Friday, November 11, 2011

Andland (Australia)

The region around Australia, the island-continent, is often refered to as 'the land down under (hinum megin á hnettinu, hence the term hinumeginland) or the 'antipodal region' (andfælingssvæði). The term antipode derives from anti- "opposed" and pous "foot" of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth's surface which is diametrically opposite to it. Two points that are antipodal to one another are connected by a straight line running through the centre of the Earth.
Why not using the simple construction 'Andland'. The word refers to the "antipodal regions", the regions 'down under' and it is only different from 'Indland' in having another initial vowel, which is appropriate since the west coast of Australia lies at the Indian Ocean and the East Indies (Indonesia lies just north of Australia, so the similarity between the names 'Indland' and 'Andland' is a convenient coincidence.
Australia means 'the southern land', but it is actually, the land at the other end, and andland applies to this description.

Derivations:

Andlendingur: Australian
andlenskur: Australian
frumandlendingur: Aboriginal (or 'andfætlingssvertingi')
frumandlensk tungumál: aboriginal languages

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