List of etymologies of country subdivision names

Last updated

This article provides a collection of the etymology of the names of country subdivisions . This page generally only deals with regions and provinces; cities and other localities and features may appear listed under the individual country, with a link below.

Contents

Australia

States

Territories

Mainland

External

Austria

States

Belgium

Regions

Provinces

Brazil

Bulgaria

Cambodia

Canada

Provinces and territories

Historical regions

Chile

Regions

Roman numerals originally identified the regions in order from north to south (except Santiago). With the establishment of Arica-Parinacota and Los Ríos Region in 2007 the numbers no longer reflect the regions' positions.

China

Provinces

Special administrative regions

Czech Republic

Map of the Czech Republic with traditional regions and current administrative regions Czech Rep. - Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia III (en).png
Map of the Czech Republic with traditional regions and current administrative regions

Historical regions

Denmark

Dominican Republic

Estonia

Note: Estonian maakond means "county" and maa means "land". Counties given here without the suffix -maa take their names (and etymologies as given here) from their capitals.

Finland

France

Historic regions

Most modern French départements take their names from local geographical features: usually rivers, occasionally mountain ranges or coasts. Thus most such names have a self-evident immediate origin. The traditional provinces and regions (of any period) often bear names with richer but more obscure histories.

Territories

Germany

States

Historic regions

Greece

India (Republic of India)

See List of Indian state and union territory name etymologies.

Indonesia

Iran (Persia)

Iraq

Ireland (Éire)

Italy

Japan

Main Islands

Korea

Laos

Malaysia

Mexico

Mongolia

Morocco

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Constituent countries

Provinces

Other names

New Zealand

Provinces

Other categories

Norway

Counties

Territories

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Slovakia

South Africa

Before 1994

Map of the provinces of South Africa before 1994 Map of the provinces of South Africa 1976-1994 with English labels.svg
Map of the provinces of South Africa before 1994

After 1994

Current map of South African provinces Map of South Africa with English labels.svg
Current map of South African provinces

Spain

Sweden

Historical Provinces

Provinces of Sweden Sverigekarta-Landskap Text.svg
Provinces of Sweden

Sweden formerly consisted of historical provinces (Swedish: landskap), and the province-names still often serve to describe locations in Sweden. Their names often date from before the year 1000. Officially Sweden now subdivides into counties (Swedish: län), introduced in 1634.

Historical provinces:

Present counties

Switzerland

Syria

Taiwan

Thailand

Turkey

Main article : Toponyms of Turkey

Ukraine

Traditional regions Ukraine-Historical regions.png
Traditional regions

Most of Ukraine's oblasts take their names from their principal city; but Volyn Oblast, Zakarpattia Oblast, and the Crimean Autonomous Republic offer exceptions to this rule. See also subdivisions of Ukraine.

United Kingdom

Constituent countries

British Crown Dependencies

British Overseas Territories

United States

States

Counties

Territories

Venezuela

See also

Notes

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  2. "How Queensland Got Its Name". Australian Broadcasting Corporation .
  3. http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/vic3_doc_1851.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  4. "Jervis Bay History". Territories Division, Attorney-General's Department, Australian Government. 19 February 2008. Archived from the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2008. 1791 The bay was named 'Jervis Bay' by Lieutenant Bowen of the Atlantic in honour of Admiral Sir John Jervis under whom he had served.
  5. http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/ashmore/plan/chap4.html#42 [ bare URL ]
  6. "Australia". worldstatesmen.org.
  7. "Christmas Island | Geography & History". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  8. Cocos Tourism – Discovery
  9. 1 2 "Britannica Academic". academic.eb.com.
  10. 1 2 "Heard island: History: Discovery". Australian Antarctic Division. Archived from the original on 5 December 2005. Retrieved 28 August 2008. The first confirmed sighting of Heard Island was made on 25 November 1853 by Captain John Heard on the merchant vessel Oriental. Earlier sightings of land in the area in the 1830s are considered doubtful.
  11. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Paradise". Norfolk Island. Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
  13. "Burgenland". aeiou.at.
  14. Harper, Douglas. "Flanders". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 10 June 2010. probably a compound of roots represented by Flemish vlakte 'plain' + wanderen 'to wander.'
  15. "Acadia: Origin of the Word by Bill Casselman". 2 August 2004. Archived from the original on 2 August 2004.
  16. "Provinces and Territories – The origins of their names". Archived from the original on 4 June 2008.
  17. "Nunatsiavut Government". Nunatsiavut Government. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010.
  18. 1 2 Room, Adrian (2005). Placenames of the World. McFarland. p. 168. ISBN   0-7864-2248-3.
  19. Bishop, Kevin; Roberts, Annabel (1997). China's Imperial Way. China Books. p. 218. ISBN   962-217-511-2.
  20. Fairbank, John King. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1953.
  21. "Your Complete Guide to Macau". Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. Jørgensen, Bent, Stednavneordbog. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1994. P. 41
  23. 1 2 Jørgensen, Bent, Stednavneordbog. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1994. P. 170
  24. 1 2 Jørgensen, Bent, Stednavneordbog. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1994. P. 148
  25. 1 2 3 Jørgensen, Bent, Stednavneordbog. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1994. P. 249
  26. "Utbildning & Vetenskap: Svenskfinland". Veta.yle.fi. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
  27. Hellquist, Elof (20 October 1922). "58 (Svensk etymologisk ordbok)". runeberg.org.
  28. ""Alsatia"". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1989. ISBN   0-19-861186-2. [L. form of El-sasz, i.e. foreign settlement, Fr. Alsace.]
  29. Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, éditions Errance 2003. p. 300.
  30. 1 2 3 MacBain, Alexander. (1982:§1) An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language Gairm Publications.
  31. Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997: p. 269
  32. Politikens Nudansk Ordborg (1993), 15th edition, entry "Bornholm"(in Danish)
  33. King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of Orosius, London, 1859, edited by J. Bosworth
  34. Essai sur l'histoire du peuple burgonde, de Bornholm (Burgundarholm) vers la Bourgogne et les Bourguignons, 1965, by Rene Guichard, published by A. et J. Picard et Cie. (Paris)
  35. Bernardo Gomes de Brito. Historia Tragico-Maritima. Em que se escrevem chronologicamente os Naufragios que tiverão as Naos de Portugal, depois que se poz em exercicio a Navegação da India. Lisboa, 1735. (in Portuguese)
  36. UNESCO in Action. "The shipwrecked memory of the L'Utile slaves Archived 14 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine ."
  37. Smith, S. Percy. "Futuna, or Horne Island, and Its People". The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 33 52. 1892
  38. 1 2 "Rhine". Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper. November 2001. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  39. Peterson, Lena. "Swābaharjaz" (PDF). Lexikon över urnordiska personnamn. Institutet för språk och folkminnen, Sweden. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2007. (Text in Swedish); for an alternative meaning, as "free, independent" see Room, Adrian (2006), "Swabia, Sweden", Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites: Second Edition, Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, pp. 363, 364, ISBN   0-7864-2248-3 ; compare Suiones.
  40. Pokorny, Julius. "Root/Lemma se-". Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Indo-European Etymological Dictionary (IEED), Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Leiden University. pp. 882–884. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Some related English words include sibling, sister, swain, self.
  41. Joubert & Van Buurt. 1994.
  42. Online Etymology Dictionary. "Netherlands". Accessed 16 September 2011.
  43. Mills, William James (2003). Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   1-57607-422-6.
  44. See Dobruja#Etymology for this and alternative etymology
  45. Webster's third international dictionary; Merriam-Webster 1993, p.381.
  46. Vasmer, Max (1958). Russisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German). Vol. 3. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. p. 334.
  47. Krško, Jaromír (June 2003). "Názvy potokov v Banskej Bystrici a okolí". Bystrický Permon. 1 (2): 8.
  48. Janota, Bratislavské rarity, page 152; "Historical calendar". The Official Website of the City of Bratislava. Retrieved 9 April 2008.
  49. Lacika, Bratislava, pág. 6; Janota, Bratislavské rarity, pág. 154
  50. 1 2 3 Habšudová, Zuzana (2001). "Historical melting pot of cultures". travel.spectator.sk. Retrieved 9 April 2008.
  51. Salner, Peter (2001). "Ethnic polarisation in an ethnically homogeneous town" (PDF). Czech Sociological Review. 9 (2): 235–246. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2001.37.12.14 . Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  52. Janota, Bratislavské rarity, pp. 155
  53. Lacika, Bratislava, pp. 6
  54. "Short History of Košice". City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  55. "Z histórie Košíc – 13. storočie" (in Slovak). City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  56. "Csehországi és Szlovákiai Szlovákiai Magyar Kultúráért Alapítvány honlapja" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  57. 1 2 "Presov city, Slovakia" . Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  58. Earle, Anton; Malzbender, Daniel; Turton, Anthony; Manzungu, Emmanuel (April 2005). A preliminary basin profile of the Orange/Senqu River (PDF). Inwent Capacity Development Programme: Integrated Water Resources Management in Shared River Basins in the SADC Region. Cape Town: African Water Issues Research Unit (AWIRU), University of Pretoria. p. 1. ISBN   1-86854-618-7 . Retrieved 21 April 2010. Contrary to popular belief, the Orange River was not named after the reddish orange colour of its silt-laden water. It was in fact named in 1779 by Colonel Robert Gordon, the commander of the garrison of the Dutch East India Company (Cape Town) during a reconnaissance into the interior, in honour of the Dutch House of Orange (DWAF, 2005).
  59. Alans, Encyclopædia Iranica
  60. Fallis, Catherine, ed. (2006). The encyclopedic atlas of wine: a comprehensive guide to the world's greatest wines and wineries. Willoughby, N.S.W.: Global Book Publishing. p. 336. ISBN   1-74048-050-3.
  61. "Entry #40074 (平湖)". 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [ Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan ]. (in Chinese and Hokkien). Ministry of Education, R.O.C. 2011.
  62. Rigelman, A.I. Chronicles of Russia Minor and its people as well as the Cossacks in general. Kyiv. "Lybid", 1994. (page 45)
  63. "England". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
  64. "England". Oxford English Dictionary . Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  65. 1 2 Taylor, Isaac. Names and Their Histories; a Handbook of Historical Geography and Topographical Nomenclature . Gale Research Co. (Detroit), 1898. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  66. "Angle". Oxford English Dictionary . Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  67. Swanton, M. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Phoenix Press (London), 2000. Op. cit. BBC Online. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  68. Garmonsway, G.N. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . Everyman. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  69. Gwynn, Stephen (2009). The History of Ireland. BiblioBazaar. p. 16. ISBN   978-1-113-15517-7.
  70. Cubbin, G.P. (1996). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition. Vol. 6: MS. D. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. pp. 1, l. 3, pp. 13, l. 20. ISBN   0-859-91467-4.
  71. Cubbin, G.P. (1996). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition. Vol. 6: MS. D. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. pp. 1, l. 1–3. ISBN   0859914674.
  72. 1 2 Davies, John (1994). A History of Wales. London: Penguin. p. 69. ISBN   978-0-14-028475-1.
  73. "Ar wynep Kymry Cadwallawn was" in Afan Ferddig. Moliant Cadwallon. Op. cit. Davies, John. A History of Wales, p. 71. Penguin (London), 1994.
  74. Lloyd, John Edward (1911). "Note to Chapter VI, the Name "Cymry"". A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Vol. I (Second ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Co. (published 1912). pp. 191–192.
  75. "Wordorigins.org". wordorigins.org.
  76. Government of Anguilla. "Anguilla's History Archived 16 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine ".
  77. Morison, Samuel (1974). The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages, 1492-1616 . New York: Oxford University Press.
  78. Henry Evans Maude (1968). Of islands and men: studies in Pacific history. Oxford University Press.
  79. "Frequently Asked Questions about Midway", U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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