Country name translations
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Urwumpe
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It has some errors though... "Österreich" is not "Eastern Borderlands" (what would be "Östermark" today), but "Eastern realm" - a large part of it was named marcha orientalis before it was renamed to its current name.
And Germany is not "Land of the people" (though it sounds nicer), but actually "Land of the tribe" or more accurate "Land of the people who speak the language of the tribe".
And Switzerland is also wrong... "Schwyz" does not mean burning, but was very likely the name of a tribe, with the tribe founding father called "Suitt" in later chronicles (The inhabitants of the valley had been called "Suittes" later, which means "People of Suitt").
And Germany is not "Land of the people" (though it sounds nicer), but actually "Land of the tribe" or more accurate "Land of the people who speak the language of the tribe".
And Switzerland is also wrong... "Schwyz" does not mean burning, but was very likely the name of a tribe, with the tribe founding father called "Suitt" in later chronicles (The inhabitants of the valley had been called "Suittes" later, which means "People of Suitt").
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n72.75
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That's really cool.
Pyromaniac605
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Unknown Southern Land eh? Sounds suspicious to me... 
SiberianTiger
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These translations are likely to confuse many of bearers of the 'titles'. 
It's not right, however, to find roots of some Slavic nations in "Glory or Slave" roots. Much more likely it's a self-naming ascending to pan-Slavic word meaning word or speech. So the name of the ethnic group is just "the Speakers".
It's not right, however, to find roots of some Slavic nations in "Glory or Slave" roots. Much more likely it's a self-naming ascending to pan-Slavic word meaning word or speech. So the name of the ethnic group is just "the Speakers".
jedidia
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Switzerland == to burn?? :blink: wtf?
Urwumpe put it quite good. There's also a canton inside switzerland called Schwyz, that was part of the first 3-canton military alliance that was to be the core of a switzerland taking shape over several centuries.
I never quite understood why "Switzerland" prevailed as a name, as "Helvetia" would be much more poetic and neutral.(The short form of Switzerland which you can see on cars is "CH" for "Confederatio Helvetica", Confederation of Helvetia, named after the celtic (gaulish, to be precise) tribes that settled the land before and during the roman times and called themselfes "Helvetians".
The name Switzerland seems to point of a dominance of the Canton Schwyz at founding times that are not contained in our history books...
Urwumpe put it quite good. There's also a canton inside switzerland called Schwyz, that was part of the first 3-canton military alliance that was to be the core of a switzerland taking shape over several centuries.
I never quite understood why "Switzerland" prevailed as a name, as "Helvetia" would be much more poetic and neutral.(The short form of Switzerland which you can see on cars is "CH" for "Confederatio Helvetica", Confederation of Helvetia, named after the celtic (gaulish, to be precise) tribes that settled the land before and during the roman times and called themselfes "Helvetians".
The name Switzerland seems to point of a dominance of the Canton Schwyz at founding times that are not contained in our history books...
Ghostrider
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Well, I'm happy it was Schwyz. Unterwalden was a bit on the long side and Uri... Let's not even go near it.
Urwumpe
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Well the German name for Switzerland is "Schweiz", which is pretty much how a German would speak out "Schwyz", after hearing an Allemannic Swiss say it in the local dialect of Klingon to him.
But I agree, Helvetica is the much better name, though it sounds a bit misplaced: It sounds like a tropical island, with palms and cocktail bars.
---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------
You always fall back to Nidwalden. Which sounds like one of these countries in which 1920s horror movies play. With servants called Igor and strange counts.
Ghostrider
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That could be arranged...
Well, Frankenstein was Swiss after all. Authorities are however still trying to determine whose parts the creature is made for, to see how much of him should have full citizenship and which parts need a B- or C-type permit.
:lol:
Ghostrider
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No, that was an ancient tribe who lived between the twin kingdoms of Sprüngli and Lindt. They erected triangle-shaped monoliths but, unfortunately, a famine hit them and they were reduced to eat the monoliths.
jedidia
shoemaker without legs
There is a distinction (also phonetically) between "Schweiz" (name of the country) and "Schwyz" (name of the canton), but there can be no doubt about where the national name is derived from.
And as for the klingon dialect... I'll just say "Chchchchuchichäschtli"!
Anyways, the last few posts here cracked me up. By all means, go on! :lol:
and of course no discussion about Helvetia could be complete without a reference to THE Helvetians:
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Urwumpe
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Damn, it is really hard to top this as national statement. :lol: I mean... "Eluveitie" = "I am helvetian"... thats something no overpaid PR advisor could do better. Would also be sure good as football chant...if there would be something to celebrate in Swiss national football.
Ghostrider
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Eluveitie... Sounds almost Quenya. Add some umlauts, instant ancient Elvish.
Ok. Now we know the truth: they tried to go west, but lost the tickets and got stuck. Or arrived in Coney Island and decided to turn back, whatever.
Ok. Now we know the truth: they tried to go west, but lost the tickets and got stuck. Or arrived in Coney Island and decided to turn back, whatever.
Urwumpe
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They went to Erissea, after digging the Ring of Power deep below the surface at the shores of Lake Geneva, the lonely island outside the world... maybe the place is now known as Lützelau.
BTW...you are right, it sounds extremely like Quenya:
The Quenya translation should sound much different... maybe I can give it a try, I only do Quenya for inventing Dungeon Crawl character names, but this sounds like a good reason to practice it a bit more. :lol:
And the song survives the comparison to the Swiss Psalm...
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Jarvitä
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The glory/slave connection strikes me as remote at best. The origin of the root slav- comes from the proto-slavic verb for "to speak", so "speakers" would be more fitting. The glory-slava connection is an invention of 19th century pan-slavism, and slave only sounds like slav in western European languages.
Urwumpe
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Small bump:
The first line of the song:
Gaul : Ûro si tovo keitone, o brgant tovo bârgo
Quenya: Venye narassetye ar valaine oronitya
English: Green are your pastures and mighty your mountains
Choose what you like more... the tuning is similar, but Tolkien was just in the best case just loosely inspired by Gaul. If you speak the Quenya with the wrong amount of whisky in the throat, it sounds like "Avatar".
---------- Post added at 04:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------
"slav" is exactly the word for slave in Lower Saxon, my local dialect. Very unlikely there is any relation.
The first line of the song:
Gaul : Ûro si tovo keitone, o brgant tovo bârgo
Quenya: Venye narassetye ar valaine oronitya
English: Green are your pastures and mighty your mountains
Choose what you like more... the tuning is similar, but Tolkien was just in the best case just loosely inspired by Gaul. If you speak the Quenya with the wrong amount of whisky in the throat, it sounds like "Avatar".
---------- Post added at 04:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------
"slav" is exactly the word for slave in Lower Saxon, my local dialect. Very unlikely there is any relation.
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Moach
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funny... Brazil does, in fact, roughly translate to "red wood" - although "blaze-ish" would be more a precise, literal interpretation.... since the name stems from "Pau-Brasil" which really does mean "blaze-ish (colored) wood" - and the Portuguese (ppl from "beautiful port"), found a lot of that type of wood when they first got here... hence, the name
and look at that, back here, unlike pretty much everywhere else, "Brazil" is spelled "Brasil"
it's a bit of a stupid name, come to think of it.... from now on, i say we just call it "place where it's really hot and rains all the time"... or, my personal choice "MoachLand"
and look at that, back here, unlike pretty much everywhere else, "Brazil" is spelled "Brasil"
it's a bit of a stupid name, come to think of it.... from now on, i say we just call it "place where it's really hot and rains all the time"... or, my personal choice "MoachLand"
