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  1. #61
    Legendary! Gothicshark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Leobald View Post
    1. The name "Hungarian" most likely does not come from the Huns, but the Onogurs.

    2. While the western mediterranean coast of Africa was indeed called "Barbary Coast" for a while in the early modern age, the Romans never called that territory "Barbaria".

    The Romans called all uncivilized (from their viewpoint) people beyond the borders of the empire barbarians. The lands beyond the borders of the empire were sometimes referred to as Barbaricum. The word barbarian is actually of Greek origin btw. It was a term for all non-Greek people originally.

    The Roman name for northwestern Africa was Mauretania (present day north Morocco and west Algeria) and Numidia (present day east Algeria).
    though the name of the lands you give are correct, the Romans gave the people in the region of North Africa their name 'barbarian' which is a greek word barbaros meaning foreigner. the peoples of the region kept the Roman name as a badge of Honor, this became Berber. Which in the 1700's became the slang name for north Africa, Barbary coast.

  2. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by Hardstyler01 View Post
    Except that the language of the Franks is most like today's Dutch, not French. So although the name got stuck to an area, the people moved.
    Not really, though. That the people's predominant language changed (due to merging with locals) doesn't mean they moved anywhere. I mean, France/Francia. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see a connection there.

  3. #63
    Legendary! Gothicshark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by semaphore View Post
    Not really, though. That the people's predominant language changed (due to merging with locals) doesn't mean they moved anywhere. I mean, France/Francia. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see a connection there.
    Both the french language and the name for the French has remained fairly consistent over the years, The name France/Francia comes from the preferred weapon of war,the francisca is a throwing Ax. that is useful in both melee and ranged attacks.
    http://thedarkblade.com/wp-content/u...ncisca-axe.jpg

    Franks was just another way to describe French people. The Dutch are Britons, they are not Franks or French. They also have been where they are since the Roman period. The oldest form of English is found on the Dutch coast.

  4. #64
    Quote Originally Posted by Gothicshark View Post
    Both the french language and the name for the French has remained fairly consistent over the years, The name France/Francia comes from the preferred weapon of war,the francisca is a throwing Ax. that is useful in both melee and ranged attacks.
    http://thedarkblade.com/wp-content/u...ncisca-axe.jpg
    Umm, no. The francesca is probably named after the Franks. Because it's a weapon they liked to use.


    Franks was just another way to describe French people. The Dutch are Britons, they are not Franks or French. They also have been where they are since the Roman period. The oldest form of English is found on the Dutch coast.
    The Dutch are a west Germanic people. (Native) Britons are Celtic, Anglo-Saxons are also west Germanic.

    Franks is the name of the people before French appeared. The Kings of France were styled King of the Franks until the High Middle Ages, when the Kingdom of France emerged.

  5. #65
    Scarab Lord Azgraal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arnorei View Post
    I was thinking the same about capitals. Why do english people call London as such, yet we call it Londra?
    A variation in the name due to the language is normal, then there's some changes due to a practical sense. Like Porto, where i live in Portugal, it is/was commonly refered as Oporto throughout Europe, as to tell apart the wine that comes from that region - Port Wine - from the city itself, when said wine started to gain international fame, back during the XVII century.. *shrug*

    Quote Originally Posted by Arnorei View Post
    but how do you pronounce România?
    In portuguese it is pronounced Rroo-mé-nee-a.
    Last edited by Azgraal; 2012-12-06 at 03:21 AM.

  6. #66
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by semaphore View Post
    Umm, no. The francesca is probably named after the Franks. Because it's a weapon they liked to use.



    The Dutch are a west Germanic people. (Native) Britons are Celtic, Anglo-Saxons are also west Germanic.

    Franks is the name of the people before French appeared. The Kings of France were styled King of the Franks until the High Middle Ages, when the Kingdom of France emerged.
    http://www.eupedia.com/europe/maps_o...ml#ethnicities
    There, shows the ethnic makeup of Europe, it should help the discussion.

  7. #67
    Norge / Norway

    Sverige / Sweden

    Island / iceland


    ohwell.
    I like my coffe like my mages.

  8. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by Danmakus View Post
    Norge / Norway

    Sverige / Sweden

    Island / iceland


    ohwell.
    It should be fun hearing people form other non-Scandivavian countries pronounce the names (Some are more fun than other, Danmark is too similar to English and maybe Island too)

    EDIT: Svoorgee, hee hee

  9. #69
    Quote Originally Posted by Pendulous View Post
    It might be like Chinese. There's no actual language called "Chinese". It's Mandarin or...the other one I can't think of.
    Cantonese or any of the many other languages there...

    I don't know, I think it makes sense to pronounce something in a way you actually can pronounce it... Otherwise, good luck with our town Scheveningen or Den Haag (Den Hague as you'd write it in English)...

    Or even better, have a go at these (and no cheating with dictionaries okay?)

    日本
    東京
    神奈川
    淵野辺
    京都
    or anything else in character writing for that matter... These are just Japanese ones

  10. #70
    Quote Originally Posted by Gothicshark View Post
    Many international names for regions are either the way the first European travelers interpreted what they heard, or in Europe the old name given by the Romans with 2000 years of degeneration.

    examples: Germany is the degradation of Germania the old Latin name for the region. The French call it Allemagne which is how the French call the Alemanni tribe who lived in Germany. Deutschland which is the official name of the country comes from Ludwig der Teutsche, who is sort of the father of post Roman Germany.
    Nice to know, very interesting.

    I would like to add that USA's name is a description of how the country is organized (with "America" being the continent), it is quite easy to translate that name in any language (the same could be said for soviet Russia: cccp/ussr/urrs....).
    Quote Originally Posted by Kavoo View Post
    Well I do have a penis attached to me as well but I dont know 'a lot' about it, I dont even know how it tastes. Maybe you do.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lycoris View Post
    Everyone who does not miss Vanilla has no heart. Whoever wishes it back has no brain.

  11. #71
    Quote Originally Posted by Ethes View Post
    日本
    東京
    神奈川
    淵野辺
    京都
    Challenge accepted!

    Nippon
    Tokyo
    Kanagawa
    Fuchinobe
    Kyoto

  12. #72
    Quote Originally Posted by ichime View Post
    http://www.eupedia.com/europe/maps_o...ml#ethnicities
    There, shows the ethnic makeup of Europe, it should help the discussion.
    The map seems to be correct. The south of the Netherlands is predominantly Franks while the north is more Saxons. That is why in the south you see more people with brown hair and rounder faces where as in the north you see more people with square faces and blonde hair. If you know a little of the geography of the Netherlands, you would know that we have a bunch of rivers passing between the north and the south of our country. These have been a block for many armies and people in history. From the Romans vs the Germanic barbarians all the way to the Germans vs the allied forces in WW2 (maybe you know the old movie "a bridge too far"). So that is why that divide is so clear there. These days though it gets mixed more and more though. My brother is blonde with blue eyes like a proper German while I have brown, almost black hair and my face is more round. If you would put us next to eachother you would hardly see that we are brothers.


    Oh and back on topic, the Netherlands is actually a pretty funny name since it is also in plural (if thats the right word). This is for a similar reason as the US, because everything used to be city states. Our first king for instance, used to be a "keeper of the city" for the Spaniards. We eventually kicked their ass and stole their gold so we were to unite into 1 country. And later Belgium would be made because we didn't want to live with those crazies .

    And then you may ask where Holland came from. There are actually 2 provinces in the Netherlands called Holland (north and south) and these in history were the most important for trade since they were connected to the sea. I derives from Holt which means wood in very old Dutch. But this is still a little bit disputed though most people do feel it has nothing to do with hollow which is "hol" in Dutch.
    Last edited by Bolson13; 2012-12-06 at 11:04 AM.

  13. #73
    Quote Originally Posted by Cattaclysmic View Post
    Because other languages are weird...

    Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia - good luck pronouncing it! I shall call it Dave.
    It's not hard when you see it written in Cyrillic: Любляна.

    We have cool letters for everything: sh = ш, sht = щ, ja - я, ju - ю. People not using it are missing out.

    Also, i have never met a foreigner who can say: Ъ

  14. #74
    Quote Originally Posted by Ethes View Post

    東京
    Funny, I now see that tokyo actually looks like dong jing in Chinese characters. This doesn't sound like Tokyo at all but actually it translates as something like "capital in the east" which is actually true hehehe.

  15. #75
    日本 - Rising Sun
    中国 - Middle Country/Land
    東京 - East Capital
    北京 - North Capital

  16. #76
    Quote Originally Posted by semaphore View Post
    Umm, no. The francesca is probably named after the Franks. Because it's a weapon they liked to use.
    France in german is Frankreich aka Kingdom of the Franks. So yeah, but he asks something else. Why English call it France.

  17. #77
    Quote Originally Posted by Bolson13 View Post
    Funny, I now see that tokyo actually looks like dong jing in Chinese characters.
    Um... That's because that's exactly what it is meant to be...

    ---------- Post added 2012-12-06 at 11:18 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Cybran View Post
    France in german is Frankreich aka Kingdom of the Franks.
    I know. I just said that.

    So yeah, but he asks something else. Why English call it France.
    No (and who's 'he'), we were talking about where the name France came from. I said its Francia.

  18. #78
    Quote Originally Posted by semaphore View Post
    Um... That's because that's exactly what it is meant to be...
    Well, I didn't realise Japanese and Chinese were THAT close. I have no intrest in Kanji so I didn't know any of them. It is almost like German and Dutch if you look at that list though.

  19. #79
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Bolson13 View Post
    Oh and back on topic, the Netherlands is actually a pretty funny name since it is also in plural (if thats the right word). This is for a similar reason as the US, because everything used to be city states. Our first king for instance, used to be a "keeper of the city" for the Spaniards. We eventually kicked their ass and stole their gold so we were to unite into 1 country. And later Belgium would be made because we didn't want to live with those crazies .
    Yeah, and we used to call you Flandes, Paises Bajos (Low Countries) or Provincias Unidas (United Provinces), and you guys didn't kick us out, we just weren't interested in keeping you in the Empire any longer lol

  20. #80
    Quote Originally Posted by Bolson13 View Post
    Well, I didn't realise Japanese and Chinese were THAT close. I have no intrest in Kanji so I didn't know any of them. It is almost like German and Dutch if you look at that list though.
    They actually aren't that close, it's just that those were kanji, which are Chinese characters, and therefore almost the same. Kind of like French and German alphabets (except Kanji isn't alphabets, of course).

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