Exonym and endonym
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An exonym is a name for a place that is not used within that place by the local inhabitants, or a name for a people that is not used by that people. The name used by the people or locals themselves is an endonym or autonym. For example, Deutschland is an endonym; Germany is an English exonym for the same place; and Allemagne is a French exonym. Exonyms may derive from distinct roots as with the preceding example, or may be cognate words which have diverged in pronunciation or othography. For example, London is known as Londres in French, Spanish and Portuguese; Londra in Italian and Romanian; Londýn in Czech and Slovak; Londyn in Polish; and Lontoo in Finnish.
Some languages use the same spelling as the endonym but change the pronunciation, thus making it an exonym. The English pronunciation of Paris, for example, is not an attempt at pronouncing the word the way the French do, with a silent "s."
Tendencies in the development of exonyms
Exonyms develop for places of special significance for speakers of the language of the exonym. Consequently, most European capitals have English exonyms, e.g. Athens (Αθήνα/Athína), Belgrade (Београд/Beograd), Bucharest (Bucureşti), Brussels (Bruxelles, Brussel), Copenhagen (København), Moscow (Москва/Moskva), Prague (Praha), Rome (Roma), The Hague (Den Haag), Tirana (Tiranë), Munich (Muenchen), Cologne (Koeln), Vienna (Wien) or Warsaw (Warszawa). For minor places of no significance, attempts to reproduce local names have been made in English since the time of the Crusades. Livorno, to take an instance, was Leghorn because it was an Italian port essential to English merchants and, by the 18th century, to the British navy. Not far away, a minor port on the same sea like Rapallo never received an exonym.In the late 20th century the use of exonyms often became controversial. Groups often prefer that outsiders avoid exonyms where they have come to be used in a pejorative way; for example, Roma people prefer that term over exonyms like Gypsy. People may also seek to avoid exonyms due to historical sensitivities, as in the case of German names for Polish and Czech places which used to be ethnically or politically German.
In recent years, geographers have sought to reduce the use of exonyms to avoid these kind of problems. For example, it is now common for Spanish speakers to refer to the Turkish capital as Ankara rather than use the Spanish exonym Angora, still in use for a type of cat.
But according to the United Nations Statistics Division:
Time has, however, shown that initial ambitious attempts to rapidly decrease the number of exonyms were over-optimistic and not possible to realise in the intended way. The reason would appear to be that many exonyms have become common words in a language and can be seen as part of the language’s cultural heritage.
In English, attempts to skirt a familiar exonym in order accurately to reproduce an endonym often appears pretentious, a device used to comic effect in E.F. Benson's novels concerning Miss Mapp and Lucia.
Sometimes the government of a country tries to endorse the use of an endonym instead of traditional exonyms outside the country:
- In 1985 the government of Côte d'Ivoire pleaded that this French name should be used in all languages instead of exonyms such as Ivory Coast, so that the former is now the official English name of that country in the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee (see Name of Côte d'Ivoire).
- The Ukrainian government maintains that the capital of Ukraine should be called Kyiv in English because it considers the traditional English exonym Kiev to be derived from the Russian name Kiyev (Киев) (see Kiev or Kyiv?).
- The Belarusian government argues that the endonym Belarus should be used in all languages and has been rather successful in English, where the former exonym Byelorussia, still used with reference to the Soviet Republic, has virtually died out, whereas in other languages exonyms like German [Weißrussland], Swedish [Vitryssland], Dutch [Wit-Rusland] (all literally 'White Russia') or French [Biélorussie] are still much more common than Belarus (see History of the name Belarus).
- In 1989 the military regime of Burma requested that the English name of the country be Myanmar, with Myanma as the adjective of the country and Bamar as the name of the inhabitants (see Explanation of the names of Burma/Myanmar).
Confusion with renaming
Exonyms and endonyms must not be confused with the results of geographical renaming as in the case of Saint Petersburg, which became Petrograd in 1914, Leningrad in 1924, and Saint Petersburg again in 1991. In this case, although St Petersburg has a German etymology, this was never a German exonym for the city between 1914 and 1991, just as Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name of New York City until 1664, is not its Dutch exonym.
The old place names outdated after renaming are afterwards often used as historicisms. Consequently, even today one would talk about the Siege of Leningrad, not the Siege of St. Petersburg, because at that time (1941-1944) the city was called Leningrad. Likewise, one would say that Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg in 1724, not in Kaliningrad, as it has been called since 1946.
List of English exonyms for peoples
| Exonym | Endonym |
|---|---|
| Albanian | Shqiptarë |
| Argentinian(s) or Argentines | Argentinos |
| Armenians | Hayer |
| Basque | Euskaldunak |
| Brazilian(s) | Brasileiro(s) |
| Chinese | or Huá rén (華人) |
| Cornish | Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack |
| Dutch | Nederlanders |
| Egyptian | |
| Eskimo | Inuit or Yupik (two distinct peoples) |
| Etruscans | Rasenna |
| Finns | Suomalaiset |
| French | Français |
| Germans | Deutsche |
| Greeks | Éllines) |
| Gypsies | Roma, Sinti |
| Hungarians | Magyarok |
| The Iroquois | Haudenosaunee ("The League of Peace and Power") |
| Japanese | Nihonjin () |
| Koreans | or Chosŏnsaram (조선사람) |
| Lapps | Sami |
| Moroccan | |
| Poles | Polacy |
| Puerto Ricans | puertorriqueños, riqueños, puertorros (informal), boricua (Lokono "The one of the Altive Lord's land") |
| Quechua | Runa |
| Sumerians | Sag-gi-ga ("The Black-Headed People") |
| Turkish people | Türkler |
| Vlachs | Armân (Aromanian) |
| Welsh | Cymru |
List of English exonyms for German toponyms
List of creators of exonyms
| Exonym | Creator |
|---|---|
| Byzantine Empire | Hieronymus Wolf, popularized by Montesquieu |
| Sumeria | Akkadians |
List of country exonyms
| Exonym | Name |
|---|---|
| Armenia | Hayastan (Հայաստան - "the land of Haik"); see Armenia - Origin of the name |
| The Aztec | Mexica or Tenochca |
| Bhutan | Druk Yul ("land of the dragon" in Dzongkha) |
| The Byzantine Empire | Romania (Pωμανια). Derived from the "Roman Empire". |
| China | Zhōngguó (中國) ("Middle Kingdom"); see Names of China |
| Croatia | Hrvatska |
| Egypt | Miṣr (مصر) in Arabic, Maṣr in Egyptian dialect; means "a country" or "a state" |
| Estonia | Eesti in Estonian |
| Finland | Suomi in Finnish, Finland in Swedish |
| Georgia | Sakartvelo (საქართველო); see Georgia (country) - Origin of the name |
| Germany | Deutschland; see Names for Germany |
| Greece | Elás (Ελλάς) or Eládha (Ελλάδα) |
| Hungary | Magyarország |
| The Inca | Tawantinsuyu ("Four Corners") |
| India | Bhārat in Hindi, but India is officially recognized too; see Origin of India's name |
| Japan | Nippon / Nihon (日本, "The Sun's Origin"; see Etymology of Japan) |
| Korea | Chosŏn (Joseon)(조선 / 朝鮮) in North Korea and Hanguk (한국 / 韓國) in South Korea, but Goryeo (고려 / 高麗), the source of Korea, is used as neutral name for Korea; see Names of Korea |
| Maldives | Dhivehi raajj'e ; ("The Islands of Dhivehi People" in Dhivehi language; see History of the Maldives) |
| Montenegro | Crna Gora / Црна Гора ("black mountain" in Serbian; see History of Montenegro - Etymology) |
| Morocco | al-Maghrib (المغرب)("The West" in Arabic; see also Maghrib and Maghreb) |
| Poland | Polska |
| Spain | España -- not exonyms, both names come from the same Latin word "Hispania", different outcome from the same word are not exonyms |
| Sumeria | Ki-en-gi ("Place of the Civilized Lords") |
| Sweden | Sverige |
| Switzerland | Schweiz (German), Suisse (French), and Svizzera (Italian) represent the endonym in three of the four official languages of Switzerland |
| Syria | Suria (سوريا) |
| Thailand | ประเทศไทย |
| Tibet | བོད་ (Böd) |
| Turkey | Türkiye |
| Wales | Cymru |
List of geographical region exonyms
| Exonym | Name |
|---|---|
| Andalusia | Andalucía (from Arabic al-Andalus, derived from Latin vandalus after the Germanic Vandals who settled in Hispania Baetica with the collapse of Roman rule. The Arabic term was given by the Arabs to their Spanish possessions after Islamic conquest; -- not really an exonym, just the old Spanish pronunciation, in fact still pronounced that way by many Andalusians) |
| Bangkok | Krung Thep (กรุงเทพ) |
| Basque Country | Euskadi (Basque), País Vasco (Spanish), Vascongadas (Spanish, before the 1970s, not in use today; also as adjective: "Provincias Vascongadas";) |
| Canton | Guǎngzhōu (廣州) ("Expansive Prefecture") |
| Castile | Castilla - same word with different pronunciation, English uses French name -- not an exonym |
| Catalonia | Catalunya (Catalonian), Cataluña (Spanish) -- not really an exonym, just the formal "Latinized" version, created by Catalans themselves when writing in Latin |
| Amoy | Xiàmén |
| Macau / Macao | Àomén |
| Navarre | Nafarroa (Basque), Navarra (Spanish) ; Basque Nafarroa -> Spanish Navarra -> French Navarre -> English Navarre -- just adapted pronunciation not different roots |
| Transylvania | Ardeal / Erdely / Siebenbürgen |
See also
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- -onym
- List of adjectival forms of place names
- Names of European cities in different languages
- List of European exonyms
- Names of Asian cities in different languages
- List of cities in the Americas with alternative names
- List of countries and capitals in native languages
- List of alternative country names
- List of country names in various languages
- List of Latin place names in Europe
- List of European regions with alternative names
- List of European rivers with alternative names
- List of traditional Greek place names
- Place names in Irish
External links
- [UN document discussing exonyms (PDF)]
- [Jacek Wesołowski's Place Names in Europe, featuring endonyms and exonyms for many cities]
- ["Does Juliet's Rose, by Any Other Name, Smell as Sweet?"] by Verónica Albin.
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