Timeline for Why does Germany's English name differ from its German name?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 11, 2018 at 15:14 | comment | added | Alfe | Terms (describing whatever) aren't changed very much and just adjusted to another language in the process of assimilating them. If the other people speaking this other language already have a term for something, they have no need to assimilate the foreign one. Germany is located in the middle of a lot of other relevant countries and their languages. The dozen or so peoples surrounding Germany developed their own names for the Germans, from their point of view. Ireland, as a counter example, did not have so many different views on it, and thus not so many different names to suffer. | |
| Mar 29, 2014 at 15:34 | comment | added | Ben Voigt | @Dan: There's a certain amount of irony when you call the original name a translation, and assume one of the translations in original. | |
| Feb 3, 2011 at 7:53 | comment | added | Dan | But it usually gets translated to something obviously similar like "Christophe Colomb" or "Cristóbal Colón" or "Kristophara Kolambasa". | |
| Jan 6, 2011 at 19:12 | comment | added | Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 | Lots of proper names of people are translated. Christopher Columbus is one good example. | |
| Jan 2, 2011 at 22:03 | comment | added | Alex | Improper nouns, sure. But proper names are usually fairly stable. If you went to Germany, would you expect them to translate "Rob" into their native language, and call you "Rauben"? :) | |
| Jan 2, 2011 at 0:35 | history | answered | Rob Weir | CC BY-SA 2.5 |