Beiträge: 6
Sprache: English
ceigered (Profil anzeigen) 27. Dezember 2008 09:58:37
I've noticed that some Germanic countries have fairly simple names either in their own language or in Latin.
For example, Australia is derived from 'South Land' from 'Terra Australis Incognito'. Netherlands (or Nederland/Niederlande in Dutch and German) means 'Lowland(s)'. And Deutschland (Germany) is ultimately derived from 'þeudiskoz' (a reconstructed proto-germanic root meaning 'national, popular') and 'land'.
So, using these roots, I've come up with alternative names that (to my understanding) follow the rules of the fundamento.
(reconstructed name, official name)
- La Popullando (The popularland) = Deutschland (Germany)*
- La Sublando(j) (The lowland(s) = Nederland (the Netherlands)
- La Grandsudlando/La Sudlando = Australia
- La Anglland (The Angle land) / La Anglasakslando (the Anglo-saxon land) = England (not too sure about this, the etymology of the tribal name 'Angle' is not very certain,
I don't know how Proto-germanic grammar works, but I'd assume this is how the above words would translate (very roughly).
The Theudisklend (Deutschland)- The Peoples land
The Nidarlend (Nederland)- The Lowerland
The Sunthamlend - The Southland
The Anglelend - The Angle land
Anyway, Popullando and etc terms aren't intended to be a 'reform' or 'replacement', but just experimentation with Esperanto's agglutinative' features to translate the original meanings of these country names. I'm not sure if this is as possible with other country names, but the reason I think this alternative naming system could be useful is that it allows people unfamiliar with the native languages of these countries to understand the meaning behind the names. I mean, how could you expect a Chinese person to read 'Nederlando' and appreciate the etymology without any preexisting education in a Germanic language...
So what are your opinions? Are these names correctly formed? Are there ways to do this with other place names?
Anyway have a good one,
Chrisso
Here are links that show the roots:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Dutch
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/land
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nether
*In regards to 'Deutschland', I'm not sure how 'Deutsch' should be translated - as Popula, Populara, sxtata, nacia... Any improvements?
ceigered (Profil anzeigen) 27. Dezember 2008 10:14:27
Japan could also be translated accordingly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan#Etymology) as 'Sunlevigxlando' (considering 'Rising sun' and 'Sunrise' aren't really too different) or Sunlevigxantalando (Sun rising land) but this is getting long. Additionally, it could be 'Lando de la Levigxanta Suno' but this is a direct translation of the English nickname. Interestingly I've noticed 'Japan' in Esperanto is like English an exonym.
Frankouche (Profil anzeigen) 27. Dezember 2008 12:00:50
So Alemanio/Alemanujo could work.
I think a lot of peoples call themselves "people", "nation", "the men"...
The german name for France is "Frankreich" which means "kingdom/empire of the franks" which is anachronistic. Franks, a germanic people, and their kingdom have disappear, although frank language is still spoken in Lorraine, north of France. Calling France "Frankregxlando" will smile me.
A choice has to be made to call the name of country : the name with which they call themselves or the name the others countries call them. I think both can be used, even if the first solution could lead to homonymes.
Rogir (Profil anzeigen) 27. Dezember 2008 16:14:01
However, Nederland is translated as Low Land(s) in many languages, e.g. French: Pays-Bas, so I'm okay with calling it Malaltlando or maybe Baslando.
erinja (Profil anzeigen) 27. Dezember 2008 16:31:31
More information here:
http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html
For example, Great Britain is "Great Land of the Tattooed"
ceigered (Profil anzeigen) 28. Dezember 2008 07:00:53
Thanks Frankouche for that information, I always wondered where 'Allemagne' came from.
And cheers for the link Erinja, I'll have a look into that. If I can get my hands on it I think I could (with help and editing of course) translate them in my spare time (even if someone else has done so, it would be a good work out for my Esperanto).