Exonym and endonym
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".
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 (München),
Cologne (Köln),
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).
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 German toponyms| Exonym | Endonym | | Algeria | Dzayer |
| Armenia | Hayastan (Հայաստան - "the land of Haik"); see Armenia - Origin of the name |
| Aztec Empire | 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 (საქართვ"ლო); see Georgia (country) - Origin of the name |
| Germany | Deutschland; see Names for Germany |
| Greece | Elás (Ελλάς) or Eládha (Ελλάδα) |
| Hungary | Magyarország |
| Inca Empire | 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 / "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 "ора ("black mountain" in Serbian; see History of Montenegro - Etymology) |
| Morocco | al-Maghrib (المغرب)("The West" in Arabic; see also Maghrib and Maghreb) |
| Poland | Polska |
| Philippines | Pilipinos (in Tagalog) |
| 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), Svizzera (Italian), and Svizra (Romansh), represent the endonym in the four official languages of Switzerland |
| Syria | Suria (سوريا) |
| Thailand | ประเทศไทย |
| Tibet | བོད་ (Böd) |
| Turkey | Türkiye |
| Wales | Cymru |
| Exonym | Endonym | | 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 |
*
-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*
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.
