxem...
Malta: www.abarim-publications.com/M...
Monaco: www.names.org/n/monaco/about#....
Montenegro: www.etymonline.com/word/Monte...
Netherlands: www.dictionary.com/e/demonym/....
Macedonia: www.etymonline.com/word/Maced...
)%20region%20(land).
Norway: www.etymonline.com/word/Norwa...
Poland: www.etymonline.com/word/Pole?...
Portugal: www.etymonline.com/word/portugal
Romania: www.etymonline.com/word/romania
Russia: theculturetrip.com/europe/rus...
San Marino: catholicsaints.info/saint-mar...
Serbia: www.etymonline.com/word/serb
Slovenia & Slovakia: www.quora.com/Why-do-Slovenia...
Spain: www.culturespain.com/2011/05/....
Sweden: forum.duolingo.com/comment/23...
Switzerland: www.etymonline.com/word/Switz...
Turkey: www.etymonline.com/word/Turk?...
Ukraine: www.etymonline.com/word/Ukrai...
United Kingdom: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_....
Vatican: www.etymonline.com/word/vatican
Order your Name Explain Guide to Europe! tspr.ng/c/a-name-explain-guide-to-europe
Of course it would be my pleasure to buy it
please do the countries of asia next :)) or a video about the panjab would be amazing :))
Greek word for honey is officialy the first greek word you didn't mispronounced
Mate, for your Video on the USA. Are you planning on doing the 50 states, 5 territories and DC ?
hi, I wanted to correct a minor mistake, it is also possible that Malta's name came from Phoenician Maleth, meaning refuge
The title should read: how did the countries get their English names
I was just thinking the same thing
But he's talking about the etymology origin, so what actually change is the way of writing or pronouncing, but is the same etymology origin for all the languages.
@@cristobalpintocruz1524 Hungary's and Albania's English name is radically different than their own.
@@cristobalpintocruz1524 That is not true I'm afraid. Many countries have totally different names in their native language, like Germany - Deutschland, Finland - Suomi, Hungary - Magyarország etc.
Also different countries might have totally different names for others. Germany for example is called Allemagne in French, Tyskland in Swedish, Némétország in Hungarian, Þjóðverjaland in Icelandic and many more.
@@cristobalpintocruz1524 Germany, Deutschland and Nemčija. I don't see a similarty
We're taught in school that the founder of Moldova named the river and the kingdom he established around it after his favourite dog "Molda".
In romania i learned that he named it after a girl
I learned it comes from the king’s dog (I don’t remember which king 🥴), Molda. She drowned in the river, and the king named the river Moldova in her honour.
Later the whole area between the Eastern Carpatians and Nistru got this name.
The river Moldova does not run through the modern day Republic of Moldova though, but through the historical region of Moldova within the country of Romania.
Confusing, I know...
True, Moldova has a canine etimology, Molda being the name of bitch who drowned in the river.
@@oanaomg7298 his name was Dragos.. he was not a king, he was sent by a king ! There is a poem about that !
I think Scotland was named after a tribe called the Scoti
In case you were wondering
England: Land of the Anglo-Saxons
Scotland: Land of the Scots/Scoti
Wales: Land of the Gauls
Isle of Man: Manann's Isle
Wales was the anglo-saxons referring to "foreigners"...ironic.
@@mikespearwood3914 "Wales" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Wealh" which comes from the proto-Germanic word "Walhaz" which comes from the Gaulish people known as the "Volcae" which was the term also used to describe all Celtic inhabitants of the Roman Empire in the West, or the Gauls
@@dracodistortion9447 It's all from proto-indo-european word meaning stranger/foreigner. Here is a nice map preview.redd.it/2mq8ia9e2tf31.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=a38dc0aa9e6be2b5e5c8f2f8ff12fd8558607166
That's wrong
Is that where the word cymru comes from
9:42 Maybe we don't know where did word "slav" come from, however we know how slavic name for themselves ("sloveni") formed. It's derived from word "slovo" which means "word", so "sloveni" means something like "people who know how to speak", therefore Slovenia/Slovakia=land of the people who know how to speak.
Yes, we know where it comes from. From Slavic endonym. Obviously.
That makes sense. They calld German "Niemsky" (or so) "Mute people".
Every ancient culture’s endonym was either ”people” or ”people who we can talk to” and I love it.
Yes. Slovo = Word
The first capital of Anciant Rus (before Kiev) was Novgorod, were lived slavic tribe Ilmen Slovenes (named after big lake Ilmen). This tribe with another slavic tribe Krivichi, three Finno-Ugric tribes Chuds, Merias, Veses, and with viking tribe Rus' (most likely Danes from Frisia, modern day Netherland) are considered in Russian historiography as the core of the future Russian people (into which huge multitude other peoples and tribes later joined).
The Bulgars were Turkic, not Turkish. There is a difference, especially when considering the history of the place.
Their both descend from Turkic people, so it's more accurate to call them distant cousins who happen live next to each other.
@@lucinae8510 Not really. The Bulgars were fully absorbed into the Slavic majority by the time the Ottomans invaded. Bulgar and Bulgarian are not the same, just like Turkic and Turkish.
@@Nregoth That's not what I saying, I meant they shared a common link from distant times. And I know the Bulgars and Turks were more of an umbrella term for various tribes that went on their own paths and eventually became culturally distinct.
True Bulgars are modern day Kazan Tatars. After the collapse of the Türkic Kaganate, the state of Great Bulgaria (VII-VIII centuries AD) existed on the territory of the Azov region, Crimea and the steppes of the North Caucasus. After its disintegration, part of the Bulgars went west to Europe, to the Danube, subdued the local Slavs and participated in the ethnogenesis of the Bulgarian nation, and the other part went to the North-East to the Volga and founded the state of the Volga Bulgaria. Later, this state was conquered by the Mongols, whom the Russians in mediaeval times called the Tatars (the Tatars were originally a Mongol tribe that was completely exterminated by Genghis Khan in an internecine war, later their name became the collective name for many Turkic non-Mongol peoples in Russian Empire). The Volga Bulgars assimilated all the newcomer "Tatar" nobility (both Mongols and other Turkic peoples from Mongol empire) and received their name, just as the tribes of the southern Slavs assimilated the turkic Bulgars, and the eastern Slavs assimilated the Viking tribe Rus'.
In the southwest of modern Tatarstan (one of the 22 national republics of Russia) on the banks of the Volga river there is the city of Bolghar, the ancient capital of Volga Bulgaria, whose historical archaeological complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
@@Nregoth The Proto bulgars were even vanished 50 genera were killed at the time of the baptism of Bulgaria ,they were not even mixed whit the slavs.they were lived separed .The Slavs accept the Christianity.
Um Hungary wasn’t settled by the Huns, it was settled by the Magyar, but I think the origin of the name Hungary came from the fact that the Pope and Western Europeans thought they were Huns.
The Europeans called the Hungarians who invaded the Pannonian basin Ungri or Ugri, and as time went on it got corrupted and made Hungary
No mention of the huns though
"magyar" itself can be rooted back to stems something like "mog-eri" which supposedly mean "nation-man"
@@gigachadgaming6071 isn't it also where Atilla is buried?
It's basically impossible to determine which people were the actual "Huns", since historic chronicles used that name for basically all the eastern invaders. But Hungary was seen as the ultimate residence of Attila by German people, so that might have something to do with it.
@@gigachadgaming6071 I'd guess for many it was similar to the huns of whom they heard terrifying stories from. It is possible that both were used. But that Ugri explanation would better explain the german word for Hungary, "Ungarn". Or the classic disappearance of the H that happens sometimes
Edit: somehow I managed to respond to the right person under the right video in the wrong comment thread
The Moldova river doesn't actually flow thought the country of Moldova.
The Moldova historical region does contain the Moldova river. But that region is half in Romania with the other half being the Republic of Moldova. So the Moldova river is in Romania, but it is, indeed, it's the source of the name.
Fun fact, my mother's side of the family is from a village on the shores of the Moldova river so I am quite familiar with its geography.
Moldavia*
"Moldavia" doesn't exist
The correct name is Moldova
If in the English language there is Moldavia and Moldova at least use the correct one
@@selcovoilucian8253 don't be so harsh maybe he thought it was named as he wrote, probably in his homeland all say moldavia and not moldova
It's not Schech it's Czech.
Czech śie wymawia "check" po angelsku.
Z legendy o Lecha, Czecha i Rusie ale Czeska wersia legendy nie ma Rusa. Nie pytaj dlaczego bo nie wiem.
@@modmaker7617 Rusa v té pověsti občas máme a občas ne, záleží na regionu.
@@danorott
Okay zależy od regionu. Czechy to interesujący mały brat Polski.
Czemu twoja imie jest polskie jesli odpoweidziaweś po czesku?
rz / ŕ
ą (bardzo polska litera)
sz / š
cz / č
@@modmaker7617 Můj praděd byl Polák.
@@danorott
Teraz to ma sens. Dobrze ze było łatwo śie rozumiecz pomiedźy językami polskiego i czeskiego. Dobrze być słowianinem.
Everyone knows that The Netherlands is named after the Nether in Minecraft.
And me who used to think it was from world of warcraft...!
The name of the Netherlands is hundreds of years old. Minecraft is only 11 years old. Idiot.
@@susactivities_ please tell me this is a joke
@@Xnoob545 it is lol
Ukraine doesn’t mean borderland. it simply means the country
"We are not sure where Huns got their name"
-looks over to Mongolian, where Hunnu means something like people or man.
Tbh, that could be a whacky coincidence, weirder stuff did happen.
Btw, "white" was used for "west" in central asian cultures. Belarus' name could be originating from that as well. With the influence the Mongolians and their descendants had on eastern europe I wouldn't be surprised.
Not an expert but "Hun" is a very similar word with "Han" in Turkish, "Khan" in English. Meaning "Ruler"
But Hungary doesn't come from the Huns, rather than the loose collection of tribes called the Onogur, which the Hungarians were a part of. It explains Ungarn etc. As well.
@@mysteriousDSF We can brake it down further. Onoghur allience consisted 10 tribes, 7 of these tribes settled in Hungary. One of these tribes was called Megyer. Probably this is the name the population took on as their nation name, becouse hungarians always called themselves magyars and the country Magyarország. But that's not all. All of these 7 tribes were very diverse with different social layers within them coming from different backgrounds. Plus they further mixed with the local population.
@@mysteriousDSF we are talking about english names of countries, they might have associated us with the huns and named our country accordingly. obviously the hungarian name of the country doesnt contain any association to the huns because we know better. if you look at the name in other languages, like polish, it also doesnt contain the word "hun".
@@jljljl1820 You cannot use English names to find out etymology of country names.
10:23 - A word Ukraine doesn't mean "borderland". This version is a Russian myth. From the Ukrainian language in which is correct to translate it means:
U (У)- in
Kraine(Країна) - land.
Like people living in their own land.
You can easily use google translate to prove to yourself that statement.
Sorry to bother you but in Ukrainian language the letter Y is used as ancient Greek pronounced it (U)?
@@pitertauer3168 Cyrillic script came from Bulgaria/Greece, based on and heavily influenced by the Greek alphabet
Judging by the comments this video might need a sequel featuring some of the common misconceptions featured here
That's the first time I've heard that Lithuania means shoreline, because it doesn't make any sense in Lithuanian (I'm Lithuanian).
Shoreline is "pakrantė" in Lithuanian, which doesn't correlate with either our culture, geographic position or the linguistic standpoint. Usually it is said that the name of our country comes from the word ''lietus'' which means rain. Or from "leitis" which was a unique group of people who served for our rulers for centuries. Or, easiest of all, Lithuanians were a tribe, so that would be an easy answer if you'd want an easy pseudo - answer.
The obscure latin meanings and their conversions to other languages are usually hard to understand and translate, so I wouldn't trust them so free handedly like you did.
isn't Lithuania named from a river in the country called Lietava?
Just one letter from Lietuva (Lithuania in Lithuanian)
Same story every time. Everything is invented by Greeks. If it isn`t, it should be. Replace name Greeks with Romans....
There is more than one word to describe things
The Romans were pulling strings in the background
“Germany” is named “Deutschland”. Austria is named “Österreich”. “Greece” is named “Hellas”. Etc, etc, etc.
Hungary-Magyarország, Finland-Suomi,
Estonia-Eesti
Fan fact:Moldova was name after the Moldova river but the river is not in Moldova but in the Moldavia region of Romania
@Star Star We'll technically Russia imposed a territorial division on Moldavia before Romania even existed
Fun fact: "German" is a (supposedly) made up of the old Germanic words "ger" (speer) and "man" (man). So "German" is a "speer man" or hunter.
romans: yes, but actually no
@@christianzeugna Germanics: Actually, yes
But its called deutschland in german
Nowhere was I able to find anything that would back up your claim. Origin of the word is linked to Latin language, Celts and PIE language. The word German isn't germanic it seems.
In Latin it means someone who has same parents, in PIE it is linked to being one's brother and in Celtic languages it means neighbor.
@@edwindelic7085 Then I need to fact check that. I have found the claim, that "ger" was a Germanic word for "speer" in a German documentary about "The average German".
@7:06 Honestly, where did you come up with the explanation of the name "Lithuania"? I'm a Lithuanian myself and I haven't heard this kind of theory, and booooy I'm very into history.
There's multiple theories of the origin of the name: 1) A river in Central Lithuania - Lietava (Lithuania is "Lietuva" in Lithuanin language) with a similar name (since in the region and Baltic tradition a lot of geographical names come from hydronims), 2) a warrior class of early medieval Lithuanians were called Leičiai (Leitis sing.).
However I've never heard about Lithuania coming from shoreline. The tribe of Lithuanians were never a seafaring nation. Nor they had any connection to the sea. Other Baltic tribes inhabited the coastal areas (Curonians, Samogitians, Prussians, Sembi).
THANK YOU
Yeah that jarred with me. I had never heard that meaning before. If he could speak Lithuanian, he would find it hard to cognate Lietuva with Pakrante or Krantas.
Personally I was always led to believe it was from a tribal name but it is nice to think it has something to do with lietus :)
Latin for Coast is Litus, it made sense in my mind...
But i read up on it and gathered that it's most likely from either Lietā or the Lietava river OR the Leičiai people...
@@YeeSoest The problem there is that Lithuanians speak Lithuanian, not Latin. Ok, both are old Indo European languages but one shouldn't make the mistake of the author of this piece and ignoring the native names for their own countries.
It also ignored the fact that Aukštaitija iš not on the coast and it has always been seen as Lithuania propria. The coast was Samogitia which is now Žemaitiją. Try speaking to someone from there who speaks Žemaičių kalba. 😁 I learnt Lithuanian in Aukštaitija and can't really understand old people talking Žemaičių kalba. I suppose one would have to go back to see what the purported Indo European root is but the fact that Lithuanian does not use a cognate of litus to mean shore or beach or coast would argue against the theory.
@@BrokenBackMountains That is normal. Lithuanian language is more older than Latine. Latine language is of one of youngest European languages.
I thought Iceland was named by Flokki ‘Hrafn’ (raven) Viggurdson, a Viking explorer who used ravens for navigation much in the way of a sat-rav. The legend goes having followed a released bird he landed on Iceland and climbed a hill to see a bay of sea-ice and declared the newly ‘discovered’ island to be Is-land the land of ice hence Iceland
And you thought right. This video is full of half-baked, lazy misinformation as other commenters have pointed out. This fits perfectly with my pet peeve of "educational" youtubers who don't know what the fuck they're talking about and put in no research effort.
I came looking for this comment. I remember seeing in another video an explanation of how the popular story for Iceland’s name origin isn’t correct.
Vatican City, Monaco, Liechtenstein, etc. are not micronations, but microstates. Micronations are not sovereign states (the Principality of Sealand, Molossia, etc.) while microstates are.
Whether or not it is, the majority of countries don't recognize it as so. It along with some others have some of the best claims out of micronations to actual statehood, while others are clear jokes.
I would count Sealand and Liberland as sovereign (they are the only micronations function as sovereign states), but other than that, you are correct.
Exactly, there is no consensus
I think you better do some research on the difference between states and nations. What you decidedly not to.
@@donzeigler1021 But they are right?
I always suspected the German word „Herzog” and Herzegovina were related.
They sound pretty similar but have nothing in common. Funny coincidence though
Herzog means duke in German btw
It is a German word, Herzegovina was once called The Duchy of Saint Sava(Sabbas)
Yeah, the basic story is a powerful nobleman decided not to recognize the newly ascended king of Bosnia and named himself Herzog, then the country broke out into civil war. Peace was made when his daughter Katarina married the king, but he started kicking the hornet's nest again not soon after that.
It's a rather interesting story about that part of Europe, just before the Ottoman conquest of it all.
A
1:54 = Albania 🇦🇱
2:10 = Andorra 🇦🇩
2:17 = Armenia 🇦🇲
2:29 = Austria 🇦🇹
2:40 = Azerbaijan 🇦🇿
B
2:52 = Belarus 🇧🇾
3:08 = Belgium 🇧🇪
3:21 = Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦
3:40 = Bulgaria 🇧🇬
C
3:49 = Croatia 🇭🇷
3:55 = Cyprus 🇨🇾
4:09 = Czechia 🇨🇿
D
4:16 = Denmark 🇩🇰
E
4:24 = Estonia 🇪🇪
F
4:43 = Finland 🇫🇮
4:54 = France 🇫🇷
G
5:13 = Georgia 🇬🇪
5:24 = Germany 🇩🇪
5:34 = Greece 🇬🇷
H
5:45 = Hungary 🇭🇺
I
5:51 = Iceland 🇮🇸
6:07 = Ireland 🇮🇪
6:15 = Italy 🇮🇹
J
K
6:32 = Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
6:40 = Kosovo 🇽🇰
L
6:50 = Latvia 🇱🇻
6:55 = Liechtenstein 🇱🇮
7:05 = Lithuania 🇱🇹
7:11 = Luxembourg 🇱🇺
M
7:17 = Malta 🇲🇹
7:29 = Moldova 🇲🇩
7:40 = Monaco 🇲🇨
7:51 = Montenegro 🇲🇪
N
8:05 = Netherlands 🇳🇱
8:18 = North Macedonia 🇲🇰
8:26 = Norway 🇳🇴
O
P
8:31 = Poland 🇵🇱
8:38 = Portugal 🇵🇹
Q
R
8:54 = Romania 🇷🇴
9:07 = Russia 🇷🇺
S
9:19 = San Marino 🇸🇲
9:25 = Serbia 🇷🇸
9:31 = Slovenia 🇸🇮, Slovakia 🇸🇰
9:43 = Spain 🇪🇸
9:56 = Sweden 🇸🇪
10:05 = Switzerland 🇨🇭
T
10:12 = Turkey 🇹🇷
U
10:21 = Ukraine 🇺🇦
10:31 = United Kingdom 🇬🇧
V
10:38 = Vatican City 🇻🇦
W
X
Y
Z
Your welcome from your fellow neighbourhood Pole 🇵🇱 known as Mod Maker.
You messed up a bit, but good work. 👍
@@JediSimpson
Yeah I did. On mobile.
The are two origins of the name Ukraine.
One which Name_Explained have mentioned, which is being propagated by Russians to impose Ukrainians a inferiority, while demonstrating some imagine superiority. Which they are doing for the last ~ 300 years
And another theory which said that title is actually comes from the word Вкраїна (Vkraina), which means - homeland, also root of the word is "Край" (krai) which means "land/area".
First mentioning of Ukraine was in 12 century.
350 Years before "Moscovia" (Modern title is Russia) was mentioned in 1547.
Bohdan Kudovbenko after reading your comment I realized that it's more of a theory then a actual historical evidence. Ukraine as a nation is more of a excuse then anything historical because the first rus nation was started in Novgorod no where near the actual "Ukrainian "land. the rus didn't built Kiev, it probably found by the khazars or other East Slavic people, rurik and his ancestors just took over Kiev because of its more strategic location
@@bdog2802 The existence of Ruryk is mythical, and the part of the annals about the invitation of the Scandinavians to the Novhorod Slavs for the rule is called into question and is probably a later deliberate change of the text or an addition. However, the Scandinavian origin of the dynasty, regardless of its name, is not denied. It remains to assume that the Slavs are no different from the rest of the tribes of Europe conquered by the Scandinavians for economic purposes, after which they stopped at a certain moment and decided to rule there, and later mixed with local tribes and assimilated. So the Scandinavians came to conquer the trade route from the "Varyanhs to the Greeks" and at the stage of conquering Kyiv decided to stop and rule there. Since the tradition of intertribal alliances was developed there. Proof that such a scenario is more likely is the fact that Novhorod was never considered Rus in the annals. "went from Rus to Novhorod" and "arrived from Novhorod to Rus" always appear. So there was no Rus before Kyiv. There was no Rus in Novhorod. But Rus, the "Rus" people, was mentioned in the Bertinsky Annals long before the mythical invitation of the mythical Ruryk to Novhorod. Therefore, we conclude that the name Rus was associated with Kyiv before the Scandinavian dynasty got there. Does the name come from oarsmen? Perhaps. After all, in Rus there was a tradition of river navigation and even sea navigation older than Rus itself. However, the fact that in the Greek language the sound "y" turned into the sound "o" makes it possible that the name comes from the river Ros. The tribe on whose land Kyiv was located just lived between the rivers Ros and Irpin.
In Slavic languages the directions are related to colours, red is south, white is west, Belarus means western Rus. North is black and east is blue or green. The same system is ancient, from Iran
As a native speaker of a Slavic language, I have never heard of any associations of the directions to colors. They are connected to time, for example the Ukrainian or Belarusian for "north" is basically the word for "midnight", the same thing with "noon" for "south". In pretty much every Slavic language, the word for "west" means "where the sun sets" and the east, consequently, "where the sun rises". But nothing out of that relates to colors.
@@nickpro8116 not in the modern languages, but in the early mediaeval period, Red Croatia was the name of the area where Croatia is now, while White Croatia was where the Croats came from, modern Poland.
Ukraine - comes from "U" In/Inner "Kray" Country/Land resulting in "Inner Land", "Main part of the Country" or simply "Metropolia" - the term first appeared in 12th century Kievan Rus country where the capital Kiev and its neighbourhood lands were the main part of the country or "Inner / Main Lands". The version you have named - is popularized by russians and is considered to be offensive in Ukraine.
Though the Proto-Slavic word did in fact just mean "edge, end" and kraj/край means both "land, country" and "edge, end" in Ukranian and even most other Slavic languages. They're both possible. The most recent argument from a Ukranian linguist is about the difference of ukraina and okraina but he misses the point that kraj still originally meant "edge".
Also the capital of the Kievan Rus' was at first Novgorod and even when later the capital was Kiev, that region was still the border region.
I don't get why that etymology is offensive. The Danish a fine with their country name although it literally means Danish borderlands
@@niku.. The term in question was first used in 1187 in "Kievan Chronicle". Kiev was at the time the most populated city in Europe and had also been the capital for 3 centuries already (you can see a simplified visual representation of Europe's cities population comparison here: th-cam.com/video/z_YIQ0jcRoA/w-d-xo.html for example (just pick year 1187)). The term was used in the chronicle to describe the core capital lands as inner country in contrast to the fringes of the country in the north east or west. The version described in the video was "invented" 4-5 centuries after that, by russian empire with a sole purpose to assert dominance - and is therefore derogatory and highly politicised.
@@alexreaver5649 Also in Slovenian language (very archaic) state Krajina as border land.
I really loved the Nightingale video, could you please make more like it?
Actually Hungary doesn't come from the Huns... but rather the Onogurs, which was a loose collection of tribes the Hungarians were part of. It explains Ungarn, Węgry, Hongría etc. As well.
just a small detail: Austria doesn't mean Eastern Kingdom but Eastern Empire :) In Dutch we call it Oostenrijk and in German Österreich. (rijk/reich = empire)
Reich doesn't really mean empire, a better description would be realm, or country.
So, to expand on the names of Romania and Moldova.
1. România comes from Românie, an area where the roman law and customs, language apply, not a state.
It does not come from Romania, the people's name for the Roman Empire, but from Romanus, Român, Românie, articulated România. Meaning "The Romanian area".
The name of a Romanian state will be Țara Românească(The real name of Wallachia).
2. Moldova is named after the Margraviate of Moldova, and the city of Baia. It was a margraviate of Hungary run by Romanian margraves from Maramuresh.
The founder in the name of the king is debatable, but is likely to be Dragoș of Câmpulung(not the city in Moldova) and the most known margraves were Dragoș and Sas of Bedeu.
The name means mine in German, German colonists were used to build up the place and the capital, the capital is known after the Hungarian name of Baia, also meaning mine.
The river was named after the city and the margraviate, not the other way around.
But the river and the city is in România, since Principality of Moldova(what was left of it) formed România.
Now, the Principality of Moldova was founded by House of Cuhea who ruled at that time Maramuresh, by their names Ștefan of Cuhea son of Iuga and his uncle from his father's side, Bogdan of Cuhea.
It started from an internal conflict inside Hungary over the lands of House Dolha.
Bogdan took the side of House of Dolha, House of Bedeu, who was a subject to both the King of Hungary and the Voievode of Maramuresh, took the side of the king and the Hungarian noble.
So Bogdan and his nephew conquered the Margraviat of Moldova from House of Bedeu.
The name of the state was Țeara lui Bogdan(Country of Bogdan) or Țeara Românească, but in time the name Moldova replaced them.
Republic of Moldova is the Eastern part of the Principality of Moldova, conquered by Prince Roman I of Moldova from the tartars, then annexed by the Russian Empire from Moldova under Ottoman suzerainty and then by USSR from the Kingdom of România.
Lets put the chicken and egg to one side for a minute, and ask the question:- What came first Cyprus or the Cyprus Tree?
The tree is spelt "Cypress". There are a lot of cypress trees on Cyprus, but the island would have been formed before the tree evolved. I don't know if Cyprus's name came from the copper that was mined there or not-it was vital to The Bronze Age-but the Latin word for copper is derived from Cyprus.
Yes, copper was named for Cyprus, not the reverse.
@@allanrichardson1468 . Lebanon's tree is the cypress also.
Cyprus was named after the element copper. Not the tree!
Nice job keeping these concise!
Your posters is the most useful youtuber merch I have seen yet
Finland in finnish is Suomi which is derived from word Suo. That means Fen; 15 - 30 % of land area of Finland (depending how you count) is fens.
I suspect that's also the etymology behind english name.
2:48 Armenians: Everything changed when the fire nation attacked.
Love this kind of content! Thank you for your great work!
Do you like to be informed by fakes?
Hercegovina used to be part of Serbian country. Hercegovina is not just in Bosnia but also in part of Montenegro knewn as Old Hercegovina. It got its name from Serbian Duke - Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, Herceg (Duke) of Saint Sava. And Montenegro got its name by what he tell but also mostly because Serbian dinasty Crnojević who ruled Montenegro, Crno=Black. Real name "Crna Gora" but Venetian Republic called it Montenegro. And word Serb can mean "man/people", but it also came from Proto-Slavic and Indo-Europian word which means "brother, relative, member of same tribe/kin", there is also a theory that originate from Persian/Iranian word which means "the one who protect; watch over".
This wrong in many places.
First time i actually hear about Lithuanian name comes from shoreline. In our schools they told us about the association with a small river which was called Lietauka and was once in the heart of old nation. Another meaning is "land of rain" - Lietus in Lithuania means rain and in our language we call Lithuania as Lietuva. Or another theory is Leit, which means a river flowing through a deeper creek. It might be a bit hard to find info in English about this, so I'm not really blaming you. You did tremendous job already.
It's also nice to hear about other nations names! Good job.
You had the wrong etymology for Ukraine, the one that you use originated in Russia. The more widely believed entomology is home land/ native land/ our land.
I've heard "border land": the border between russians & polish populations.
@@mikespearwood3914 this definition first started spreading during the USSR period and the whole thing of the USSR was to get rid of cultures/ absorb them into themselves, therefore this version became popular because it put Ukraine in relation to Russia. I honestly find this term kind of offensive but I don't blame Patrick for using it as because of the USSR it is the one that has been spread the most, there are lots of such example where Ukrainian history which has nothing to do with Russia is put in the context of Russia because of the USSR and I wonder if other cultures have this sort of issue too. Here read this Wikipedia Article: uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%B0_(%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B0)
(I know it's in Ukrainian but you can just use the auto translate option. The English Wikipedia doesn't talk about this).
@@mikespearwood3914 So, the gist of it is that "borderland" derives from the term okraina used in tsarist Russia to describe the territory of Ukraine. "Krai" in this context means edge or border. However: In the Ukrainian language the word Krai has a similar etymology but a different unrelated meaning: "land" or "country". Ukraina therefore means something along the lines of "homeland". Here's the confusing part: The terms okrainia and ukraina were used around the same time by two different groups okraina by the Russians and ukraina by the Zaporozhian Cossacks who lived in the territory of modern day Ukraine. When Ukraine was first officially named in 1918 the term ukraina and not okraina was used as the source for the name.
I think you meant "etymology" because entomology is the study of insects
@@lucasknox4871 I changed it
I love this channel!
Great video! Love your channel. Do Africa next
A interesting explanation for the origin of names of the different countries consisting the European continent .Thank you for your research.Being a student as well as a teacher of History makes me more prone for such diverse and vast contexts.
@Regina Redding May I be humble enough to ask your academic credentials so that I have the confidence that this video for not well researched.
@@anuradhainamdar8967 That video isbased onEnglishmeaning of Europe. As usuall,it isnot accurate nad not even as science made researhces.
You should do capital cities in Europe or something like that, that would be good name explain video
@Boris Manchev Than i am going to find it now
You are totally wrong about Ukraine. "U-kraïni" means "in the country/state". and russia has stolen its name from Kyiv Ruś, which has nothing to do with russian federation.
cycletoexist wrong the word Ukraine is borderland or outerland, so technically speaking there is multiple Ukraine.
And also the rus state started in Novgorod, not in Kiev. In fact, Kiev was just a East Slavic town and the rus just took over it because of its more strategic location
@@bdog2802 no, you are wrong, Novgorod was just a province, and moskva as well. You seem to know nothing about Slavic languages, so you don't get U kraïni concept
cycletoexist I like that how you avoid the facts that Kiev was not a rus city and where the fuck did you get this idea of "province ", there was no such thing back in that era specially not in Russia. And yes Ukraine means borderland in pretty much everything historical era, hell even the polish Lithuanian commonwealth use the term
If you haven't already it would be nice if the there was a playlist with all the European etomologys
*etymologies
To any Russians who take exception to his representation of Ukraine, Crimea river.
Crimea is a peninsula and not a river.
@@LunaBari yes I know. My statement is a wordplay on the popular American English saying "cry me a river."
@b phillip I know Krushchev ceded Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in the 1950s when both were part of the same country. And Putin used that as justification to illegally take it back.
@@timmmahhhh I missed that
@@LunaBari no problem we can't all be smart alecs. 😁
It would be interesting to hear each name in multiple languages of neighbouring countries for example and where they came from
Will you make a video about letter transposition and names like Pendergrass versus Prendergast? Also a video about names that seem like they must be variations of one another but are really totally unrelated? Like Hornby and Hornsby You must be the only other person alive as obsessed with names as me!
I have never heard such a strange explanation of Lithuania's name. The most common theory is that the name of Lithuania comes from the name of the river. The original Lithuanian name (Lietuva) consists of the word liet(i) which means pour or ~rain and the suffix -uva, which ends with the names of many rivers and places in our country. The most popular current explanations of the name of Lithuania are "Rainy place" or "The rain land " I think the most accurate English name for Lithuania would be Rainland.
Could you do Oceania next, its just such a unique area compared to the western world
Me: The Netherlands is where the Nether from Minecraft is
Edit: Finn from Adventure Time lives in Finnland
Moldova's name has a legend surrounding it, it comes from Molda, the hunting dog of a voivode called Dragoș. according to the legend they hunted an urus (giant extinct wild bull) and she died in the river fighting the urus. Dragoș named the river after her and took the urus's head. that's also why the heraldry of Moldova always features a bull's head. only it's not a bull, its an urus
The origin of word Slav (Slovan/Sloven) is not unknown. It comes from proto-slavic word "Slovo" which means "Word" in Slavic languages. So it is the land when you find people you can talk with. We also call Germans - Nemci which means "mutes" as the ones not speaking our language :)
Just like the word "nemoy," which means a person that can't speak. :D
The word Rus has a clear etymology in slavic languages and does not mean men who row. The word rus is an adjective that is most commonly used to describe a hair color, and it describes a light brown, almost blond hair color. So the word Rus, as it is masculine in slavic languages, can mean a man with light hair. And thats how Russia and Belarus got their names.
Also the correct term for Slavs should be Sloveni (or whatever the correct spelling and pronounciation is in other slavic languages) and so the root word is "slovo" which means word. And so Sloven is a man who speaks.
Sloveni word is "original" just in South Slavic states. In other Slavic states word Slavs is Slovani, Slavljani etc., but doesn`t Sloveni. Even in Slovenia it is known as Slovani. Sloveni is of Serbian invention. To cover also Slovenian people as tribe of Serbian.
Hungary comes from Latin Ungari, as the romans believed them to be descendant of the Huns, which they actually have no relations to. Scribers at the time often mistakenly added H in front, becoming Hungari. Romance speakers still have it as variations of hungary, while the germanic people use Ungarn or variations of it, as they never added the H.
What I find very interesting is, that the language Hungarian has the most similarities to Finnish.
Hungary is Unkari in Finnish
Meanwhile romanians use the germanic version and use the hungarian word for hungarian language,well the local variation of it.
Some slavic countries and the turkish call hungarians a varient of magyar, the name hungarians call themselves.
"Vatican City" comes from the fact it is located on a hill called "Mons Vaticanus" by the ancient Latin-speaking Romans. In English it is "Vatican Hill". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Hill
The pope's headquarters are actually in the Lateran, which was actually donated to the church by Constantine. (The document called The Donation of Constantine dates from the ninth century and was exposed as a forgery by Catholic priest in the 15th century). The Vatican was a tract of land donated to the Bishop of Rome by a wealthy family. It expanded into the Papal States, but shrank down to its present size because of a treaty with Italy in the 1920s. The Vatican figures as a country only because Italy recognized it as such in that treaty. The treaty comes with a condition that the Vatican not interfere with Italian politics. There is a small movement in Italy to revoke the Vatican's status as a country because it has allegedly violated that provision. In that unlikely event, the Vatican would just be a part of the city of Rome.
This is recording a snapshot in time, the countries as they are in 2020. Nations, countries, regions and cultures are all different things. It’d be interesting to see you present the entomology of the names of all these identities. That’d keep you busy.
The word 'Slav' comes from the actual Slavic word 'Sloveni' which means 'People of the words'. So basically Slavs are named simply after the fact that they can understand each other 🤷♀️
And then you also go to the proto-Slavic word for Germans, 'Nemtsi' which means 'Mute people'. So in some (not all) Slavic languages, Germans are named simply after the fact that they can't speak said Slavic languages 🤷♀️
Frank, Sax, Ger are not just syllables of the name of countries, but weapons too.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina explanation is a bit off. They didn't "come together", they always were the same. Herzegovina was just a part of Bosnia, while when the Austrians occupied the nation they added on the Herzegovina part in the official name. Also the Bosnia meaning is a bit debated. It is believed that it was a name of a tribe or a tribal leader in the old-slavic homeland.
So what was the rest of Bosnia called?
@@zozzy4630 Well depends on the time period. In medieval times you had Hum, Donji Kraji, Soli, Usora and later Herzegovina, with the main part of Bosnia called Vrh Bosna, and the whole country called Bosnia. Later under the Ottomans Bosnia was first a Sanjak (smaller administrative province) then later a Vilayet ( the best biggest administrative province) and it was just called Bosnia. Under it you had some other Sanjaks, like Hercegovački, Zvornički, Novo Pazarski, etc etc. Now there aren't really that distinguished regions. But you still call them by their let's say regional association. The wester border is called Krajina, meaning 'border land", east one Podrinje, because of the Drina river, Herzegovina is the southern part and so on.
@@naprimjer6593 probaj ovo Hercegovcima objasniti?! :)
@@webmastertoobap29 Pa zna se. Crnogorac je postao ljen, kad mu je Bosanac hteo nešto, da objasni.
Fin = Fen = Marsh. Finland also means Marshland, Finland is known for its many lakes. ;)
Sweden (Sverige) i think is what has become of the words Svea rike wich means kingdom of svea.
Svea rike is still used as a synonym of Sverige
It was incredibly difficult trying to Google this "Czech"-guy, which I’m not sure why I’m even surprised by
Very nice! I'd be very curious to see a video like this explaining the etymology of African nation names.
Don`t ask. It will be disaster.
Here in France we call London as Londres but it’s not named that way, also in English you would say Germany but it’s called Deutschland, and so on. Thanks for your video and look forward to more x
I enjoy this nicely compiled continental overview! Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊
The most likely origin of the name Belarus likely comes from the fact that it became Christian early on, unlike the pagan "black Russ".
It refering to the "russ being white" doesn't make a lot of sense because the local Slavs were (and are) also white
@Puella maybe, but that was the definition given in Wikipedia and most commonly accepted
@@gigachadgaming6071 "Belaya Rus" - the historical name of a number of regions on the territory of modern Belarus and Russia. Recorded mainly in Western European sources, starting from the middle of the XIII century. Many other variants of this name appeared in ancient maps: for instance, Russia Alba, Russija Alba, Wit Rusland, Weiß Reußen (Weißreußen), White Russia, Hviterussland, Hvíta Rússland, Weiß Russland (Weißrussland), Ruthenia Alba, Ruthénie Blanche and Weiß Ruthenien (Weißruthenien). Until the end of the 15th century, the vast majority of references to White Russia (Alba Russia) originate from Western Europe and refer to the territory of Veliky Novgorod (Novgorod Republic). Later, this name began to be called the lands of the Moscow rulers.
The 16th century chronicler Alexander Guagnini's book "Sarmatiae Europeae" descriptio wrote that Rus was divided in three parts. The first part, under the rule of the Moscovite Grand Duke, was called White Rus. The second one, under the rule of Polish king, was called Black Rus. And the rest was Red Rus. He also said Moscow was the center of White Rus and Russian metropolitanate, and that Grand Duke of Moscow was called the White Czar, especially by his subjects.
Only by the late 16th century did it sometimes mention as a name for the area of the present Belarus. The origins of the name, which is attested from the 14th century, are unclear. Max Vasmer's dictionary mentions the dichotomy of "white" land and "taxed" land in Domostroi (Russian civil law) and speculates that "white" Russia may have referred to the parts of Russia that were not subject to Tatar rule. Another speculation in Vasmer is that the color of the clothes of the White Russians (perhaps as well as the color of their hair) may have contributed to the name.
In the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the name Belaya Rus' was used from the end of the 16th century in relation to a part of the modern territory of Belarus, namely to the Polotsk land. Since the 1620s, the term has been assigned to the eastern, Podvinsk-Podneprovsk, lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the Russian state, "Belaya Rus" in the first half of the 17th century was called all the East Slavic lands of the Commonwealth, and their inhabitants were "Belarusians".
Coincidently in turkic languages white was often used meaning west. So in that case it would mean western Russia. That's quite accurate.
The huns didn't settle Hungary, the magyars did. Common misconception
Sweden is called Sverige in Sweden, from the spelling in danish Svea rige. It means the country of the Svea people.
How about doing a video of Yakko's world with you constantly interrupting Yakko by giving the etymologies?
"Austria is of course east of Germany" wait what?
South east at the best, and more south than east. Probably compared to Munich/Bavaria, but just a little more explanation would have been nice ..
More like East of Charlemagne's Empire, not just Germany.
The name Austria in german language means Eastern Empire = Österreich (Öster+Reich)
In the time of Austria creating, whole Germany (or all Germanic "states") was west of Astria. East of Elbe were Slavic people. Berlin was settled by Sorbian (Lusathian Slavs). 🙂
I believe Denmark, Danmark, means land of the Danes as mark in Danish is land or field. It’s the same words in Swedish (land or mark) Mark doesn’t mean border. Border in Danish is grænse or something along that line. The word for border in Swedish is gräns.
Very similar same root between svears and Danes.i saw the vikings serie on amazon. Super
7:57 makes sense. In my language the name is literally what he explained instead of Montenegro
sorry, but for the first time I hear about the origin of the name for croatia that it comes from a mountain range! Croatia has two names, one is domestic Hrvat (se), which means wrestling, and the other is foreign, Croatia, which is a corrupt name for a tie, which is a corrupt name for the domestic name of a Croat. most easily remembered by the story when a French soldier asks a Croatian colleague in the Thirty Years' War, what is it around his neck? pointing a finger. The Croat, not understanding French, thinks he is asking who he is, what he is,where he comes from, the Croat answers by pointing his finger at himself / the scarf around his neck. "Hrvat, ja sam Hrvat" in translation "croat, i am croatian".hence the meaning of the neck tie in wrestling takes on a new dimension. 🤔
Now do countries that have different name in their native language.
I think, that would be a very long list.
7:10 pretty sure it comes from a river in the country called Lietava
Asia or Africa would be interesting as a next topic or perhaps a run through of Europe again but those names in their native languages rather than English.
Two small mistakes with Ireland. Éire is pronounced Air-ah and in the map, you put the Inishowen Peninsula in Northern Ireland.
Still a great video.
It's pointless to complain about pronunciation. This is someone who pronounced Cymru as Coomlee...
@@martinsriber7760 that's outrageous. I wonder is it that you have people who learn a way of enunciation that's not normal to them and it bleeds into everything. Probably not. Just wrong!
Also the Goddess 'Ériu' Ireland was named after should be pronounced "A-ru'
Great video!
Ukraine 🇺🇦 means a land, a kingdom, a brotherhood. The name was first mentioned in the 12th century as a synonym to the word 'kingdom'.
Deutschland the country that got named after different people groups depending on who people had first contact with I guess and them there is this special group of languages that just made something up completely.
Oh and those that actually listened to us Germans and call us by an equivalent of Deutschland just im their language, those are mainly the North Germanic languages and our language siblings Dutch but there are probably more.
Think the etymology for Ireland is correct. Pity couldn't get the pronunciation of Éire correct. The final "e" is pronounced so "air-re".
The goddess was Ériu pronounced "air-roo".
Man i was cringing very hard at that pronunciation. irish has so many pronunciation guides online like teanglann which does each dialect
Hadn't Patrick made a video exactly like that when Brexit happened?
When I saw this video pop up I wondered why an old video was being suggested. Maybe he thought the last one wasn't oven-ready enough?
do asia next
"Asia" was the name of a Roman province in what is now western Turkey, and since you had to go through Asia to get to most places east of Asia, Asia became the name of the continent. This would be like calling all of North America "Virginia," which I believe some English people actually did back when Virginia was much larger and less defined.
You should explain why "cricket" and "croquet" have such similar names! And why they both use "wickets!"
big like and sub coz you said the truth about north macedonia lol
3:55 in school, we learned that our island was named after copper🇨🇾
Can you do a video about Sudan (country) and Sudan (car)
I speak English as a third language and I could not understand most of this video. Could you please add subtitles?
There are subtitles but their not totally accurate, because they're generated from a TH-cam bot
LoL English is my third language too
Danmark... I thought the "mark" part was called mörk at first, just as there used to be Finnmörk. Mörk is woods and Eyðimörk is the icelandic (nordic) word for desert...i.e. Sahara
Icelandic mörk comes in fact from the same Old Norse word mǫrk as Danish/Swedish/Norwegian mark. The original meaning in Proto-Germanic (mǫrk < PGm *markō) was "border" or just "region, area"
you forgot Penghripschtem
/ pəngrɘpʃt(ə)m/ its name is taken from the Penorep language (pẽʕúrep) meaning the mouth of the right or the mouth of the truth
Talking about Germany: * all of Europe is on the screen *
Talking about Azerbaijan: * not even all of Azerbaijan is on the screen *
Icelands etymology is a common myth deriving from the "Iceland = green. Greenland = icy" thing. Its more commonly believed that settlers first landed close to icy waters or a glacier henche the name
Well you can flip a coin and guess where the name Slav comes from. In most if not all Slavic languages there are 2 particular words "slava" (glory) or "slovo" (word which would in context of a name identify people who can speak same as Germans are called Nemci - "nemy" which means mute).
What is he saying @ 0:16 ??
You pronounced croat like "crowt"? I thought it was "crow-at"!
Good video but I think you should have explained United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
At least that might have informed some of the residents of said country that the "Great" means big, not amazing...
Liechtenstein is named after the House of Liechtenstein, the ruling family. They gained possession of the land, at the time known as Vaduz, while it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, then gave the country their name when they became independent.
Naming places after colours was a common practice of the Eastern Romans. All four majour directions had a colour. North=black, south=red, east=green, west=white. That's where the names of the Red Sea and the Black Sea come from. In the same way Belarus means western Rusians.