REAL MAP OF EUROPE.

September 4, 2003 by 13 Comments

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.

Comments

  1. T. Carter says
    September 4, 2003 at 4:28 pm

    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

  2. language hat says
    September 4, 2003 at 4:58 pm

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

  3. Andrew says
    September 4, 2003 at 8:27 pm

    I like this one a little better:
    http://europa.eu.int/abc/maps/images/europe.gif

  4. Jonathan Crowe (The Map Room) says
    September 4, 2003 at 9:04 pm

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

  5. Johanka says
    September 5, 2003 at 7:57 am

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

  6. language hat says
    September 5, 2003 at 8:28 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.”

  7. language hat says
    September 5, 2003 at 3:23 pm

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

  8. C. Bloggerfeller says
    September 6, 2003 at 2:42 pm

    Shouldn’t “Maygar” be “Magyarorszag” too? (Excuse the lack of accents)

  9. language hat says
    September 6, 2003 at 7:06 pm

    Yes it should. Damn those lazy swine.

  10. John Hardy says
    September 8, 2003 at 8:34 pm

    Nice although not quite as accurate as this one.

  11. language hat says
    September 8, 2003 at 9:14 pm

    Ha!

  12. Anton Sherwood says
    November 26, 2005 at 2:14 am

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

  13. Sebastià says
    April 25, 2006 at 1:34 pm

    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.

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