Comment on I felt so betrayed when I found out Germany isn't called Germany in Germany
FishFace@piefed.social 1 day agoThe first time the inhabitants of what is now Germany and what is now Hungary met, there were no nations at all. People have been communicating and trading with those from far-off lands for longer than the concept of nation even existed, which is a major contributor to why these names are so different.
Dicska@lemmy.world 1 day ago
True, my bad for a poor word choice. I guess ‘people’ would have been more appropriate. But I guess the rest holds.
FishFace@piefed.social 1 day ago
Yeah true, then it works.
Endonyms often turn out to derive from “people” in some language or other, but exonyms could come from anything like “the people on the other side of the hill/river/swamp” or “the rich people” or “the people who herd sheep” or “the people who really like goat’s milk”. There’s an inherent asymmetry between naming the one group of “us” and all the groups of people who are not “us”!