The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47235   Message #704925
Posted By: mack/misophist
05-May-02 - 06:01 PM
Thread Name: BS: countries that named themselves
Subject: RE: BS: countries that named themselves
You really need to get a copy of the OED if this is important to you. Germany didn't become one country till about 1878 when the first reich was formed. Before that, it was Prussia, Saxony, etc. Deutsch is German for German. Austria calls itself the Eastern Empire [Oesterreich]. If you think back to Beowulf, with it's Angles and Jutes, well the Angles gave their name to England. Belgium is named for a germanic tribe that settled the area [Belgae]. Switzerland, which we call after it's largest canton, Schweitz, is really the Confederation Helvetiae, after another german tribe, the Helvetii, whom Caesar thought he'd wiped out. Norway and Sweden are, respectively, Norge and Sverige. Our spellings are approximations. If you need this for some special reason, pm me a list and I'll do what I can. Let me leave you with one of my favourites. Scotland comes from the Gaelic word for pirate. The reason the highlanders are notably different stock from the lowlanders is that they were driven out of Ireland and the isles for being uncomfortable neighbors. The same word -scot- may be related to a term for tax.