Pays de Galles

From the encyclopedia:

"The name Wales has been given to this country not by its inhabitants but by the Teutonic occupiers of England, and means "the territory of the alien race". "Welsh" (German Wälsch) implies a people of either Latin or Celtic origin living in a land near or adjoining that of the Teutons; thus Wälschland is an obsolescent, poetical German term for Italy."

The origin of "Walsch", which was applied to all the Celtic and Latin peoples the Germans came in contact with, was sort of a contemptuous word, somewhat similar to the way the Greeks and the Romans called all not Latin or Greco peoples "Barbarians".

So, Welsh, is merely an extension of this term, the same way Walloon is.

That being said, I prefer the French/Spanish/Italian names for Wales, as they literally translate, "Country of the Gauls". The Latin word for Celt which was often used was "Galli", hence the name for Wales in Latin languages. "Country of the Gauls" could also be translated as, "Country of the Celts".

This name is more appropriate, as the country is home to the native Celtic culture and people, whereas the name "Wales", is just a derogatory term assigned to the land by the Germanic peoples who invaded Britain.

Brennus : pourquoi avoir supprimé 2 de mes messages écrits en allemand ? Merci pour ta réponse.

"The name may have originally come from the Uolcae / Volcae (Tectosages), a Gallic tribe which lived in what is now south-central France. They were closely related to the Galatian Tectosages who invaded Asia Minor in 276 B.C. and who later, probably disappeared into the Anatolian Greek and Turkish populations. "

I don't think it has anything to do with that. More than likely it has to do with the German term "Wealhas".

So, I like the neo-Latin names better, such as "Pays de Galles".

As we say in Norway:
Kjärt barn har mange navn = A much-loved child has many names.

Cymru, Cambria....

Greg — je constate qu'on supprime souvent les messages en allemand. C'est interessant ...

Yeah, but the "Cymru" name is lame too, as it was merely the name given to the native Britons by themselves in a desperate situation in times of anarchy. They were abandoned by the Roman legions, and left to haplessly defend their land against savage Anglo-Saxons and Picts and Scotti, with attacks coming from all signs. Cymru just means, "fellow-countrymen", which makes no sense for a name.

It's about as stupid as Spanish/Mexican towns that are named, "Pueblo".

That's like calling a town, "Town". What town do you live in? "Oh, I live in Town."

Brennus,

Just to know, many people write in this forum in Romance languages, or even in Dutch. Is there any special treatment for writing in German?

You seem to erase the posts which seem to be "out of place", well I don't think you are erasing ALL the posts which under this criteria deserve to be erased, like a lot of spam or replies to some postings about economy, ethnicity, even you answer them!!!!. Again, just to know, is there any special reason?

Thank you for your prompte response Brennus!!

OK, I understand your first point. But a little bit of sarchasm should not be taken as a trollish remark, should it? if so, dumb or stubborn questions should be also be removed. It is my opinion.

As for the postings in German or other languages, isn't this forum to be flexible in this regard?

LAA wrote:
"Cymru just means, "fellow-countrymen", which makes no sense for a name."
Why not? After all, Deutsch = theodisc = tjoð = people, nation.

And a lot of country names are rather strange if you take a closer look:
And Norway = Nordvegr = the way northwards.
Russia = Rus = people from the Roslagen district in Sweden.

I never knew that about Norway. That's very interesting, and yet so obvious. I can't believe I never caught that.

And I think Deutschland is a lame name for a country as well. It makes no sense whatsoever, because to me, the purpose of giving a country a name is so that one can distinguish it from other nations or peoples.

So if the name of your country just means, "countrymen", or people, or nation, than how does that distinguish you and your country from all the other peoples of the earth?

I don't mean to offend the Germans by my assertion either.

LAA:
I see your point, the idea is a bit lame, but it works in practice, as most languages have highly dissimilar words for "fellow countrymen"! :-)