September 04, 2003

REAL MAP OF EUROPE.

Nancy Gandhi has sent me a link to this map of Europe using local names, a brilliant idea; I wish it were a little larger so the smaller countries were more visible, and it would be nice if they used diacritics, and why is Georgia (Sakartvelo = land of the Kartvels) part of Europe but not Armenia (Hayastan) and Azerbaijan?—but never mind, it's lots of fun. Thanks, Nancy!

Addendum. T. Carter in the comments has provided a link to an ambitious site that tries to provide every possible alternative name for European places. I love this sort of thing (Romanian Cluj = German Klausenburg = Hungarian Kolozsvár, Swiss-German Chur = French Coire = Rumansch Cuira) and have already bookmarked it for future reference.

Posted by languagehat at September 4, 2003 01:58 PM
Comments

In a similar vein, Jacek Wesołowski, et al., have put together a list of European place names in various languages and scripts (repleate with diacritical marks) ... http://www.p.lodz.pl/I35/personal/jw37/EUROPE/europe.html

Posted by: T. Carter at September 4, 2003 04:28 PM

Wow, that's great! Here's the direct link. Many thanks.

Posted by: language hat at September 4, 2003 04:58 PM

I like this one a little better:

http://europa.eu.int/abc/maps/images/europe.gif

Posted by: Andrew at September 4, 2003 08:27 PM

While we're at it, why only one name given for bi- or multilingual countries? (And "Helvetica"?)

Posted by: Jonathan Crowe (The Map Room) at September 4, 2003 09:04 PM

The name of the Czech Republic is incomplete there, only Ceska, it should be Ceska republika. With diacritics.

Posted by: Johanka at September 5, 2003 07:57 AM

Johanka: There are separate entries for Česká republika and Česko (not to mention Československo). Incidentally, it's strange and annoying that English has no short-form name (like *Czechia) but can only say "Czech Republic."

Posted by: language hat at September 5, 2003 08:28 AM

Johanka: Sorry, I just realized you were talking about the map, not the site Carter linked. You're quite right.

Posted by: language hat at September 5, 2003 03:23 PM

Shouldn't "Maygar" be "Magyarorszag" too? (Excuse the lack of accents)

Posted by: C. Bloggerfeller at September 6, 2003 02:42 PM

Yes it should. Damn those lazy swine.

Posted by: language hat at September 6, 2003 07:06 PM

Nice although not quite as accurate as this one.

Posted by: John Hardy at September 8, 2003 08:34 PM

Ha!

Posted by: language hat at September 8, 2003 09:14 PM

The map cited by Andrew at europa.eu.int spells B*lgaria with an accented /a/ rather than /u/. I wonder why.

Posted by: Anton Sherwood at November 26, 2005 02:14 AM

Where is my country, Catalonia, in this map? I think it's time to have actual maps and not the old ones of the old fashion colonial states.

Posted by: Sebastiŕ at April 25, 2006 01:34 PM