How Did The Countries Of Europe Get Their Names? 

Order your Name Explain Guide to Europe! tspr.ng/c/a-name-explain-guide-to-europe

The title should read: how did the countries get their English names

We're taught in school that the founder of Moldova named the river and the kingdom he established around it after his favourite dog "Molda".

In case you were wondering England: Land of the Anglo-Saxons Scotland: Land of the Scots/Scoti Wales: Land of the Gauls Isle of Man: Manann's Isle

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="582">9:42</a> Maybe we don't know where did word "slav" come from, however we know how slavic name for themselves ("sloveni") formed. It's derived from word "slovo" which means "word", so "sloveni" means something like "people who know how to speak", therefore Slovenia/Slovakia=land of the people who know how to speak.

The Bulgars were Turkic, not Turkish. There is a difference, especially when considering the history of the place.

Um Hungary wasn’t settled by the Huns, it was settled by the Magyar, but I think the origin of the name Hungary came from the fact that the Pope and Western Europeans thought they were Huns.

The Moldova river doesn't actually flow thought the country of Moldova. The Moldova historical region does contain the Moldova river. But that region is half in Romania with the other half being the Republic of Moldova. So the Moldova river is in Romania, but it is, indeed, it's the source of the name. Fun fact, my mother's side of the family is from a village on the shores of the Moldova river so I am quite familiar with its geography.

It's not Schech it's Czech.

Judging by the comments this video might need a sequel featuring some of the common misconceptions featured here

"We are not sure where Huns got their name" -looks over to Mongolian, where Hunnu means something like people or man. Tbh, that could be a whacky coincidence, weirder stuff did happen. Btw, "white" was used for "west" in central asian cultures. Belarus' name could be originating from that as well. With the influence the Mongolians and their descendants had on eastern europe I wouldn't be surprised.

Everyone knows that The Netherlands is named after the Nether in Minecraft.

Fan fact:Moldova was name after the Moldova river but the river is not in Moldova but in the Moldavia region of Romania

The Romans were pulling strings in the background

That's the first time I've heard that Lithuania means shoreline, because it doesn't make any sense in Lithuanian (I'm Lithuanian). Shoreline is "pakrantė" in Lithuanian, which doesn't correlate with either our culture, geographic position or the linguistic standpoint. Usually it is said that the name of our country comes from the word ''lietus'' which means rain. Or from "leitis" which was a unique group of people who served for our rulers for centuries. Or, easiest of all, Lithuanians were a tribe, so that would be an easy answer if you'd want an easy pseudo - answer. The obscure latin meanings and their conversions to other languages are usually hard to understand and translate, so I wouldn't trust them so free handedly like you did.

Ukraine doesn’t mean borderland. it simply means the country

Vatican City, Monaco, Liechtenstein, etc. are not micronations, but microstates. Micronations are not sovereign states (the Principality of Sealand, Molossia, etc.) while microstates are.

I always suspected the German word „Herzog” and Herzegovina were related.

I thought Iceland was named by Flokki ‘Hrafn’ (raven) Viggurdson, a Viking explorer who used ravens for navigation much in the way of a sat-rav. The legend goes having followed a released bird he landed on Iceland and climbed a hill to see a bay of sea-ice and declared the newly ‘discovered’ island to be Is-land the land of ice hence Iceland

@<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="426">7:06</a> Honestly, where did you come up with the explanation of the name "Lithuania"? I'm a Lithuanian myself and I haven't heard this kind of theory, and booooy I'm very into history. There's multiple theories of the origin of the name: 1) A river in Central Lithuania - Lietava (Lithuania is "Lietuva" in Lithuanin language) with a similar name (since in the region and Baltic tradition a lot of geographical names come from hydronims), 2) a warrior class of early medieval Lithuanians were called Leičiai (Leitis sing.). However I've never heard about Lithuania coming from shoreline. The tribe of Lithuanians were never a seafaring nation. Nor they had any connection to the sea. Other Baltic tribes inhabited the coastal areas (Curonians, Samogitians, Prussians, Sembi).

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="623">10:23</a> - A word Ukraine doesn't mean "borderland". This version is a Russian myth. From the Ukrainian language in which is correct to translate it means: U (У)- in Kraine(Країна) - land. Like people living in their own land. You can easily use google translate to prove to yourself that statement.

Fun fact: "German" is a (supposedly) made up of the old Germanic words "ger" (speer) and "man" (man). So "German" is a "speer man" or hunter.

“Germany” is named “Deutschland”. Austria is named “Österreich”. “Greece” is named “Hellas”. Etc, etc, etc.

I really loved the Nightingale video, could you please make more like it?

A <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="114">1:54</a> = Albania 🇦🇱 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="130">2:10</a> = Andorra 🇦🇩 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="137">2:17</a> = Armenia 🇦🇲 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="149">2:29</a> = Austria 🇦🇹 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="160">2:40</a> = Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 B <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="172">2:52</a> = Belarus 🇧🇾 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="188">3:08</a> = Belgium 🇧🇪 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="201">3:21</a> = Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="220">3:40</a> = Bulgaria 🇧🇬 C <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="229">3:49</a> = Croatia 🇭🇷 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="235">3:55</a> = Cyprus 🇨🇾 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="249">4:09</a> = Czechia 🇨🇿 D <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="256">4:16</a> = Denmark 🇩🇰 E <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="264">4:24</a> = Estonia 🇪🇪 F <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="283">4:43</a> = Finland 🇫🇮 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="294">4:54</a> = France 🇫🇷 G <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="313">5:13</a> = Georgia 🇬🇪 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="324">5:24</a> = Germany 🇩🇪 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="334">5:34</a> = Greece 🇬🇷 H <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="345">5:45</a> = Hungary 🇭🇺 I <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="351">5:51</a> = Iceland 🇮🇸 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="367">6:07</a> = Ireland 🇮🇪 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="375">6:15</a> = Italy 🇮🇹 J K <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="392">6:32</a> = Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="400">6:40</a> = Kosovo 🇽🇰 L <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="410">6:50</a> = Latvia 🇱🇻 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="415">6:55</a> = Liechtenstein 🇱🇮 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="425">7:05</a> = Lithuania 🇱🇹 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="431">7:11</a> = Luxembourg 🇱🇺 M <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="437">7:17</a> = Malta 🇲🇹 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="449">7:29</a> = Moldova 🇲🇩 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="460">7:40</a> = Monaco 🇲🇨 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="471">7:51</a> = Montenegro 🇲🇪 N <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="485">8:05</a> = Netherlands 🇳🇱 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="498">8:18</a> = North Macedonia 🇲🇰 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="506">8:26</a> = Norway 🇳🇴 O P <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="511">8:31</a> = Poland 🇵🇱 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="518">8:38</a> = Portugal 🇵🇹 Q R <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="534">8:54</a> = Romania 🇷🇴 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="547">9:07</a> = Russia 🇷🇺 S <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="559">9:19</a> = San Marino 🇸🇲 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="565">9:25</a> = Serbia 🇷🇸 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="571">9:31</a> = Slovenia 🇸🇮, Slovakia 🇸🇰 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="583">9:43</a> = Spain 🇪🇸 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="596">9:56</a> = Sweden 🇸🇪 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="605">10:05</a> = Switzerland 🇨🇭 T <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="612">10:12</a> = Turkey 🇹🇷 U <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="621">10:21</a> = Ukraine 🇺🇦 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="631">10:31</a> = United Kingdom 🇬🇧 V <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="638">10:38</a> = Vatican City 🇻🇦 W X Y Z Your welcome from your fellow neighbourhood Pole 🇵🇱 known as Mod Maker.

In Slavic languages the directions are related to colours, red is south, white is west, Belarus means western Rus. North is black and east is blue or green. The same system is ancient, from Iran

Actually Hungary doesn't come from the Huns... but rather the Onogurs, which was a loose collection of tribes the Hungarians were part of. It explains Ungarn, Węgry, Hongría etc. As well.

Your posters is the most useful youtuber merch I have seen yet

just a small detail: Austria doesn't mean Eastern Kingdom but Eastern Empire :) In Dutch we call it Oostenrijk and in German Österreich. (rijk/reich = empire)

Nice job keeping these concise!

So, to expand on the names of Romania and Moldova. 1. România comes from Românie, an area where the roman law and customs, language apply, not a state. It does not come from Romania, the people's name for the Roman Empire, but from Romanus, Român, Românie, articulated România. Meaning "The Romanian area". The name of a Romanian state will be Țara Românească(The real name of Wallachia). 2. Moldova is named after the Margraviate of Moldova, and the city of Baia. It was a margraviate of Hungary run by Romanian margraves from Maramuresh. The founder in the name of the king is debatable, but is likely to be Dragoș of Câmpulung(not the city in Moldova) and the most known margraves were Dragoș and Sas of Bedeu. The name means mine in German, German colonists were used to build up the place and the capital, the capital is known after the Hungarian name of Baia, also meaning mine. The river was named after the city and the margraviate, not the other way around. But the river and the city is in România, since Principality of Moldova(what was left of it) formed România. Now, the Principality of Moldova was founded by House of Cuhea who ruled at that time Maramuresh, by their names Ștefan of Cuhea son of Iuga and his uncle from his father's side, Bogdan of Cuhea. It started from an internal conflict inside Hungary over the lands of House Dolha. Bogdan took the side of House of Dolha, House of Bedeu, who was a subject to both the King of Hungary and the Voievode of Maramuresh, took the side of the king and the Hungarian noble. So Bogdan and his nephew conquered the Margraviat of Moldova from House of Bedeu. The name of the state was Țeara lui Bogdan(Country of Bogdan) or Țeara Românească, but in time the name Moldova replaced them. Republic of Moldova is the Eastern part of the Principality of Moldova, conquered by Prince Roman I of Moldova from the tartars, then annexed by the Russian Empire from Moldova under Ottoman suzerainty and then by USSR from the Kingdom of România.

Ukraine - comes from "U" In/Inner "Kray" Country/Land resulting in "Inner Land", "Main part of the Country" or simply "Metropolia" - the term first appeared in 12th century Kievan Rus country where the capital Kiev and its neighbourhood lands were the main part of the country or "Inner / Main Lands". The version you have named - is popularized by russians and is considered to be offensive in Ukraine.

This wrong in many places.

The are two origins of the name Ukraine. One which Name_Explained have mentioned, which is being propagated by Russians to impose Ukrainians a inferiority, while demonstrating some imagine superiority. Which they are doing for the last ~ 300 years And another theory which said that title is actually comes from the word Вкраїна (Vkraina), which means - homeland, also root of the word is "Край" (krai) which means "land/area". First mentioning of Ukraine was in 12 century. 350 Years before "Moscovia" (Modern title is Russia) was mentioned in 1547.

Love this kind of content! Thank you for your great work!

Lets put the chicken and egg to one side for a minute, and ask the question:- What came first Cyprus or the Cyprus Tree?

First time i actually hear about Lithuanian name comes from shoreline. In our schools they told us about the association with a small river which was called Lietauka and was once in the heart of old nation. Another meaning is "land of rain" - Lietus in Lithuania means rain and in our language we call Lithuania as Lietuva. Or another theory is Leit, which means a river flowing through a deeper creek. It might be a bit hard to find info in English about this, so I'm not really blaming you. You did tremendous job already. It's also nice to hear about other nations names! Good job.

You are totally wrong about Ukraine. "U-kraïni" means "in the country/state". and russia has stolen its name from Kyiv Ruś, which has nothing to do with russian federation.

Great video! Love your channel. Do Africa next

You had the wrong etymology for Ukraine, the one that you use originated in Russia. The more widely believed entomology is home land/ native land/ our land.

A interesting explanation for the origin of names of the different countries consisting the European continent .Thank you for your research.Being a student as well as a teacher of History makes me more prone for such diverse and vast contexts.

You should do capital cities in Europe or something like that, that would be good name explain video

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="168">2:48</a> Armenians: Everything changed when the fire nation attacked.

If you haven't already it would be nice if the there was a playlist with all the European etomologys

Finland in finnish is Suomi which is derived from word Suo. That means Fen; 15 - 30 % of land area of Finland (depending how you count) is fens. I suspect that's also the etymology behind english name.

I love this channel!

Could you do Oceania next, its just such a unique area compared to the western world

It would be interesting to hear each name in multiple languages of neighbouring countries for example and where they came from

Will you make a video about letter transposition and names like Pendergrass versus Prendergast? Also a video about names that seem like they must be variations of one another but are really totally unrelated? Like Hornby and Hornsby You must be the only other person alive as obsessed with names as me!

Moldova's name has a legend surrounding it, it comes from Molda, the hunting dog of a voivode called Dragoș. according to the legend they hunted an urus (giant extinct wild bull) and she died in the river fighting the urus. Dragoș named the river after her and took the urus's head. that's also why the heraldry of Moldova always features a bull's head. only it's not a bull, its an urus

"Vatican City" comes from the fact it is located on a hill called "Mons Vaticanus" by the ancient Latin-speaking Romans. In English it is "Vatican Hill". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Hill

Frank, Sax, Ger are not just syllables of the name of countries, but weapons too.

Hercegovina used to be part of Serbian country. Hercegovina is not just in Bosnia but also in part of Montenegro knewn as Old Hercegovina. It got its name from Serbian Duke - Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, Herceg (Duke) of Saint Sava. And Montenegro got its name by what he tell but also mostly because Serbian dinasty Crnojević who ruled Montenegro, Crno=Black. Real name "Crna Gora" but Venetian Republic called it Montenegro. And word Serb can mean "man/people", but it also came from Proto-Slavic and Indo-Europian word which means "brother, relative, member of same tribe/kin", there is also a theory that originate from Persian/Iranian word which means "the one who protect; watch over".

Here in France we call London as Londres but it’s not named that way, also in English you would say Germany but it’s called Deutschland, and so on. Thanks for your video and look forward to more x

I have never heard such a strange explanation of Lithuania's name. The most common theory is that the name of Lithuania comes from the name of the river. The original Lithuanian name (Lietuva) consists of the word liet(i) which means pour or ~rain and the suffix -uva, which ends with the names of many rivers and places in our country. The most popular current explanations of the name of Lithuania are "Rainy place" or "The rain land " I think the most accurate English name for Lithuania would be Rainland.

I enjoy this nicely compiled continental overview! Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊

This is recording a snapshot in time, the countries as they are in 2020. Nations, countries, regions and cultures are all different things. It’d be interesting to see you present the entomology of the names of all these identities. That’d keep you busy.

do asia next

Sweden (Sverige) i think is what has become of the words Svea rike wich means kingdom of svea. Svea rike is still used as a synonym of Sverige

Me: The Netherlands is where the Nether from Minecraft is Edit: Finn from Adventure Time lives in Finnland

Fin = Fen = Marsh. Finland also means Marshland, Finland is known for its many lakes. ;)

I believe Denmark, Danmark, means land of the Danes as mark in Danish is land or field. It’s the same words in Swedish (land or mark) Mark doesn’t mean border. Border in Danish is grænse or something along that line. The word for border in Swedish is gräns.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina explanation is a bit off. They didn't "come together", they always were the same. Herzegovina was just a part of Bosnia, while when the Austrians occupied the nation they added on the Herzegovina part in the official name. Also the Bosnia meaning is a bit debated. It is believed that it was a name of a tribe or a tribal leader in the old-slavic homeland.

How about doing a video of Yakko's world with you constantly interrupting Yakko by giving the etymologies?

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="430">7:10</a> pretty sure it comes from a river in the country called Lietava

"Austria is of course east of Germany" wait what? South east at the best, and more south than east. Probably compared to Munich/Bavaria, but just a little more explanation would have been nice ..

Very nice! I'd be very curious to see a video like this explaining the etymology of African nation names.

Great video! Ukraine 🇺🇦 means a land, a kingdom, a brotherhood. The name was first mentioned in the 12th century as a synonym to the word 'kingdom'.

big like and sub coz you said the truth about north macedonia lol

Sweden is called Sverige in Sweden, from the spelling in danish Svea rige. It means the country of the Svea people.

You should explain why "cricket" and "croquet" have such similar names! And why they both use "wickets!"

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="477">7:57</a> makes sense. In my language the name is literally what he explained instead of Montenegro

To any Russians who take exception to his representation of Ukraine, Crimea river.

It was incredibly difficult trying to Google this "Czech"-guy, which I’m not sure why I’m even surprised by

According to the UN the name Andorra was inspired by the character Endora on the classic 60's tv series Bewitched!

Hadn't Patrick made a video exactly like that when Brexit happened?

Think the etymology for Ireland is correct. Pity couldn't get the pronunciation of Éire correct. The final "e" is pronounced so "air-re". The goddess was Ériu pronounced "air-roo".

Danmark... I thought the "mark" part was called mörk at first, just as there used to be Finnmörk. Mörk is woods and Eyðimörk is the icelandic (nordic) word for desert...i.e. Sahara

The origin of word Slav (Slovan/Sloven) is not unknown. It comes from proto-slavic word "Slovo" which means "Word" in Slavic languages. So it is the land when you find people you can talk with. We also call Germans - Nemci which means "mutes" as the ones not speaking our language :)

I speak English as a third language and I could not understand most of this video. Could you please add subtitles?

Liechtenstein is named after the House of Liechtenstein, the ruling family. They gained possession of the land, at the time known as Vaduz, while it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, then gave the country their name when they became independent.

Asia or Africa would be interesting as a next topic or perhaps a run through of Europe again but those names in their native languages rather than English.

Can you do a video about Sudan (country) and Sudan (car)

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="235">3:55</a> in school, we learned that our island was named after copper🇨🇾

IDK where you got your info for Hungary, but it's pretty inaccurate.

Two small mistakes with Ireland. Éire is pronounced Air-ah and in the map, you put the Inishowen Peninsula in Northern Ireland. Still a great video.

are you sure about Liechtenstein? I believe it is named after the family that built that castles that pretty much owns the land...

you forgot Penghripschtem / pəngrɘpʃt(ə)m/ its name is taken from the Penorep language (pẽʕúrep) meaning the mouth of the right or the mouth of the truth

The word Rus has a clear etymology in slavic languages and does not mean men who row. The word rus is an adjective that is most commonly used to describe a hair color, and it describes a light brown, almost blond hair color. So the word Rus, as it is masculine in slavic languages, can mean a man with light hair. And thats how Russia and Belarus got their names. Also the correct term for Slavs should be Sloveni (or whatever the correct spelling and pronounciation is in other slavic languages) and so the root word is "slovo" which means word. And so Sloven is a man who speaks.

Deutschland the country that got named after different people groups depending on who people had first contact with I guess and them there is this special group of languages that just made something up completely. Oh and those that actually listened to us Germans and call us by an equivalent of Deutschland just im their language, those are mainly the North Germanic languages and our language siblings Dutch but there are probably more.

In Denmark our biggest hill is half that of the Dutch one. We should change our name the Netherestlands.

Now do countries that have different name in their native language.

The mark in Denmark refers to the ground or land, not borders.

You pronounced croat like "crowt"? I thought it was "crow-at"!

Well you can flip a coin and guess where the name Slav comes from. In most if not all Slavic languages there are 2 particular words "slava" (glory) or "slovo" (word which would in context of a name identify people who can speak same as Germans are called Nemci - "nemy" which means mute).

Russia is one of the most diverse countries on Earth, there are all kinds of peoples, religions and languages spoken. So, it's a very interesting country.

Icelands etymology is a common myth deriving from the "Iceland = green. Greenland = icy" thing. Its more commonly believed that settlers first landed close to icy waters or a glacier henche the name

sorry, but for the first time I hear about the origin of the name for croatia that it comes from a mountain range! Croatia has two names, one is domestic Hrvat (se), which means wrestling, and the other is foreign, Croatia, which is a corrupt name for a tie, which is a corrupt name for the domestic name of a Croat. most easily remembered by the story when a French soldier asks a Croatian colleague in the Thirty Years' War, what is it around his neck? pointing a finger. The Croat, not understanding French, thinks he is asking who he is, what he is,where he comes from, the Croat answers by pointing his finger at himself / the scarf around his neck. "Hrvat, ja sam Hrvat" in translation "croat, i am croatian".hence the meaning of the neck tie in wrestling takes on a new dimension. 🤔

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="580">9:40</a> Slovo means 'word' or 'speak' in Slavic. As opposed to Germans 'Nemci' which are mute people which could not speak.

Good video but I think you should have explained United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. At least that might have informed some of the residents of said country that the "Great" means big, not amazing...