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List of country-name etymologies

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This is a list of English language country names with their etymologies. Some of these are followed by native names and their etymologies.


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A

  • Afghanistan: The name means 'land of the Afghans,' though the meaning of the word 'Afghan' is unknown. One explanation is that it derives from Apakan, an 8th or 9th century Iranian ruler. Others point out a 3rd-century-AD Sasanian (kings of Iran who ruled most of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan during 241-642) reference to 'Abgan,' the oldest known mention of a word variant of Afghan. It also appears in the inscriptions of Shahpur I at Naksh-e-Rustam which mentions a certain Goundifer Abgan Rismaund. Another possibility is that it comes from from the Sanskrit Upa-Ghana-Stan, "land of the allied tribes."
  • Albania: land of the highlanders. 'Alb' from the PIE root meaning "white" or "mountain". Mountain tribes from modern Kosovo are thought to have brought their highland ethnonym to the narrow coastal plain. The native name Shqipëria means "land of the eagle", the eagle having probably been a tribal totem.
  • Algeria: from the name of the capital city Algiers: French: Alger, from Arabic: Al Jazair ("The Island").
  • America: see United States of America below, and under "naming of America"
  • American Samoa (territory of the United States of America): See Samoa and United States of America below.
  • Andorra: Unknown. Pre-Roman, possibly Iberian or Basque.
  • Angola: From ngola, a title used by the monarch of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Ndongo.
  • Anguilla (territory of the United Kingdom):
  • Antigua and Barbuda:
  • Argentina: from the Latin "Argentum" meaning 'silver'. Early Spanish and Portuguese traders used the region's Rio de la Plata or 'Silver River' to transport silver and other treasures from upstream Peru. The land around the terminal downstream stations became known as "Argentina" 'Land of Silver'.
  • Armenia:
  • Aruba (territory of Netherlands):
  • Australia: from "unknown southern land" (Latin: terra australis incognita). The territory was named by early European explorers who were conscious of the fact that the Australian landmass was far larger than they had yet investigated. Explorer Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), the first to sail around and chart the Australian coast, used the term "Australia" in his publication.
  • Austria: "eastern kingdom", c.f. modern German Österreich. In the 9th century, the territory formed part of the Frankish empire's eastern limit, and also formed the eastern limit of German settlement against the Slavic area. Charles the Great dubbed the region "Ostmark" 'Eastern border territory'. In the 11th century the term Ostarrichi first appeared.
  • Azerbaijan: "land of fire", native spelling Azərbaycan (from surface fires on ancient oil pools; its ancient names Atropatene or Atarbatakan became Azerbaijan in Arabic)

B

  • Bahamas: from the Spanish Baja Mar meaning 'Low (Shallow) Sea'. Spanish Conquistadors thus named the islands from the waters around them.
  • Bahrain: from Arabic, meaning 'two seas'. Exactly which seas are being referred to is debated. Bahrain is located in a bay formed by the Arabian mainland and the peninsula of Qatar, and some believe that the 'two seas' are the waters of the bay on either side of the island. Others believe that the reference is to Bahrain's position as an island in the Persian Gulf, separated by 'two seas' from the Arabian coast to the south and Iran to the north. Yet another claim is that the first sea is the one around Bahrain and the second sea is the abundant natural spring waters under the island itself.
  • Baker Island (territory of the United States of America):
  • Bangladesh: from Bengali/Sanskrit, Bangla referring to the Bengali speaking people, and Desh meaning "country", hence "Country of the Bengalis". The country was previously part of India and Bengali culture spans a wider area over India (in the state of West Bengal) and Bangladesh.
  • Barbados: Named by the Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos "Los Barbados" 'The Bearded Ones' after the appearance of the island's fig trees.
  • Bassas da India (territory of France):
  • Belarus: "White Rus'", "White Ruthenia", formerly known as Byelorussia, a literal translation from Russian, "White Russia". See below, Russia. The name was changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union to emphasize that Belarus and Russia were and would continue to be two separate nations. See Belarus: Name for more.
  • Belgium: from the name of a Celtic tribe, the Belgae. Possibly further derived from the PIE "Bolg" meaning 'bag' or 'womb' indicating common descent.
  • Belize: traditionally said to be from the Spanish pronunciation of Wallace, the name of the pirate who created the first settlement in Belize in 1638. Another possibility is that the name is from the Mayan word belix, meaning "muddy water", applied to the Belize River.
  • Benin: named after an old African Empire named Benin, on whose territory modern Benin does not actually lie. What is now Benin was previously known as Dahomey, after its principal ethnic group.
  • Bermuda (territory of the United Kingdom):
  • Bhutan: land of the Bhotia. Ethnic Tibetans or "Bhotia" migrated from Tibet to Bhutan in the 10th century. The common root is "Bod", an ancient name for Tibet.
    • Druk Yul: land of the thunder dragon, land of thunder, or land of the dragon.
  • Bolivia: from Simón Bolívar 1783-1830, an anti-Spanish militant and first president of Bolivia after its independence in 1824.
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina: Traditionally, the region consisted of two distinct territories; the larger northern section was named after the Bosna river. The smaller southern territory takes its name from the German noble title Herzog, meaning "Duke". The rank was conferred upon the territory's ruler Grand Waywode in 1448 Stephan Vikcic by Emperor Frederick IV.
  • Botswana: named after the country's largest ethnic group, the Tswana. The former name Bechuanaland was derived from Bechuana: an alternative spelling of Botswana.
  • Bouvet Island (territory of Norway):
  • Brazil: from the brazilwood tree, which in turn was named because its reddish wood was the color of red-hot embers (brasil in Portuguese).
  • Britain: from Pritani, "painted"; a reference to the original inhabitants of the islands use of body paint and tattoos; may also derive from the Celtic goddess Brigid. See also United Kingdom below.
  • British Virgin Islands (territory of the United Kingdom):
  • Brunei:
  • Bulgaria: "land of the tribe formed of many tribes", "Bulg" from a Turkic root meaning "mixed"
  • Burkina Faso: "land of upright people" or "land of honest men" or "land of the incorruptible". Previously the country was named "Upper Volta", after the Volta's two main tributary rivers, both originating in Burkina Faso.
  • Burma:
  • Burundi: land of those speaking the Rundi language.

C

D

  • Democratic Republic of Congo: See Congo, Democratic Republic of, above
  • Denmark: from PIE *dhen "low" or 'flat' and Germanic "mark": "border land" and/or "border forest". Name used by the ancient Goths to describe the Forest separating Gothland from (then Danish) Scania.
  • Djibouti, named after the bottom point of the Gulf of Tadjoura. Possibly derived from the Afar word "gabouti", a type of doormat made of palm fibres. It is also possible, although unproven, that Djibouti means "Land of Tehuti" or Land of Thoth, the Egyptian Moon God.
  • Dominica: From the Latin "Dies Dominica" meaning "Sunday", the day of the week Christopher Columbus first landed on the island.
  • Dominican Republic:

E

  • East Timor From the Malay word timur meaning "east". In its official Tetun language East Timor is known as Timor Lorosae or 'east Timor'. To neighboring Indonesia it is known as Timor Timur, etymologically 'eastern east'. But in Indonesia the name is usually shortened as Tim-Tim.
  • Ecuador: "equator" in Spanish
  • Egypt: from Greek Aigyptos (attested in Mycenean), derived from the Egyptian name of Memphis, meaning "temple of the soul of Ptah"
    • Misr, the Arabic word for Egypt, is a widespread Semitic word first used to mean Egypt in Akkadian, and means "city".
    • Kimi, the Coptic word for Egypt, simply means "black" (ancient Egyptian kmt), as opposed to the desert, which was called "red"
  • El Salvador: "the saviour" in Spanish, named after Jesus Christ.
  • Equatorial Guinea: from the word 'equator' from that country's geographical location, and perhaps from the Berber term "aguinaoui", which means "black".
  • Eritrea: named by Italian colonizers, from the ancient Greek name for the Red Sea "Erythrea Thalassa".
  • Estonia: from the Germanic "eastern way". Usually wrongly derived from Aestia of the ancient Greek writings, Aestia actually being modern Masuria in Poland, and probably derived from a Baltic root meaning "speckled", the land being 'speckled' with lakes.
  • Ethiopia: from the Latin "Aethiopia", meaning "land of the blacks", its roots the Greek aithein "to burn" and ops "face". The old name "Abyssinia" is derived from the Arabic "mixed", a reflection of the many ethnic groups inhabiting the country.
  • Europa Island (territory of France):

F

G

H

  • Haiti : Taino Indian, "Hayiti' "Tall Mountain", the island it lies on is 'Hispaniola' roughly, 'little Spain', but was also originally known also as Hayiti.
  • Honduras: from the Spanish "depths", a reference to the deep waters off the northern coast.
  • Howland Island (territory of the United States of America):
  • Hungary: Turkic on-ogur, "people of the 10 spears." In other words, "alliance of the ten tribes". Named after the seven Magyar tribes and three Khazar tribes who settled in the region.

I

  • Iceland: "land of ice" (Ísland in Icelandic). So named to dissuade outsiders from attempting to settle on what was actually fertile land.
  • India: After the Indus River.
    • Bharat: The native name "Bharat" is often said to derive from the name of any of two ancient kings named Bharata.
  • Indonesia: "Indian Islands" from the Greek root nesos, island, added to the country name India.
  • Iran: "land of the Aryans" or "land of the free". The term "Arya" derived from the PIE (Proto Indo-European), and generally carrying the meaning of 'noble' or 'free', cognate with the Greek-derived word "aristocrat".
    • Persia: (former name of Iran): from Latin, via Greek "Persais", from Old Persian "Paarsa", a placename of a central district within the region, modern Fars. A common Hellenistic folk-etymology derives 'Persia' from "Land of Perseus".
  • Iraq:
  • Ireland: after Éire from proto-Celtic *Īweriū "the fertile place" or "Place of Éire (Eriu)" a Celtic fertility goddess. Often mistakenly derived as "Land of Iron"
  • Israel: an alternative name for the biblical patriarch Jacob, literally "struggled with God."
  • Italy: "son of the bull god" or "calf god", the term originally referring only to a small region at the southern tip of modern Italy.
  • Ivory Coast: see Cote d'Ivoire above

J

K

  • Kazakhstan: means 'land of the Kazaks.' The meaning of the word 'Kazakh' is hard to express exactly, but it means something along the lines of 'independant/rebellious/wanderer/brave/free.'
  • Kenya: after Mount Kenya, from the Kikuyu name Kere-Nyaga ("Mountain of Whiteness").
  • Kingman Reef (territory of the United States of America):
  • Kiribati: an adaption of "Gilbert", from the European name "the Gilbert Islands".
  • Korea: after the Koryu Goryeo Dynasty, the first Korean dynasty visited by westerners. The native name is Hangeuk. The ancient Choson meant "land of morning calm".
  • Kuwait: from the Arabic diminutive form of "Kut/Kout" meaning 'Fortress built near water.'
  • Kyrgyzstan: derives from three words - 'kyrg' meaning '40,' 'yz' meaning 'tribes' and 'stan' meaning 'land' - 'land of 40 tribes.'

L

  • Laos:
  • Latvia:
  • Lebanon: from the Semitic "Laban", "white", referring to the snow on Lebanon's mountains
  • Lesotho: after the Sotho people.
  • Liberia: from the Latin liber, 'free', so named because the nation was created as a homeland for freed American slaves.
  • Libya: after an ancient Berber tribe called Libyans by the Greeks and Rbw by the Egyptians.
  • Liechtenstein: "light stone" ('light' in weight rather than in brightness). The country was named after the Liechtenstein dynasty purchased and united the counties of Schellenburg and Vaduz and were allowed by the Holy Roman Emperor to rename the new property after its own family.
  • Lithuania: Scholars still cannot figure out the origin of Lithuania, or Lietuva in Lithuanian. A Latin form of the word, Lituae, was first used in a chronicle in 1009 describing how an archbishop "was struck over the head by pagans in Lituae and then went to heaven." A 16th century scholar associated the word with the Latin word litus, or tubes—a possible reference to wooden trumpets played by Lithuanian tribes. Modern scholars tend to brush this explanation aside, saying, instead, that Lithuania must have derived from the name of a river. But while it doesn't necessarily disprove the river theory, no one has been able to prove that a river resembling the name Lietuva ever actually existed.
  • Luxembourg: (Celtic 'Lucilem' "small" and Germanic 'burg' "castle", lucilemburrugh) 'little castle'.

M

  • Macedonia:
  • Madagascar:
  • Malawi: from the native "Flaming Water", perhaps after the reflections on lake Malawi.
  • Malaysia: land of the Malay people
  • Maldives: From the Sanskrit mahal, 'palace', diva, 'island', thus "palace island". The main island, Male, held the palace of the islands' Sultan.
  • Mali:
  • Malta: from the Phoenician MLT meaning "refuge". The term may have been kept long in currency by the existence of the Greek and Latin word melitta or "honey", the name of the island in classical times, and also the major export from the island during those centuries.
  • Marshall Islands named after British Captain John Marshall, who was the first to document the existence of the islands in 1788.
  • Martinique (territory of France):
  • Mauritania: misnamed after the classical Mauretania in northern Morocco, itself named after the Berber Mauri tribe.
  • Mauritius: named after Dutch Staatholder, Prince Maurice of Orange.
  • Mayotte (territory of France):
  • Mexico: after the Mexica branch of the Aztecs
  • Micronesia: from the Greek words 'mikros' (small) and 'nesos'(islands) - 'small islands.'
  • Midway Islands territory of the United States of America):
  • Moldova: from the river "Moldova" in Romania, itself named from the open pit mining its waters assisted. Molde is the German term for such a mine.
  • Monaco: "himself alone" a reference to the Greek demigod Hercules.
  • Mongolia:
  • Montserrat (territory of the United Kingdom:
  • Morocco from the city "Marrakesh", believed to derive from the Berber roots tamart "land" + akush "God". The native name "Al Maghreb al Aqsa", means "the Farthest West".
  • Mozambique:

N

O

P

  • Pakistan: the word has two meanings. The main meaning was coined by Cambridge student Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1933. He made the name an acronym of the different states/homelands/regions, which break down into: P=Punjab, A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, I=Iran, S=Sindh, T=Turkharistan, A=Afghanistan and N=BalochistaN. However, there is another more common meaning for the initials: P=Punjab, A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, S=Sindh and TAN=BalochisTAN. It is not known which is the 'proper' meaning of the initials. The secondary meaning is the Urdu one, "land of the Paks," 'Pak' meaning 'pure' in Urdu and 'stan' meaning 'land.
  • Palau:
  • Palestine (occupied by Israel): from the Roman name for the country, literally "land of the Philistines" ("Philistines" itself is from the Semitic root P.L.Sh., meaning "invader")
  • Palmyra Atoll (territory of the United States of America):
  • Panama: after a former village near the modern capital. From the Cueva Indian language meaning "place of abundance of fish", possibly from the Caribe "abundance of butterflies", or possible from another native term referring to the Panama tree.
  • Papua New Guinea: "Papua" meaning "Land of the people with the frizzy hair", named by the neighboring Malays (who generally have straight hair).
  • Paraguay:
  • Peru: possibly after the River Biru in modern Ecuador.
  • Philippines: "lands of King Philip" (the 16th century Spanish Monarch).
  • Pitcairn Islands (overseas territory of the United Kingdom): the remote islands were discovered by a member of the English Captain Philip Carteret's crew in his boat HMS Swallow in July 1767. The man who discovered it was son to Major Pitcairn of the marines, and the main island was called Pitcairn's Island in his honour.
  • Poland: (Polska) From the Polish pole, "field" in meaning "country of fields". One of the theories assume, that Poland is translation of latin Kampania into Polish. Kampania used to be respectable province and new Polish king Boleslaus I of Poland wanted to be king of respectable kingdom. Other theory introduce the tribe Polanie, "field people", and Poland is the country created by Polanie.
  • Portugal: From the Latin portus, "port" and the name of the Roman port of Cale, on the earlier Greek colony of Calle (beautiful in Greek). The junction name cames after the name of the Portus Cale (adding Portus to the old name), modern Oporto.
  • Puerto Rico (territory of the United States of America):

Q

  • Qatar: The origin of the name Qatar is unknown.

R

S

  • Saint Helena (territory of the United Kingdom: The Portuguese navigator Juan da Nova discovered the island on 21st May 1502, and as that was Saint Helena Day (mother of the Roman emperor Constantine) he named the island Saint Helena.
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis:
  • Saint Lucia:
  • Saint Pierre and Miquelon (territory of France):
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines:
  • Samoa:
  • San Marino: gets it's name from Marinus, a Christian Stonemason who fled the island of Arbe (in modern day Croatia) to escape the anti-Christian Romans. He made his refuge on Mount Titano with his Christian followers in 301 AD/305 AD in the area that would be named San - Italian for 'Saint' - Marino.
  • São Tomé and Príncipe: Portuguese: Saint Thomas and Prince (Islands).
  • Saudi Arabia:
  • Senegal: after a Portuguese spelling of the Zenaga (Arabic Senhaja) tribe which dominated much of the area.
  • Serbia and Montenegro
    • Serbia: unknown, possibly Sarmatian in origin; name of Sorbs in present day Germany is of same origin, the Serbs having migrated into the Balkan area from the region in Germany known as Lusatia, where the Sorbs are currently found. As amatter of trivia, it is considered likely that a former sovereign State, the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, in deriving its name from the German town of Zerbst also carried the Serbian ethnonym.
    • Montenegro: Named by Venetian conquerors montenegro, "black mountain", after the appearance of Mount Lovćen or most likely its dark coniferous forests. Crna Gora, the modern native name for the country, is a literal translation of "Montenegro". The country had previously been known as Zeta, Dioclea and Doclea. "Doclea" the name of the region during the early period of the Roman Empire, was termed for an early Illyrian tribe. In later centuries, Romans "hyper-corrected" to "Dioclea" wrongly guessing that an I had been lost due to vulgar speech patterns. The earliest Slavic name "Zeta" derives from the name of a river in Montenegro which itself derives from an early root meaning "harvest" or "grain". (Contrary to popular belief, "Montenegro" is not Italian, as "black mountain" in Italian is monte nero without the g.)
  • Seychelles: named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Finance Minister to King Louis XV of France.
  • Sierra Leone: adapted from the Spanish version: Sierra León -- of the Portuguese Serra-Leõa ("lion mountains"). Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra named the land after the striking mountians that he saw in 1462 while sailing the West African coast.
  • Singapore: the city was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 and he adopted the name Singapore from the Malay Singapura which was the earlier name of the island. Singapura in turn has come from the Sanskrit Simhapura (or Singhapura), which means the "Lion City". Another name of this island was Tumasik from the Malay or Javanese root tasik which means sea.
  • Slovakia: from the Slavic "Slavs", which in turn is probably derived from the Slavic "glory" or "the word" or "people from the water" (disputed)
  • Slovenia: from the Slavic "Slavs", which in turn is probably derived from the Slavic "glory" or "the word" or "people from the water" (disputed).
  • Solomon Islands:
  • Somalia:
  • South Africa: gets its name from its geographical position on the continent of Africa.
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (territory of the United Kingdom: On 17th January 1755 the British Captain James Cook landed on the main island and named it the Isle of Georgia in honour of King George III. He named the South Sandwich Islands after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time and who had helped fund Cook's explorations.
  • South Korea: see Korea above.
  • Spain: Phoenician/Punic ’Î-šəpānîm, 'land of hyraxes'. The Phoenician settlers found hares in abundance, and mistook them for hyraxes of Africa. The Latin-speaking Romans adapted the name as Hispania.
  • Sri Lanka: "Resplendent Land" in Sanskrit.
    • Serendip: ancient name derived from the Sanskrit "Sinhala-dweepa", meaning either "land of lions" or "land of the Sinhala people"; sinha being lion in Sanskrit, and the Sinhalas being the early Aryan inhabitants of the region.
    • Ceylon (English), Cilan (Portuguese), Seilan: former names of the country from the Pali Sinhalana meaning "land of the lions".
  • Sudan: from the Arabic Bilad as-Sudan, 'Land of the blacks.'
  • Suriname: after the Surinen people, the earliest known native American inhabitants of the region.
  • Svalbard (territory of Norway:
  • Swaziland:
  • Sweden: an old English plural form of Swede. The exact development of the ethnonym is uncertain, but is at least known to derive from the Old Norse Svithjodh. The etymology of the first element, Svi, is unknown. The last element, Thjoth, means "people" and is the same as Deut in Deutsch and Teut in Teutons. The term Svithjoth the Great was used to denote the Varangian rule in Eastern Europe. The modern Swedish name of Sweden is Sverige, which is derived from a Svia Rike meaning the realm of the Swedes (probably through Danish, even though the same evolution is known to have happened within Swedish: mik->mig).
  • Switzerland: from the canton of Schwyz, possibly derived further from the OMH German "Schweitz", meaning Swamp.
  • Syria:

T

  • Taiwan (de facto independent;claimed by China): "Terraced bay" in Chinese. Terraced rice fields are typical of Taiwanese landscape.
  • Tajikistan: from a Turkic root tasi meaning 'Muslim'. The name means 'land of the Tajiks.'
  • Tanzania: a combination of the names of two states that merged to form this country, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar.
  • Thailand: from the native Thai "Land of the free". Previously the country had been known as:
    • Siam: The name was given to the ancient Thai people by their neighbors the Burmese, and probably derives from the Pali toponym "Suvarnabhuma" 'Land of Gold', the ultimate root the Pali root "sama", which variously denoted different shades of color, most often brown or yellow, but sometimes green or black.
  • Togo: from the settlement Togo, currently Togoville. In Ewe, to is 'water' and go 'shore'.
  • Tokelau (territory of New Zealand):
  • Tonga: from the native 'South' or 'southern'. In the 19th century, the territory was known as "Friendship Islands", so named by Captain James Cook.
  • Trinidad and Tobago: "Trinidad" after the 3 prominent mountain peaks on the island and the Christian trinity (trinidad is Spanish for trinity or trio), "Tobago", after "tobacco", smoked by the natives.
  • Tromelin Island (territory of France):
  • Tunisia: after its capital Tunis, whose name possibly derives from a Berber word signifying a small capemaghreb/substratberbere.htm.
  • Turkey: Türkiye can be divided into two words "Türk" which refers to "strong" in Turkish and usually signifies the habitants of Turkey or a member of Turkish nation; and "iye" which means "owner" or "one who possesses". The general meaning of Turkey or Turkiye is "the Turk's land".
  • Turkmenistan:
  • Turks and Caicos Islands (territory of the United Kingdom:
  • Tuvalu: from the native "eight islands" or "eight standing with each other". An earlier name, Niulakita, was suppressed ; it was the name of the first atoll settled in 1949.

U

  • Uganda: from the earlier "Buganda", "land of men", the ethnomym of the region's dominant group.
  • Ukraine: from the Slavic "border territory" etymologically identical to the word "krajina"
  • United Arab Emirates: self-explanatory; an emirate is a territory ruled by an emir.
  • United Kingdom: see also Britain above.
  • United States of America: The origin of the word "America" is in some doubt, but one popular theory is that it is derived from the name of explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (see the article on the naming of America.) "United States" comes from the end of the Declaration of Independence, "WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled..." and was reiterated in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, "We the People of the United States..." (The phrase "united states" was probably used in place of a list of colonies/states because the authors of the documents couldn't be certain which colonies/states would sign off on the sentiments therein.)
  • Uruguay: the name comes from the River Uruguay, (indeed it's official name Republica Oriental del Uruguay - 'oriental' meaning 'east' - references it's position east of the river). The word 'Uruguay' itself is thought to have derived from the Guaraní Indian word 'urugua' which means 'river of shellfish.' Another possible meaning is that 'Uruguay' is made up of three component Guaraní words: uru (a kind of bird that lived near the river); gua ('to proceed from'); and y ('water').
  • U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the United States of America):
  • Uzbekistan: means 'land of the Uzbeks.' The word 'Uzbek' was adopted as a tribal name around the mid-1400's and means 'master/lord of oneself.'

V

  • Vanuatu: From the Bislama "Forever on our Land". The territory was known earlier as the New Hebrides, after the islands in Scotland.
  • Vatican City 'Vatican' from the Latin vaticinari, "to prophesy", from the name of the hill 'Mons Vaticanus' on which the Vatican is located, the street beneath having been used by fortune-tellers and sooth-sayers in Roman times.
  • Venezuela: "Little Venice", from the diminutive form of "Venezia". The European explorers Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci were impressed by the native stilt-houses built on Lake Maracaibo, which reminded them of buildings in Venice.
  • Vietnam: "Southern land", The original core of Vietnamese civilization having been farther north.

W

X

There are no countries that begin with this letter.

Y

  • Yemen: from the Arabic root ymn, whose basic meaning is "right"; however, its exact meaning is disputed. Some sources claim it is from the form yamîn, meaning "right-hand side" and by extension "south" (many Semitic languages, including Arabic and Hebrew, show traces of a system in which south = right while north = left), while other sources claim that it is from the form yumn, meaning "happiness" or "blessings" (arising from the widespread idea that right = good.) The name (to the classical world "Arabia Felix") originally referred to the entire southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

Z

  • Zambia: after the River Zambezi.
  • Zimbabwe: "stone houses" in Shona, referring to the stone-built capital city of the ancient trading empire of Great Zimbabwe.

See also

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