Germanic placenames
Many region names (and some place names) in Europe derive from the original Germanic word for stranger or foreigner, rendered as "wal" or "gal" (and variations). Germanic
w became
gu when borrowed into Old French. (Contrast
guardian,
guerre and
Guiliam with the Anglo-Saxon forms
warden,
war and
William).
"Gal/Wal" especially came to mean "strangers at the edge of (our) region". Examples of place/region names possibly deriving this way include:-
*
Wales*
Wallonia (Belgium)
*
Galway (Ireland)
*
Galloway (Scotland)
*
Wallachia (Romania)
*
Cornwall (England)
*
Wallis (Valais) (Swiss Canton)
*
Walsall (England)
Some non-Germanic languages adopted this Germanic root. The Scottish Gaelic term for the
Outer Hebrides is
Innse-Gall.
