When names of these countries were first called
score:6
India
The classical Latin was "India" taken from the Sanskrit "Sindhu" and Persian "Hindu" possibly referring to any large river which formed a natural border. The Greeks picked it up from the Persians as Indós (Ἰνδός) and Herodotus talks about India, some of it is actually true.
Eastward of India lies a tract which is entirely sand. Indeed, of all the inhabitants of Asia, concerning whom anything is known, the Indians dwell nearest to the east and the rising of the Sun.
Take Herdotus with a heavy pinch of άλας.
The Romans borrowed from the Greeks as Indus, India, and Indian. Old English borrows it from the Latin as "India" or "Indea".
The area referred to as "India" began with the Persians and Greeks referring to the area around the Indus River. Then everything east of the Indus River. To the Romans and Europeans it could refer to just about anything in South Asia west of China, or even the horn of Africa. Thus we get the "East Indies", the misnamed "West Indies", the "East India Company", and "Indonesia" (an 18th century melding of Ἰνδός (Indus) and νῆσος (Island)).
The country we call "India" is a product of geography and British colonialism. Prior to the British the region was made up of many nations and empires. In some periods nearly all of modern India was under the control of a single empire such as the Maurya around 300 BC, to the Mughal Empire established in the early 1500s until its decline in the 18th century. The Mughal Empire and the British East India Company were both dissolved and the Government of India Act 1858 established the British Raj in 1858. This was partitioned in 1947 into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The Dominion of India became the modern Republic of India.
Myanmar / Burma
This is already well covered on Wikipedia by Names of Myanmar. Here's a tl;dr.
Burma comes from the Bamar or Burmese people (ဗမာ [Bamar] + လူမျိုး [race]). It's thought that colloquial Burmese shifted the B to an M with many different variations through Burmese history. မြန်မာပြည် or Mranma kingdom, spoken with a soft R, is "Myanmarpyi".
The change from Burma to Myanmar reflects attempts to shed their colonial legacy. "Burma" likely comes from the Indian "Barma" possibly a mixing of "Bama" and "Brahma-desh". The Portuguese turned this into Birmânia (turning "Birmans" into "the country of the Birmans" Latin-style like "Germania") which came into English as however 18th century map makers thought it should be spelled: Bermah, Birmah, Brama, Burmah, Burma, Burmah. The Times finally standardized on Burma.
Senegal
Like India, Senegal refers to the region around the Senegal River named so by the Portuguese for... something, it's not clear. There's a number of hypotheses including the Zenaga language of the region or a misunderstanding of "Sunuu Gaal" meaning "our boat".
Explorer: "What's that?" (points at river)
Local: "Our boat." (thinks they're pointing at their boat)
Explorer: Ahh, the Ourboat River.
It's probably a folktale, similar to the idea that "Canada" is Cartier misunderstanding the local word for "the town" despite Cartier's own writing correctly translating the word.
Upvote:0
India is named after the Indus river. The name of the river is probably quite ancient. It was used for an area close to the Indus river ("Hidus") by the Persians under Darius I and then by Herodot and subsequently by other Greek and Latin authors.
More post
- 📝 What's the earliest example of a permanent embassy?
- 📝 Was there a "European Balance of Power Strategy" for Anglo-American interests in between 1925 and 1935?
- 📝 Are there any primary sources on the letter Hulagu wrote to Qutuz?
- 📝 What led the U.S. to standardize option contracts to 100 shares per lot?
- 📝 Are there factors which caused the printing revolution to begin in Europe in 1450 and not some other place some other time?
- 📝 At the beginning of English Civil War, why did Parliament take a hard line with neutrals, thereby effectively helping Royalist recruitment?
- 📝 Is this tale of WW2 true?
- 📝 Quantitative comparison of transportation cost per kilometer over the centuries?
- 📝 What was the content of Solzhenitsyn's critique of the West?
- 📝 Searching for a very powerful Indian sword
- 📝 Did the Sturmabteilung uniform look ridiculous in terms of German fashion in the 1920s?
- 📝 How did early adopters of the automobile fill up their cars?
- 📝 What time zone was used in Sikkim before it became a state of India in 1975?
- 📝 Is Josephus a legitimate historical text?
- 📝 How much gunpowder could the average Napoleonic ship of the line carry?
- 📝 Were ancient Israel's neighbors henotheistic?
- 📝 What was the range of round shot on level ground?
- 📝 What exactly is this 1795 German "Berichte" Document?
- 📝 Why was silage only invented in the 19th century?
- 📝 How common were horses at the beginning of the 20th century?
- 📝 Why were the Huns so successful at siege warfare but the Goths were not?
- 📝 Help identifying my great grandfather’s WWI Italian Army uniform, rank, regiment
- 📝 Reception of Acemoglu-Robinson 'extractive institutions' thesis?
- 📝 What is the actual Polish street name of the street in Martinau, now Rokitnica, of Strasse der SA?
- 📝 Had there been instances of national states banning harmful imports before the mid-19th C Opium Wars?
- 📝 Were death camps originally intended as death camps and if not, what changed?
- 📝 What was the most accurate map of the world before artificial satellites?
- 📝 What is the brown doll on Nicolás de Ovando's desk?
- 📝 Why did this post card not allow communication with Japan?
- 📝 What is the origin of oak leaves in military insignia and decorations?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 When names of these countries were first called
- 📝 When were US Presidential candidates' names first shown on the ballot?
- 📝 When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?
- 📝 When was the American War of Independence first called a 'Revolution'?
- 📝 When were the first timezones established?
- 📝 When were the first mosques established in Constantinople?
- 📝 When were Liu Hui's mathematical works first translated into English?
- 📝 When was the "New Kingdom" of Egypt first called that?
- 📝 When were both minuscule and majuscule letters used for the first time in the same Latin manuscript?
- 📝 When were the first deaths from the Spanish Flu Pandemic?
- 📝 When was King Alfred first called 'Alfred the Great'?
- 📝 Why and when did countries develop long names that include the form of government?
- 📝 When were public tariffs and taxes for water supply introduced for the first time?
- 📝 What were the names of these two Ancient Greek boxing/pankration legends?
- 📝 What were all the countries of the First, Second and Third Worlds, when WWII ended?
- 📝 When were the first heating apparatus used for bathing?
- 📝 When did Spain first come to exist as a country called Spain (Espana)?
- 📝 When did countries first allow travellers to import duty free alcohol and tobacco
- 📝 When were terms for points of sail first used?
- 📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
- 📝 When were swords last used in European warfare?
- 📝 When did the Romans finally acknowledge that they were living in an empire?
- 📝 Who first called natural satellites "moons"?
- 📝 ‘Avoid sleeping on your back’ & ‘breathe in toilet smells’ were seen as precautions against the Black Death. Why did doctors think these would work?
- 📝 Were there occasions when a sovereign country voluntarily joined another country?
- 📝 When were 'time zones' (or at least time difference) discovered?
- 📝 When did the term "Nationality" first come into use? How did ancient civilizations refer to themselves? By ethnicity?
- 📝 Were the first sonic booms predicted?
- 📝 Were there ethnic Russians in Alaska when the US purchased it 1867? Did they stay?
- 📝 How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?