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List of etymologies of administrative divisions

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This article provides a collection of the etymology of the names of subnational entities. This page generally only deals with regions and provinces; cities and other localities and features may appear listed under the individual country, with a link below.

Australia

Austria

  • Carinthia, German Kärnten: derived from the early medieval (tribal?) state Karantania (German Karantanien); a suggested etymology references a Celtic term for "stone" or "crag", while tradition holds that the name means "land of friends"
  • Lower Austria, German Nieder-Österreich: the lower part (lower in height) of the original territory of Austria ('the eastern country'), as opposed to Upper Austria; also called Österreich unter der Enns 'Austria below the (river) Enns'
  • Salzburg: after the city of Salzburg (literally "salt castle"), which takes its name from the salt mines that existed there during the Middle Ages
  • Styria, German Steiermark: after the castle of Steyr; in the high Middle Ages, it formed a march of the Holy Roman Empire, hence -mark
  • Tyrol, German Tirol, Italian Tirolo: after the castle of Tirol near Meran
  • Upper Austria, German Ober-Österreich: the upper (physically higher) part of the original territory of Austria, as opposed to Lower Austria; also called Österreich ob der Enns 'Austria above the (river) Enns'
  • Vienna, German Wien: from Celtic Vindobona (vindo "white" + bona "foundation, fort")
  • Vorarlberg, literally "in front of the Arlberg", takes its name from the Arlberg, a mountain (German: Berg) characterised by Arle, a local German term for "mountain pine".

Belgium

  • Brussels, Dutch Brussel, French Bruxelles (the capital city, outside any province; also Belgium's third region): medieval Dutch broek 'bog' + zele (in many place names in the Low Countries) 'habitation using thatching'
  • Flanders, Dutch Vlaanderen, French Flandre(s): plural of a terrain type; extended from the historical county (about half lost to French and Dutch neighbours; the rest roughly made up two administrative provinces, East Flanders and West Flanders; in French les Flandres, plural) to the whole Dutch-speaking, majority part of Belgium (French la Flandre, singular)
  • Liège – of disputed etymology. The name Liège may have the same origin as the ancient name of Paris, i.e. Lutetia; the German form, Lüttich, suggests this. Liège and Lutetia would both derive from Latin lucotætia, "marsh" or "mud". Another suggestion derives the names from Latin Lætica, "colony", or Leudica, "free". Alternatively, the Latin Leudica meaning "public place" may have given rise to the Walloon Lîdje and thence to Liège. Note that the name appeared in written form as Liége (with an acute accent) until the 1950s.
  • Wallonia, French Wallonie: from the (Romanized (Germano-)Celtic, now Francophone) Walloon people, as in many European countries, so named by Germanic neighbours; meaning: 'strangers'

Canada

Provinces and territories

See Canadian provincial name etymologies

Regions

  1. Credited to Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano, who first named a region around Chesapeake Bay Archadia (Arcadia) in 1524 because of "the beauty of its trees", according to his diary. Cartographers began using the name Arcadia to refer to areas progressively farther north until it referred to the French holdings in maritime Canada (particularly Nova Scotia). The -r- also began to disappear from the name on early maps, resulting in the current Acadia. [1]
  2. Possibly derived from the Mi'kmaq word akatik, pronounced roughly "akatie", meaning "place", which was rendered into French as -cadie in place names such as Shubenacadie and Tracadie, possibly coincidentally. [2]

China

People's Republic of China

Most of the names of the modern administrative regions appeared as coinages in the Ming Dynasty and in the Qing Dynasty in ancient China. The Republic of China (ruling all of China from 1911 to 1949) and the People's Republic of China (ruling most of China after 1949) inherited most of them, and each made modifications and innovations. This list only includes the subnational entities under the effective control of the People's Republic of China.

Republic of China (Taiwan)

The Republic of China governed all the territory of China from 1911 to 1949, and retreated to Taiwan after the Chinese civil war (1927 - 1949). The list below includes only the subnational entities under the effective control of the Republic of China.

Czech Republic

Denmark

  • Bornholm: the Old Norse version of the name, Burgundarholm, suggests connections with the Burgundians, who traditionally originated in Scandinavia
  • Copenhagen (Danish: København) - a corruption of the original designation for the city, Købmandshavn, or "Merchants' Harbour" in Danish. It comes to English via the German Kopenhagen.
  • Faroe Islands (Danish: Færøerne, Faroese: Føroyar) - literally, "Sheep Islands", from their dense population of sheep
  • Greenland (Danish: Grønland) - from Old Norse Grœnland, literally, "green land"; so named by Erik the Red to induce settlement there. Greenlandic-speakers use the name Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning "Land of the Greenlanders"
  • Jutland (Danish: Jylland; German: Jütland) - name associated with the Jutes
  • Zealand (Danish: Sjælland) - literally "seal-land", from the seals found on the coasts of the island

Finland

  • Helsinki - from Old Norwegian Helsingfors (Helsing, a local tribe, plus fors meaning "waterfall")
  • Ostrobothnia (or in Swedish: Österbotten) - "Eastern Bothnia"

France

Note that most modern French départements take their names from local geographical features: usually rivers, occasionally mountain ranges or coasts. Thus most such names have a self-evident immediate origin: even non-speakers of French can deduce them with a minimum of geographical knowledge. The traditional provinces and regions (of any period) often bear names with more obscure and superficially richer histories.

Germany

Greece (Hellas)

  • Arcadia - from Arcas, the legendary eponymous leader of early Hellenic settlers
  • Sparta - from Greek spartē, a cord or rope made from the shrub spartos, a type of broom

India

The element Pradesh appears in the names of many Indian states. It means "land" or "province" in Sanskrit.

  • Andhra Pradesh: Land of the Andhras. Andhra also denotes "south" in Sanskrit - the equivalent of Australis in Latin.
  • Arunachal Pradesh: In Sanskrit, aruna means "dawn-lit" and achal "mountains"
  • Bihar - from vihara ("Buddhist monastery"). Foreign invaders often used abandoned viharas as military cantonments; the word Bihar may have come from the large number of viharas thus employed in the area that later became Bihar.
  • Chandigarh - "Chandi's fort". No actual fort ever existed; a large Chandi temple "protected" the locals, hence the name. The goddess Chandi is a form of Kali or Parvati.
  • Chhattisgarh - "36 forts". Originally many-towns land of Dasarana (ten cities), which over time changed to Dahala and, after the Muslim conquest as the region atrophied with no connections to the rest of India, reverted to forest and to tribal ways[citation needed]. The name Chhattisgarh preserves the memory of the many cities.
  • Gujarat - Land of the "Gurjars", a "kshatriya" tribe or warrior-class.
  • Haryana - The word "hari" means "green" in Hindi. The Green revolution reached its peak in the mid-1960s at the time of the setting up of this state. People of the area take pride in their bountiful agriculture, and caused the state to receive this name.
  • Himachal Pradesh: In Sanskrit, hima means "snow" and achal "mountains" (referring to the Himalayas). Himanchal, Himachal, Himalaya, Himaratta, Himapradesh are all synonyms.
  • Karnataka: from Karu + Naad = Karnaad, which means "lofty + land". "Karnatik", also spelt "Carnatic", the adjectival form of "Karnaad", means "of Karnaad". The term "Carnatic Music" also shares this etymology. Two other (probably erroneous) proposed etymologies suggest:
    • "Karnaad" as from "Kari + Naad", "kari" in Sanskrit meaning "elephant"; hence: "Land of Elephants";
    • Even more unlikely: "Karnaad" as "Kara + Naad", from "Kaaraa", the Turkic/Mongol/Urdu/Hindi word for "black", hence "Black Land". Champions of this etymology believe it refers to the black cotton soil of central Maharashtra, which however quickly turns red as one moves southward.

These latter two etymologies also share a common flaw in that they combine the Dravidian word "Naad" for "country" with Turkic "Kaaraa" or Sanskrit "Kari".

  • Kerala: from Kera meaning "coconut" in classical Tamil; hence, "Land of coconut trees".
  • Kashmir: possibly derives from "Kashyapa's land". Mer means "mountain" in Sanskrit.
  • Lakshadweep - "Hundred Thousand Islands". In Sanskrit, laksha means "a hundred thousand" and dweep means "island".
  • Madhya Pradesh - "Middle Province"
  • Maharashtra - "Great State". Maha means "great" or "big" (compare Latin and English 'major') and rashtra means "nation" or "state".
  • Manipur - "Jeweled land"
  • Pondicherry: Pudu + cheri from the Tamil words for "new" and "settlement" or "camp"
  • Punjab - Persian for "five rivers"
  • Rajasthan - Raja's land (-sthan) - Land of Kings
  • Tamil Nadu - Tamil country (Nadu in the Tamil language means "country" or "homeland")
  • Uttar Pradesh: in Sanskrit, uttar means "north", pradesh means "province"
  • West Bengal: the word Bengal derives ultimately from Sanskrit Vanga, an area that currently falls largely in Bangladesh. Vanga stood in contradistinction to Rarha and to Varendra, the regions that actually form the present Indian state. Persian, Hindi and Bengali derived Bangâlah, Bangâl and Bânglâ, respectively, from the Sanskrit original. The British anglicised these words into Bengal, and this name came to denote the entire linguistic region. - The term West Bengal originated after the partition of Bengal province in 1905, when the administration set up the two separate provinces of West and East Bengal. The latter, after a period as East Pakistan (1955 - 1971), became the present country of Bangladesh.

Reference: [4]

Indonesia

Iran (Persia)

Italy

  • Campania - from the Latin campania (countryside, plain, battlefield). Compare Champagne in France.
  • Friuli - from the Latin Forum Julii (The market of Julius), which at the beginning referred only to the city of Cividale, founded by Julius Caesar and then extended to the whole region
  • Latium (in modern Italian: Lazio) - land of the early Italic inhabitants known as Latins, in their turn popularly associated with the mythological King Latinus [in turn, "Latins" (in Latin, Latīnī) -- as well as the name of King Latīnus (simply the singular of the same name) -- clearly derived their names from Latium by means of the ethnic suffix -īnus, with the obvious meaning of "inhabitant(s) of Latium", which makes this etymology ridiculously circular, but let that serve as a warning to the reader as to the quality of this and other etymologies on this page]. Ovid hints at perhaps a slightly more sophisticated folk etymology, with a legend of the naming of Latium after Saturn latente deo (as a god in hiding) after he allegedly fled to Italy following his expulsion by Jupiter. - Modern linguists postulate origins in a Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) root *stela- (to spread, extend), expressing the idea of "flat land" (in contrast to the local Sabine high country). But the name may originate from an earlier, non Indo-European one. See the Online Etymological Dictionary.
  • Lombardy - from the Germanic tribe of the Lombards (literally "long-beards" or "long-bearded axe people", or, according to another theory, "long-halberds"), who invaded Italy in the 6th century. Note: After the Lombard invasion, the name "Longobardia" or "Langobardia" applied to the whole of Italy for about two centuries, throughout Europe and also in Arabic (al-Ankubardiya). The name Italia did not return into wide use until the late 8th century
  • Marche - literally. "marches", "borderlands". In the Middle Ages the region lay on the boundaries between imperial lands and the more independent areas of southern Italy. The March of Ancona became the best known of such marches
  • Sardinia - speculatively linked with the Shardana people and/or with Sardis
  • Sicily - island settled by the Sicels

Korea

Mexico

See Mexican state name etymologies

Netherlands

  • Holland (part of the Netherlands; but the term often refers to the country as a whole): Germanic "holt (i.e. wooded) land" (often incorrectly regarded as meaning "hollow [i.e. marsh] land")
  • Batavia (Germanic): "arable land" (derived from the regional name "Betuwe", as opposed to the other regional name "Veluwe" meaning "fallow" or "waste" land)
  • Amsterdam: from Amstelredam, which means "dam over the Amstel" (the river Amstel flows through present-day Amsterdam)
  • Rotterdam: meaning 'dam over the Rotte' (the river Rotte flows through present-day Rotterdam)
  • Alkmaar: from Aelcemaer, meaning 'lake of auks', due to the fact that lakes formerly surrounded the core of Alkmaar -- all of them now drained and thus turned into dry land

New Zealand

See also List of New Zealand place names and their meanings.

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Poland

Portugal

  • Alentejo - meaning "beyond the Tejo (i.e. the Tagus river)"
  • Azores - from Açores (pl.), after the "Açor", a type of bird.
  • Beira - quite literally, the "edge" (during the early faze of Portugal's history, Beira was a borderland)
  • Madeira - "wood"

Romania

See: Etymological list of counties of Romania

  • Bessarabia - from Basarab I, Wallachian king who led some expeditions in this land
  • Bukovina - (in German: "Buchenland") = "beech land"
  • Dobrogea - "good land"
  • Haţeg - "Terra Herzog" = Duke's land
  • Muntenia - from muntean = man of the mountains, from Romanian munte=mountain
  • Oltenia - from the river Olt, called Alutus by the Romans, possibly from Latin lutum, meaning "mud" or "clay".
  • Transylvania - "beyond the woods"
    • Ardeal - "wooden hill" - arde expresses an Indo-European root meaning forest, the same as in English Forest of Arden and Belgian Ardennes Woods; Deal means hill in Romanian.
  • Wallachia - "land of the foreigners".

Russia (including Asian east)

  • Amur River -- Amur comes from the Tungus amor for "great or big river".
  • Grozny or Groznyy -- Russian for "threatening" or "terrible" or "dread" or "severe"
  • Novaya Zemlya-- Russian for "new land"
  • Novgorod -- from Russian roots meaning "new city"
  • Novosibirsk -- roughly means "new Siberian city"
  • Sakhalin -- derived from misinterpretation of a Manchu name "sahaliyan ula angga hada" (peak of the mouth of Amur River). "Sahaliyan" means "black" in Manchu and refers to the Amur River (sahaliyan ula).
  • Siberia -- from a Tatar word meaning "sleeping land"
  • Smolensk -- from the river Smolnya
  • Vladikavkaz -- Russian for "ruler of the Caucasus" or "rule the Caucasus"
  • Vladivostok -- Russian for "ruler of the East" or "rule the East"
  • Volgograd -- Russian for "city of the Volga" or "Volga city"

Spain

  • Andalusia -- from the Arabic name (Al-Andalus, with several suggested etymologies) formerly applied to the whole Iberian Peninsula
  • Asturias -- the land of the Astures, an early people of north-west Spain
  • Catalonia — from the castlà ("castellan") class who governed the nascent feudal Catalonia from their castles in the 11th and 12th centuries. (Compare the etymology of "Castile".)
  • León -- the ancient kingdom and subsequent province of León take their name from the city of León, whose name derives from its position as the base of a Roman legion (Latin legio)

Switzerland

Taiwan

See Republic of China (Taiwan)

Ukraine

Most of Ukraine's oblasts take their names from their principal city; but Volyn Oblast, Zakarpattia Oblast, and the Crimean Autonomous Republic provide exceptions to this rule. See also subdivisions of Ukraine.

United Kingdom and dependencies

See also British toponymy, List of generic forms in British place names, Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom)

  • England - from Engla-lond, the land settled in the early 6th century by various peoples from Low Germany, among them the Angles (Latin Anglii) who originally inhabited the fish-hook shaped territory known as Angeln situated in present-day Schleswig. See Anglo-Saxons.
  • Gibraltar - from Arabic "jabal Tāriq" -> "Tarik's rock" because the Arab general Tarik-ibn-Ziyad started his conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from here in 711.
  • Northern Ireland - from Old Irish Eriu. Precise meaning uncertain, though it could derive from the name of a prehistoric fertility goddess.
  • Scotland Literally 'land of the Scots'. The Scottish people, originally from Ireland, settled parts of western Scotland in the 5th century, although the name "Scotland" did not come into use until after the 9th Century. Alba, the Gaelic name for Scotland means 'highlands': compare the Latin albus - 'white' (describing the mountains). Caledonia, the Latin name, means forested highlands
  • Wales - "land of the foreigners", from the Germanic 'wealas' the term used by Anglo-Saxon invaders of the British Isles for the native Celts they encountered. The Welsh native toponym "Cymru" means "fellow countrymen". Ancient Germanic tribes named several areas in Europe in a similar way, using their term for places inhabited by peoples of Celtic or Latin descent, including "Wallonia" in Belgium, Wallachia in Romania, "welsche Schweiz" (French-speaking Switzerland) and the archaic "Welschenland" (a term for Italy).

United States

See:

See also

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