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SHOCKING Origin of Every European Country Name | American Reacts

Europe Hits Different

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We’re back with another RobWords deep dive and this one might be my favorite yet.

Today we’re looking at the origin of every European country’s name — and wow, I had no idea how much meaning and history is packed into these names. Some are named after the people, others after the land, or even what explorers found there. Some of them totally make sense once you hear the explanation... and others had me completely stumped.

If you’re into language, geography, or just love learning fun facts about Europe — this one’s for you. Let’s go!

Video Credit - The origin of every European country's name

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20 Comments

@Ιωαννα_05 9 months ago

Greeks don’t call their country Greece though. It’s Hellas (Ελλάδα)

@gerbenvanessen 9 months ago

yes you are way off, the Netherlands ( Nederland) has been nederland for a very long time, the provinces of North and South Holland is where many of the sailors came from. and you ask a sailor where he is from he might say "Holland" for a very long time in history. but it has never been the name of the entire country.

@AudriusN 9 months ago

Georgia calls themselves Sakartvelo

@piesekmanu202 9 months ago (edited)

Poland is not called after poles but from Polish word "pole" which means "field"

@Crnobijelizeka 9 months ago

Correction, Serbs don't call themselves "Srba", they call themselves "Srbi".

@anttikettunen1553 9 months ago

Sweden comes from Sverige which derives from Svea rike meaning The Kingdom of the Svea people.

@Etswe 6 months ago

The Swedish name of Sweden is Sverige. That´s a modern version of "Svea Rike" meaning "Kingdom of Svear"

@neverno4489 9 months ago

The Belgae tribe is mentioned by Julius Caesar in his book "De Bello Gallico" (On the Gallic War) about the conquest of Gaul.
"All of Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which is inhabited by the Belgae..."
"The Belgae are the bravest of all these peoples..."

@bcool9272 9 months ago

Portugal comes from Portu that means Port and Cale which was the name of the place that now is Gaia, port of cale

@NightLia 9 months ago (edited)

Italia/Italy has been called like that since the Roman Empire.
The name Italy derives from the Oscan word Víteliú ("land of young calves" or "land of bulls"), related to the Latin vitulus (calf). Since this animal was a symbol of wealth and fertility for the Italian people, the name was also used by the Greeks. Another hypothesis, popularized by ancient Greeks such as Antiochus of Syracuse, links the name to the legendary King Italus, ruler of the Oenotrians, who gave his name to the region. The term gradually expanded from this area to the entire peninsula during the Roman era.
A pivotal moment occurred when Emperor Augustus, in 27 BC, decided to administratively reorganize the peninsula by dividing it into 11 regions. From that moment, "Italy" officially became the name for the entire territory stretching from the Alps to Sicily.

@eteAstro 9 months ago (edited)

People often wonder why Hungary has so many different names around the world. Here’s a quick breakdown of how this naming mix-up happened:
The explanation: The name Hungary is an exonym that traces back to the 'Onogur' people. About 1,200 years ago, foreigners mistakenly identified us with this neighboring tribal alliance. The letter H was added later due to a historical error, as medieval chroniclers incorrectly linked us to the Huns.
The German name, Ungarn, also stems from the same 'Onogur' root, but it stayed closer to the original Latin form (Ungari) without the added 'H'.
In contrast, the name Magyarország is our native name for the country; it derives from our leading tribe, the Megyer, who were among the seven tribes that settled the Carpathian Basin.

@machteldvdb1185 9 months ago

3:14 No, it has always been the Netherlands. Holland is a province in the Netherlands known for its wooden clogs and cheese.

@kageshira 9 months ago

For Spain there's actually another hypothesis, Land of the Metals from the Phoenician Spn (Sapan is rabbit in the same language), land of- would be the prefix I- so in both cases I-spn and I-sapan which turns into Hispania later on.

@bineks 6 months ago

Danmark:
Daner: The name of the tribe that inhabited the area.
Mark: In ancient times, it meant a border area, border forest or a peripheral area.

@GustafSparve 5 months ago

1:45 That’s not really true because in Swedish it’s called “Tyskland” which I think is the closest to “Deuschland” because “Tyskland” roughly translates to “land of the Germans”. Also the word “Tysk” in “Tyskland” is actually quite closely related to the word “Deusch” in “Deuschland”.

@omega-l9j 9 months ago

The name Slovene / Slavic comes from the Proto-Slavic slovo (“word, speech”) and meant people who speak and understand each other. In no Slavic language does this name imply “slave.” This misconception followed certain myths and arose from attempts to oversimplify history, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries.

This follows the same naming logic found in the Slavic word Nemec (German), derived from němъ (“mute, unable to speak [our language]”), meaning those whose speech was not understood. The idea that Slavic names imply slavery is therefore a linguistic error, not a Slavic self-definition.

@Jeni10 9 months ago

The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces: Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, North Brabant, North Holland, Overijssel, South Holland, Utrecht, and Zeeland.
Holland was possibly the easiest to pronounce and more frequent.y understood, so it was mistakenly used to describe the whole country. This was corrected in recent years by the Dutch themselves, “Holland is a province, not the whole country.”

@parodic6572 9 months ago (edited)

Contries names in other languages are a thing I find fascinating.
I recommend you search the internet for the names of countries in Vietnamese, it's quite fun.

Like France is named "Phap"

@melocoton7 6 months ago

I'm disappointed he did not mention Helvetia when referring to Switzerland. Because we are Confoederatio Helvetica which is where our land acronym CH comes from. It's not as simple as Schwyz and done

@PhilipHyttemads 9 months ago

well... the obligatory danish person here running to a video where denmark is mentioned :D Before a place called denmark existed, the land comprised of many different tribes. ive been told by historians and ive read (many years ago) that there was a tribe in the northen jutland called "dannerne" or in english "the danes" and it was this tribe or decendents of the tribe that played a role in naming the country.

The word "-mark" means field today, and might have had a meaning like "open area" or just area at the time.

so the word Denmark or in Danish "Danmark" could come from a describtion of "Dannernes mark" (The field/area of the Danes) and then in time be shortened to Danmark (remember, when the name first came to, it was´nt all of modern Denmark but maybe only a small area where a local chieften or petty king was asserting his claim.

Loove your vids BTW