Does France deserve its name?
>The Mexica had inhabited this land for as long as recorded history could count.
This is not true. They lasted much lesser than other pre-hispanic cultures, and there are registers which are not longer than 4 centuries. Compare it with the Muslims in Spain (8 centuries)... don't believe evertything you read in the "Aztec" book. It's just a novel. A beautiful one by the way.
>So, yes, they were native to that land.
Again, in the punctual moment the name of "Mexico" was chosen, yes. But this name is still as arbitrary as France.
the above post was mine. I forgot to sign it again.
Just call it Gallia. It fits with Italia, Hispania, Britannia, Belgica, Germania. Why have these latter territories retained their names in one way or another?
Why does Germany go by these names: Romance Nations (Allemagne, Alemanha, Alemania, Germania); Germanic Nations (Tyskland, Duitsland, Deutschland); and other nations (Saksa, Németország, Niemcy, etc.)
France is called these in other nations: Frankrig, Frankrijk, Frankrike, Frankreich, França, Francia, Francja, Francia, Franciaország, Ranska, and other names by hundreds of other nations.
Almost every nation spells Portugal, Portugal except for a few; Hungarian: Portugália, Italian: Portogallo, Polish: Portugalia.
The point is, no matter what France calls/names itself. There will be other nations who will have their own name for other nations.
" Frankrig, Frankrijk, Frankrike, Frankreich "
What bother me in the name of france in those languages is that it is the meaning of "frankish kingdom". "France" and "frankish kingdom" are two completly different entities. France was born after the division of the Frankish empire - It was just born from a part of it, and it took its own way very distinct to frankish things.
I think it is very confusing to use these words, and inaccurate for at least two reasons: because France is not a Frank country and because France is not a kingdom but a republic.
France — Francie — empire franc / royaume des Francs
Frankreich — Frankien (?) — Frankenreich
Frankrijk — Francië — Frankenrijk
Francie occidentale — Francie orientale
Westfrankien — Ostfrankien
West-Francië — Oost-Francië
Français — Francien — Franc
Franzose — Frankiener (?) — Franker (?)
Franse / Fransman — Francien (?) — Frank
Interesting discussion. In the French atlas there's a country called Pays des Galles, inhabitants, Les Gallois . It's known to the English speaking world as Wales, home of the Welsh.
Frankrijk? Natuurlijk! it was a kingdom till recently (1870)
I'm not too sure how many Angles still live in Angleterre, though I used to watch Anglia tv as a kid.
I'm also not too sure how Amerigo Vespucci got his name on two entire continents (he never went there) Then again, the Bretons in France confusingly call their place Bretagne, (Britain) Cornouaille (Cornwall) and..... Armorica.
<<I'm also not too sure how Amerigo Vespucci got his name on two entire continents (he never went there) >>
That would be the wonder of SHAMELESS PUBLICITY. Today, he would be working in marketing!
Brittany and Britain, Armorica and America, and the two Galicias (one in Spain and one in Poland, I believe) always threw me off as a kid.
Re: Brittany and Britain, Armorica and America, and the two Galicias (one in Spain and one in Poland, I believe) always threw me off as a kid.
Yes, indeed. Brit- and Gal- are both common elements in Celtic names. There was even a Celtic tribe called the "Britogalli" in ancient Transylvania and Moldavia (Northern Romania and Moldova). Armorica means "At /On the sea" in Old Celtic: (Ar = On /At cf. Greek para, English far; - mor = sea cf. Latin maris, Geman Meer, Russian morye)but has no connection with the Italian name Amerigo from which "America" is derived.
<<I'm also not too sure how Amerigo Vespucci got his name on two entire continents (he never went there) >>
Amerigo explored the "New World" with the Spaniards around 1499 and with the Portuguese in 1501 but the name "America" for the "new" continent was applied by Martin Waldseemuller in 1507.
French name comes from '"French fries''
or simply ''Fries''.
Yummie.
<<The other way, a lot of people in latin America are considered latin Americans but speak primarally indigenous languages (more
than half of the population of countries such as Bolivia or Guatemala - should those countries excluded from latin America ?>>
It would be too late to make distinctions or exclusions with those countries. They were under the dominion of an European country who speaks a Latin-based language no matter what language they speak today. I think the term Latin American has taken a different meaning and it is interpreted mainly as the countries from Mexico to the south who speak a Latin-based language. I feel that the American natives are not seen as Latin Americans in the strict sense of the term. When one refers to an indigenous generally the aclaration is made since Latin American indigenous sounds a bit contradictory. It would be like to call to Canada/US indigenous as Anglo-Saxon indigenous.
Correction: "aclaration" = clarification
Correction: "Latin" = I am very gay, homeless and have no friends.
Yes, the Franks were a distinct minority in Gaul (outnumbered ten to one by the Gallo-Roman natives), who in time deserted their Germanic language for the Vulgar Latin dialect that became modern French. But the local populace in time came to see the Frankish kings as their kings, and more importantly, they ceased to see themselves as Romans or Roman provincials, and came to also think of themselves as Franks. This is a marked contrast with the Goths in Italy, who kept themselves segregated from the local Italian-Roman population (even continuing the Roman laws forbidding intermarriage with barbarians), and so never saw the Goths as any thing more than Barbarians and invaders. While the Franks, as with the Goths, originally had seperate law codes governing themselves from that of the Romanized population, even this in time broke down when the Franks in Gaul, the Rhineland, and the Low Countries mixed with the locals. While there was a Gaul inhabited with mainly politically divided Celtic tribes, followed by the Romanized province of Gallia (from which the French language has emerged), the nation of France only trully emerged with the rule of the Franks.
