that's not my fucking name!

[rone]

alfvaen mentioned Czechia and commented:

I don't even know the origin of the spelling "Czech", since Czech itself doesn't seem to spell it that way--it looks more Polish, perhaps.

Of course, the Czechs call it "Česká Republika", but calling them "Ceska" (say Cheska) seems to be out of the question.  Same for India, which the locals call Bharat.  And where did Japan come from, when they call themselves Nippon?  How did Cymru turn into Wales?  These are the things that make my brain itch.

Comments

[rwx.livejournal.com]

as for the rest of your question, iirc, it's all a bunch of traders... Greek traders started calling the area some form of india (around the Indus river), and Japan was (iirc) from portuguese traders corrupting a chinese word for japan. Wälsch or other things that sound like 'Welsh' means 'gaelic' in german dialects. Dunno of that's related to Walloon or now.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

The cite I posted says yes re: Walloon. The compiler's creds look pretty good so I'd guess he's probably right, plus my faint memory of Bright's and attempting to read Beowulf tell me it looks like an Old English word.

OK, how did

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

that colon get permanently affixed to the perfectly good English word "re"? It's not an abbreviation, people. It's a simple Latin borrowing.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I thought it was short for "regarding".

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Apparently, from Portuguese and possibly Dutch mistransliteration of Chinese names for Japan. (http://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/facts.shtml)