Skip to main content

Where do the names of the countries come from?

All of us live in some country .Sometimes it is the one of our birth and other times the host, however: have you asked yourself why it is called like that ? You may know the origin of the name of your country, but do you know where the country names come from ? We have chosen a dozen to investigate its etymology; some because they are where they live more Lifestyles and others because we have found them interesting.We must not forget that the etymology is not an exact science and, in some cases, there are several possible origins .We have collected the most common ones.

Where do the names of the countries come from?

Spain

The name of Spain comes from the Latin voice Hispania and is in turn the name of the merchants Phoenicians: «Ish Fannim» , which means "island of rabbits" .The peninsula is also known as Iberia that comes from the Greek Hesperia and this was the garden that inhabited the Hesperides, nymphs of fruit trees.Hesperia would be something similar to the earthly paradise.

Mexico

Surely comes from "Mexica" , which is how the Aztecs called themselves in honor of Huitzilopochtli, his god , who was also called "Mexi" or "Mexicali" ; although there are many authors who propose a much more poetic origin .It will come from nahuatl , and it would be the union of metz (-tli) which means moon , xic (-tli) which means navel and-co which would be in , therefore «in the navel of the moon» .name would make reference to the lake in which the islets that constituted the capital of the Aztec empire were and had the shape of a rabbit, the same shape that has the shadow that is seen inside the full moon.

Where do the names of the countries come from?

There are many other possible interpretations for this origin.The Spaniards Castilianized the name and called it Mexico or Mexico.

Chile

It is the most enigmatic of the names of the countries we will deal with.Since the end of the 16th century the name comes from.It is known that before the discovery , the They already called "Chili" to the area that remained by under the Atacama Desert .It seems that in Quechua "chili" means "confin" and so the Incas called the part that was further south of the empire."Chili" derived in Chile.

Peru

The natives who inhabited in the land that is below Panama , they were interrogated by the Spanish conquerors about the name the area received.They answered by calling it «Biru» that it was actually the name of the cacique that dominated those lands, they were the domain of Biru, from there derived to «Piru» and finally took the name of Peru .

Venezuela

There are two different versions for the origin of «Venezuela«.On the one hand it seems that the name was given by Americo Vespucio himself , at that the area of ​​Lake Maracaibo, with its rooms built gone on stilts, I remind you of the city of Venice .I call it Venezziola, a small Venice.On the other, some historians believe that can come from a settlement at the entrance from the lake that was called Venezuela, and that would mean "big water" in one of the languages ​​of the area.

Argentina

Simplifying the story, which has a lot and varied documentation, Argentina comes from the Latin word "argentum" which means "silver" .Among the conquerors the rumor spread that following the great river you would reach some incredible deposits of silver.The river was called Rio de la Plata and the area around it, Argentine land or land of silver .It is stated in the documentation and literature since 1587.

Philippines

Philippines owes its name to King Philip II .This was the king of Spain when the conquest and subsequent colonization of the islands took place.

Where do the names of the countries come from?

France

France is the "land inhabited by the Franks" and the Franks were the Germanic people that in the fifth century invaded Gaul."Franco" would be related to the German word "frei" which means "free", since that tribe considered not subject to other peoples.

Ireland

In English, Ireland is Ireland and comes from Gaelic Eireann, that has its root in the voice Eire.Eire would mean "fertile place" or place where the goddess Eriu lived.

Portugal

It comes from Latin « Portus Cale » and possibly the name of « Cale » refers to the town that lived near what is now Porto which means« the port ».The name of "port of Cale" was not limited to that settlement and soon designated the entire region between the Mino and the Douro. "Porto Cale" derived in Portugal .

Yes you like the etymology and you have been interested to know where the names of the countries come from, maybe you want to know where the names of the colors come from.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is it healthy to have sex while pregnant? Revealing data!

In a previous article we talked about various myths and beliefs about pregnancy, and one of them was precisely the issue of intimate relationships during pregnancy. In this post we want to delve a little more and talk to you not only about the convenience or not of making love at this stage, but also about the possible effects that this practice would have on the baby.Are you with us? Intimate relationships Maintaining relationships is always good, as we told you in another article about the benefits of making love every day.However, many pregnant women are concerned that such activities are not recommended or healthy, for them and for the fetus. The truth is that if your pregnancy has no complications, there are no medical or physical reasons for not having intimate relationships, even every day (of course, if you feel like it and time...).In fact, you can do it even before delivery, you will not be in danger, and neither will your baby.And from a more intimate point of view,...

Discover 8 things that are DEPRESSING you

Many things depress us. There are days when we feel helpless in the face of certain social and political situations that prevent us from moving forward as people.We get depressed because we see that our future does not It fits our expectations. Now, these states of sadness or the prelude to depression are not only due to external factors: a loving disenchantment, the loss of work, a family member, feeling alone or despised...Sometimes, this helplessness, this melancholy that suffocates and traps us also has internal origins. Studies like the one carried out by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences magazine give us some clinical clues , emotional and sociological that will help us to understand a little more those states in which sometimes we fall. However, as always happens in any study or list that tries to define an aspect more or less.specific, we must not forget that These types of dimensions do not define everyone .An example of this is loneliness.There a...

Are you a grunon? 9 advantages of being it, even if it irritates you to exist

Do you have a constant temper and a bad mood? Oddly enough, being pessimistic and grunon can give you some advantages , such as earning more at work, living longer and having a healthier marriage.And that's not all! Do you want to discover more advantages? Although if you are grunon you will already be very angry with these first revelations...Here we go! Are you grunon? 9 advantages of being, although it irritates you that there are Several analyzes have been made where human emotions are studied and how they affect our behavior, you will surely be surprised with some of these discoveries about people who they generally live in a bad mood: 1.Grunones are better negotiators. They tend to reach better agreements, since they are more demanding when making decisions and always seek to avoid risks, which also gives them higher salaries in their jobs. 2. They have more stable marriages.and his life is longer . 3.Contrary to what you might think, Scientists recognize tha...

Did you know that there are still eunuchs today?

Surely you've heard or read somewhere about the eunuchs .In fact, one of the key characters in the famous series Game of Thrones is, of course, a eunuch. But what is it about? It is the total or partial removal of the male genitals, a process called emasculation or evisceracion .It is partial when the testicles are removed or disabled (through strokes!) or when only the penis is cut, and it is total when the mutilation is complete: penis and testicles.Keep reading and you find out. Did you know that there are still eunuchs today? One of our human characteristics is the capacity for cruelty , towards our own species and towards everything else.From the Neolithic, at least 5,000 years before Christ, among the incipient agricultural societies of the “growing fertil ”it was customary to castrate the animals, once it was discovered that this procedure reduced their bravery and controlled their reproduction.The area in question covers the rivers Jordan, Nile, Tigris and E...

6 infallible tricks to surprise with your birthday gift

The birthday is an event recognized worldwide as a celebration of the arrival in the world of each of us, so it is a signed date and its arrival is always expected with the illusion of being surprised.For many, even, This day implies the closing of a stage and the beginning of a new one .However, at present the birthday celebration has only become the reproduction of certain topics, which is why it is associated more to a routine that to an event that generates expectation.Thus, it becomes increasingly important and difficult to be able to surprise your relatives on their special date. If you find yourself lost before the birthday celebration of a loved one and you do not know what to give to mark the difference and get everything you feel, do not worry; At Lifestyle we assure you that there are many options for you to surprise him.In fact, we offer you a list with 6 infallible tricks to surprise you with your birthday gift.However, you should keep in mind that to guarantee the eff...

Nicolle Millet, murdered by her husband or spontaneous combustion?

In the last 300 years there have been approximately 200 reports of alleged spontaneous combustion .The scientific community does not agree on this phenomenon.The most frequent explanation is the mecha effect of which we already talked about in the article on The extraordinary spontaneous combustion of Cornelia Zangari.On this occasion we bring you the controversial case of Nicolle Millet, murdered by her husband or spontaneous combustion ? Nicolle Millet, murdered by her husband or spontaneous combustion? To know the facts as explained in several documents we have to go back to 20 February 1725 .In the French city of Reims lived a marriage of a certain age, surnamed Millet. At 8 pm on the 19th, the the couple went to sleep as they normally did, but at midnight Mrs.Millet got up and went to the cooks since he couldn't sleep. A few hours later the husband woke up when he noticed a strange pungent smell that slipped into the room.He went to the kitchen and found ...

How to take time to exercise?

The doctors affirm that to have a healthy life it is necessary to exercise at least 45 minutes a day. The problem is that the current life , being so busy, leaves us between little and no time to do it. Here are some tips for exercising time! So you can take time to exercise When we talk about making time, we mean, literally, making time.That is, giving it the level of priority it deserves, because it's just what we do when something really important appears in our lives: we find a way to adjust it to our schedule. If we make time to go for a coffee with friends, or go out for a beer, we can certainly make time to do some exercise, long will give us a better quality of life. If your problem is not being able to plan your time, look for an app to help you achieve it.If you still see it very difficult, analyze well what what you do in the day and how you can reduce those times in function. That is, reducing the time period you dedicate to other activities a littl...

3 terrible cases of people who were buried alive

Sometimes, it is not so easy to differentiate the weak line that separates life from death. Cardiac arrest and a brain that ceases to show activity should be sufficient signs that our body lacks already of the gift of life.However, there are many cases that have occurred throughout history in which people reacted to that state of inactivity returning , so to speak, of the own death. The catalepsy may come to your mind right now, that disease that already illustrated us Edgar Allan Poe in «The premature burial "A disease of the nervous system in which the person stops showing vital signs for a period of time not too long.If today there are still terrible cases of people who have been mistakenly killed, we can not help thinking about the past centuries, at that time where science was considered heresy ong> and in which mistakes could be as frequent as fatal. It is worth deepening this topic as a curiosity, but also understanding in the first person how terrible these...

The 5 craziest methods of medicine in antiquity

Although for many visits to the doctor remain traumatic, there is no doubt that in ancient times until routine checkups could become a real hell .Discover the most insane techniques once used by doctors to cure their patients, although sometimes it seems the opposite.The most incredible face of medicine in ancient times! These are the craziest methods of medicine in ancient times Roman remedy for epilepsy In ancient Rome, physicians believed in a highly effective remedy for patients with epilepsy that seems straight out of Bram Stoker's mind.Roman doctors claimed that epileptic patients should take the blood of famous gladiators to heal. Painfully tar Tamudos Fortunately, modern medicine has advanced incredibly and we have treatments such as speech therapy at our disposal, since during the 18th and 19th centuries being a stutterer was a torture sentence.that doctors used to supposedly cure stutterers was nothing more and nothing less than cutting off part of their ...

The best services for your home

Comfort in our home is essential to feel good.For this reason, it is essential to have good services that help us solve certain situations that arise.Today, we will talk about Four types that are the most sought after. Do not miss a single detail. Terrace enclosures Having a terrace is a very good option, however, these They can lead to several episodes that tend to affect normal life.Dirt, noise, temperature maintenance, among other factors, make us want to know how much it costs to make terrace enclosures? Well, the reality is that if we compare the price with the benefits that can be obtained, the equation will give very positive results. The fact is that a terrace enclosure can give you to your home a unique touch , where you will have the opportunity to make better use of your spaces without detaching yourself from the beautiful surroundings that surround you. Plumbing services It is another of the most demanded services.Having an urgent plumber can help you sol...