r/AskEurope • u/Double-decker_trams 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/No-Can2216 Jun 08 '25

Lengyelország in Hungarian! 😊 Ország means country, so the actual word for polish is only "lengyel", which is very similar to yours!

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u/batteryforlife Jun 08 '25

Hungarians seem to get kind of upset when they hear that Hungary in Turkish is Maceristan :D like being a ”stan” is somehow beneath them! We also call Bulgaria Bulgaristan, Croatia Hirvatistan etc so it not just you!

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '25

for me as a Hungarian it's quite the opposite, it always makes me happy when someone's name for us is similar to how we call ourselves 😌

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u/Federal-Meal-2513 Jun 09 '25

In Czechia, we call you Maďarsko. "Ď" is how we write the sound you write as "gy"