Sunday, October 30, 2011

Names of countries

Sikilindland (Sri Lanka): I use 'Sikil-' from Sikiley (Sicily) as a toponymic prefix to denote an island at the end of a protruding landmass seperated by a narrow strait. There are not many landmasses that apply to this description, only Sicily, Sri Lanka and Sumatra. The island of Sicily was named after the Sicels, an Italic tribe. This name has no special meaning that could refer to the shape or geographical nature of the island which implies that it can perfectly be used in neoexonyms for similar islands.

Feneyla (Venezeuela, meaning 'little Vencice'. Venezia + diminutive suffix -uela, which is sound-similar to the Icelandic diminutive suffix -la. The country's name can be adapted to Icelandic by adding the sound-similar diminutive suffix -la (as in pípla) to the stem of Feneyjar, Feney-: Feneyla, Feneylumaður, Feneylu-.

Fótland (Patagonia): Google 'Foot of the world'. The name Patagonia is said to be the name of a mythical tribe of giants that inhabited Patagonia. The first element of the name Pata- could be derived from 'foot' (big-footed people), but this etymology is disputed. Still the location of the country has given rise to the epiteth 'foot or heel of the world.

Cape Horn: Ilhvarf. Cape Horn is the Southernmost point of the inhabited world, which can be expressed as 'heel of the world' (Icelandic “il”). The word 'hvarf' is used in the sense of 'höfði' (cape) but in the narrower sense of 'outermost point of land'. The name Hvarf was used to designate Cape Wrath, the most northwesterly point of Scotland and Cape Farewell, the southernmost point of Greenland. http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvarf_(Gr%C3%A6nland)

Uruguay: Víðósarland

Zimbabwe: Múrbláland (named after the ancient stone enclosure named "Great Zimbabwe". One of its most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high and which were constructed without mortar.)
Múrbláland liggur á milli Sambelfar og Hlympápa (Zimbabwe is situated between the Zambezi river and the Limpopo)

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