Your Nation/Continent/Ocean has a name with an origin.

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Wahad

Wahad

I think Bhutan wins for ''land with most badass name origin'', though Ethiopia is a close contender (''Land of the Thunder Dragon'' and ''Of Burnt Visage'', respectively)
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

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Hmmm... Only one possible option listed for my part of the neighborhood, it seems.

Some other possibilities:
- Fen Land, as in marshy terrain. Possible, there's a lot of woods around here.
- Land of the Finns
- Some people suggest that Suomi (Finland in Finnish) is related to Sampo, which is the mythical mill of good fortune. Something of a cornucopia, with one side creating grain, another salt and the third gold. If memory serves, some scholars also suggest Sampo to be of more mythological symbolism, closer to the Sami word samas or shamas, meaning the pin of the world which keeps the world in its place in the cosmos.
 
tegid

tegid

Silver Jelly said:
I always thought Hispania meant "land of rabbits"
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From Wikipedia:

wikipedia said:
It may derive from the Canaanite Hebrew אי-שפניא (i-shfania) meaning "Island of the Hyrax" or "island of the hare" or "island of the rabbit". Another theory, proposed by the etymologist Eric Partridge in his work Origins, is that it is of Iberian derivation and that it is to be found in the pre-Roman name for Seville, Hispalis, which strongly hints at an ancient name for the country of *Hispa, an Iberian or Celtic root whose meaning is now lost. It may alternatively derive from Heliopolis (Greek for "city of the sun"). Occasionally it was called Hesperia, the western land, by Roman writers, or Hesperia ultima.

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Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place.[3][4] Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis.[5]
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Calleja

Calleja

It's the Wash way of naming things, really... "We will rule over all this land and we will call it... This Land"

"We will unite our states that are in America and we will call it... The United States of America".
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

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Calleja said:
It's the Wash way of naming things, really... "We will rule over all this land and we will call it... This Land"

"We will unite our states that are in America and we will call it... The United States of America".
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That's actually a very common way to name things. After all, they also united the soviets of several socialist republics and became the United Soviet Socialist Republic.

And don't get me started on how many "People's and/or Democratic and/or Republics of Whatever" there are.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

GasBandit said:
That's actually a very common way to name things. After all, they also united the soviets of several socialist republics and became the United Soviet Socialist Republic.

And don't get me started on how many "People's and/or Democratic and/or Republics of Whatever" there are.
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Yes, it's quite incredible how made up on the spot names usually suck...

Columbia at least sounds like a country instead of some sort of business conglomerate. But then i don't see you guys growing enough drugs for that...
 
Calleja

Calleja

GasBandit said:
That's actually a very common way to name things. After all, they also united the soviets of several socialist republics and became the United Soviet Socialist Republic.

And don't get me started on how many "People's and/or Democratic and/or Republics of Whatever" there are.
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But all the "People's and/or Democratic and/or Republics of Whatever" at least GET a "Whatever" that's a proper, unique name. Like "Soviet". You guys don't even have a "Soviet" equivalent other than the WHOLE FREAKING CONTINENT you're on.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Calleja said:
But all the "People's and/or Democratic and/or Republics of Whatever" at least GET a "Whatever" that's a proper, unique name. Like "Soviet". You guys don't even have a "Soviet" equivalent other than the WHOLE FREAKING CONTINENT you're on.
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Soviet is not a whatever, soviet is a body of government. It would be basically the "United Congressional Democratic Republic" if it were applied to the united states.
 
Calleja

Calleja

That may well have been it at first, but "Soviet" sure as hell works as a proper name NOW. It's the Soviet Union, whatever the etymology of the word might be. You guys don't even have the advantage of a word you ASSIMILATED into a proper name... you still have to use the whole continent's.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Calleja said:
That may well have been it at first, but "Soviet" sure as hell works as a proper name NOW. It's the Soviet Union, whatever the etymology of the word might be. You guys don't even have the advantage of a word you ASSIMILATED into a proper name... you still have to use the whole continent's.
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No. Sorry. If that's your argument, then American is also a valid proper name now for citizen of the US, which invalidates your entire point.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

GasBandit said:
No. Sorry. If that's your argument, then American is also a valid proper name now for citizen of the US, which invalidates your entire point.
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I think his point is that there's still not one but two continents that are also called America.

It's like the Kingdom of Azeroth, on the continent of Azeroth on the planet of... well you get it... even blizz had to change something.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
@Li3n said:
I think his point is that there's still not one but two continents that are also called America.

It's like the Kingdom of Azeroth, on the continent of Azeroth on the planet of... well you get it... even blizz had to change something.
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His point is apparently also that origins and original meanings of words are irrelevant, and that it's only the conventional contemporary zeitgeist that defines what is a proper name and what is just a noun.
 
Calleja

Calleja

No, your "proper name" is not your own at all... I've stepped on USA soil 4 times in my life and I AM an American. Born and raised. Chileans are Americans. Canadians are Americans. Brazilians are Americans.

People from the States don't get their own, exclusive name.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Calleja said:
No, your "proper name" is not your own at all... I've stepped on USA soil 4 times in my life and I AM an American. Born and raised. Chileans are Americans. Canadians are Americans. Brazilians are Americans.

People from the States don't get their own, exclusive name.
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Except we do, and it's Americans. You're a Mexican, in case you didn't know.

Oh, and it's called "soccer." ;)
 
Calleja

Calleja

GasBandit said:
Except we do, and it's Americans. You're a Mexican, in case you didn't know.

Oh, and it's called "soccer." ;)
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I'm a Mexican AND an American, born and raised in North America. More than that.. I'm also a "Unitedstatesian" since the official name of Mexico is "United Mexican Sates" (Estados Unidos Mexicanos). So you don't even have THAT exclusivity going on for you.
 
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