At present, there are nearly 200 countries in the world, in the Chinese, except for the names of a few countries, such as Japan, Montenegro and Iceland, which are paraphrased, they are basically transliterated from the names of the countries in their original Chinese or some other major languages of the world, so these country names are basically meaningless in Chinese. But in fact, the names of most countries have a certain meaning or origin in their Chinese or culture, so what are the stories behind the names of these countries in the world? Some studies have shown that at present, the country names of most countries in the world can be divided into four types, namely family names, geographical product types, orientation types and personal names and geographical names. So today we will introduce the different origins of the names of countries around the world from these perspectives.
Family name type
This kind of country name can be said to be the most common type of country name in the world at present. At present, most of the world's nation-states are named in this way, such as North Korea and South Korea, which are adjacent to China, which are named after different names for the same ethnic group. Other countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, which are very familiar to malaysians, are also named after their domestic dominant ethnic groups (the Vietnamese juche ethnic group, the Kyung ethnic group, is also called the Vietnamese). Other countries in Asia that are named in this way are Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, and several States of Central Asia.
Thailand is called Thailand because of the Thai people
In Europe, where there are many nation-states, this naming method is more common, such as Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, etc., basically named after its domestic subject nation or the largest ethnic group.
Hungarian
But in other parts of the world, relatively few countries are named this way. For example, in Africa and South America, because most countries are ethnically numerous, or a nation is distributed in many countries, there are relatively few countries named in this way, and in more than 50 countries in Africa, only about 10 countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Mali, Botswana and Ghana are so named.
In addition, some friends who know some about geography know that at present, there are 4 countries in the world with the name of Guinea in their names. As for the origin of the name Guinea, there are several different theories in modern times, some people think that it means "negro" in the language of the Tuareg people, a nomadic group in North Africa, and others think that it means "woman country" in the berber language of another ethnic group in North Africa, which may refer to the local matriarchal society for a long time. However, this name was later referred to by Europeans as black, so several European countries used the term to name their predominantly black colonies, so that there were Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Papua New Guinea in the world.
Papua New Guineans
Among them, Papua New Guinea, located in Oceania, is also named because Europeans arrived there to see the local people with the same dark skin, thinking that they were close to black Africans, and the Papua in its name means "curly hair", so the name of Papua New Guinea actually has the meaning of "curly black country". Therefore, it means that such country names are foreign names, but they are also related to the names of local ethnic groups.
Geographical property type
Another common type of country name is the geographical product type of country name, which is named by about a quarter of the world's countries. Such country names are mainly named according to a characteristic geographical form in the territory of a country or a local product (or once abundant) of a specialty. Countries named in this way are mainly found in countries with a relatively short written history or a relatively short history of national independence, such as Africa and South America.
Brazil wood, brazil gets its name from this tree
For example, Brazil, a South American country that ranks among the world's top in terms of territory and population, is named after its historical staple economic product, Brazilwood. Around the 16th century AD, the local Native Americans harvested Brazilian wood, a specialty of the Brazilian coast, and then sold it to Europeans, and the long-term continuation of this trade can be said to have laid the foundation for the birth of the Brazilian nation.
The name of another major south American country, Argentina, means "silver", which was named because the early American and European colonists believed that Argentina had a mountain rich in silver. Although no such a particular mountain was later found in Argentina, the name was continued.
Another South American country, Ecuador, has its own name equatorial, so the country is actually called "equatorial country" because it is located at the equator. In addition, the name of the Central American country of Costa Rica originally means "rich coast", which should come from a European explorer. The most popular theory comes from Columbus, who when he first arrived in Costa Rica and found that the locals wore a lot of gold jewelry, believing that the local area was rich in gold, so he used this term to call the local. But in fact, the local gold is not rich, Columbus may only see some of the local rich people, and the gold they wear is purchased from elsewhere.
Lion Rock, not far from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone
In Africa, there are more names like this. For example, the North African country of Algeria, whose name derives from its capital algiers, and algiers means "archipelago", it is called because it is a coastal city, and originally its coast was distributed with many small islands. The Name of the West African country of Sierra Leone is the Portuguese word for "Lion Rock", but it is not named because of the abundance of lions in the region, but because there is a large mountain in its territory that has an echo effect on thunder, resulting in loud noises that can be heard from a long distance, as if there are often beasts in it. The congo (DRC) and Congo (Brazzaville), the two countries with the same name in Africa, are named after the Congo River, the largest river in Africa, and Côte d'Ivoire means "Ivory Coast" in French. In addition, countries in Africa, such as Niger, Chad, Zambia and Tanzania, are also named for geographical specialties.
Icelandic place names do the opposite
In Asia and Europe, which have a relatively long history, there are actually some countries named after geography. For example, the original meaning of Singapore is Lion City. However, the name should have originated from a misunderstanding at first. It is said that in ancient times, a Malay prince once saw a beast on the island of Singapore while hunting, thinking that it was a lion, so he called it Singapore according to the pronunciation of "Lion City" in Malay. But in fact, there are no lions in Singapore. In addition, the European country of Montenegro is also named after the historical name of its main mountain in the territory, Mount Lovechin. The name Iceland was given to the vikings who first arrived because they thought the climate was pleasant and feared that they would be taken away by others. In addition, there are Moldova, Portugal and Cyprus (geographically located in Asia, but has joined the European Union) whose names are closely related to geography and property.
Azimuth type
Then when it comes to the name of the azimuth country, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely china. According to modern archaeological discoveries, the term China appeared as early as the 11th century BC, when it referred to the Central Plains region centered on the Luoyang Basin in Henan, and later with the development of the Central Plains regime, this term gradually became the name of the whole of China, until modern times became our country name.
The he Zun inscription, the earliest known word "China" in modern times
In addition to China, there are some countries in the world that are named after orientations. For example, Japan, which everyone is familiar with, can actually be regarded as the name of the country. Because the name of Japan means "the land of the sunrise", it also originally referred to the fact that Japan is located in the east relative to China, that is, the direction of the sunrise.
In Asia, there is actually another country whose name means the country of the East, and this country is East Timor. Timor-Leste's official name, Timur-Leste, actually includes two words that represent the East. First of all, Leste means Oriental in Portuguese, and Timur, which is usually translated as "Timor", is actually the Malay meaning of Oriental, so the name of East Timor is actually "the country of the East".
An ancient map of Europe in the 16th century AD, the continent below is not Antarctica, but the legendary unknown southern continent
In addition, Australia, which everyone is familiar with in Africa, actually means "southern continent". The word is derived from ancient Greece and Rome, because in ancient Greco-Roman legend, there was an unknown continent in the south of the world, when they called it Terra Australis Ignota. Later, after Europeans discovered Australia, they felt that it was more similar to the unknown continent in the south in ancient legends, so they named it Australia.
Norway is also a country named after its geographical location
In addition, South Africa and Central Africa in Africa are also countries named after orientation. The name of Norway in Europe means "Northern Road" or "Road to the North", so it is also a country named after its location. The official name of the South American country of Uruguay is the "Eastern Republic of Uruguay", because it is located on the east bank of the Uruguay River, so it can also be regarded as a country named after its orientation. The name of the West Asian country Yemen originally meant "south", and the name "Vietnam" also has the meaning of orientation, so it can also be classified into the name of the directional country.
Personal names and place names
And in more than 20 countries around the world, they are named after a place in the homeland of a historical celebrity or "discoverer." For example, the Southeast Asian country of the Philippines was named after its colonial suzerainty, King Philip II of Spain. The Middle Eastern country of Israel is named after one of its ancestors in national legend, Jacob (aka Israel). The African island nation of Mauritius is also named after Mauritz, the Dutch ruler of Nassau, who has historically ruled the country, and another African country, Eswatini, named after Hiswati II, who has played an important role in history.
The name of the Philippines is derived from King Philip II of Spain
However, the most concentrated concentration of countries named after people is the Americas. For example, the other American country of Bolivia is named after Simon Bolívar, a famous revolutionary and liberator in South American history. In addition, the United States, which is most familiar to everyone, has its name from the Americas, and the name of the Americas is derived from the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci, who first asserted that the Americas were a "new continent" rather than Asia. So in a strict sense, the United States is also a country named after a person.
The United States is named after America's Wespzi
So seeing here, some friends may feel that why the Americas and the United States are named after this Amerigo, the earliest to arrive in the Americas, "discover the New World" Columbus did not leave any traces? In fact, this is not the case, and Columbus has also left a deep mark on the place names of the Americas. First of all, there is also a country in South America named after Columbus, which is Colombia. In addition, in addition to the country name of Costa Rica that we have just mentioned, which may have been taken by Columbus, there are currently 8 countries in the Americas whose names are taken by Columbus, and these names are mainly derived from some of the "saint" names in Catholic history.
Of course, because Columbus did not have much involvement in the American continent when he was alive, the countries he named were mainly some of the island countries around Central America, including Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Columbus also named the country of Antioch and Barbuda after a church name, and the name of this church is also somewhat related to the name of the person.
Place names associated with Columbus are also found throughout the Americas
And of the countries columbus named, the most meaningful is Trinidad and Tobago, because the name of the country is an interesting combination. The first half of it is derived from the religious concept of the "Trinity", which can be said to have some connection with people. The second half is divided into opinions, with one theory suggesting that it is derived from the name of the smoking gun that smoked tobacco by the local indigenous people. It is recorded that Columbus himself was so fond of this smoking gun that he placed it in the name of the same island as the Trinity.
Countries named after place names elsewhere are mainly located in the Americas and Oceania. For example, the South American country of Venezuela is actually named after the Italian water city of Venice, and the Central American island nation of Granada is named after the Spanish place name Granada. New Zealand in Oceania is named after the province of Zeeland, the dutch hometown of Albert Tasman, the first Dutch to arrive.
Other interesting country names
Among the other names of countries that cannot be classified in the above categories, some are actually very interesting. For example, the name of the African country of Burkina Faso was established in 1984, meaning "the country of the honest man" or "the country of the honest man". The African nation of Liberia was founded in the 19th century by liberated American slaves, so its country means "free country". In addition, the name of the African island nation of the Comoros can be translated as "Country of the Moon". China's southwestern neighbor, Bhutan, often calls itself "The Domain of The Lord", which means "the land of the Thunder Dragon". The name of the Pacific island nation of Nauru is the most in line with the modern way of life, it means "I go to the beach"...
Overlooking Nauru, the country lives up to its name
Of course, because there are many countries in the world, it is impossible to introduce all of them in this article, do you still have any country name origins that you want to know? Welcome to leave a message. (The picture is from the Internet, and the copyright of the picture belongs to its original author)