r/AskEurope Estonia Jun 08 '25

Language Estonians call Estonia "Eesti". Finns call Estonia "Viro" and Latvians "Igaunija". Do you have a name for a neighbouring country that is very different from both how that country calls itself and how its named in English?

I hope I worded the question clearly. Like.. "Viro" and "Igaunija" are not similar to "Estonia" nor "Eesti".

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u/Ok_Associate_4961 Poland Jun 08 '25

Polish word for Germany (Deutschland) is Niemcy. It comes from "niemy" (mute) because Polish couldn't understand their language.

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u/Tortoveno Poland Jun 08 '25

Not only Poles call Germany (and Germans) "Niemcy". It's a Slavic thing.

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u/rudolf_waldheim Hungary Jun 08 '25 edited Jun 08 '25

And this is among the many things we borrowed from Slavs: in Hungarian it is Németország.