and Ireland, Scotland
2006-08-23 19:32:35 · 5 answers · asked by COCHIeRENATO 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
England is, as the others have said a derivative of Angleland (or Aenglonde or one of dozens of different spellings!!), which came from one of the Germanic groups whom settled in England from the 6th to the 10th centuries. English counties like East-Anglia also attest to this settlement whilst Essex and Sussex show that other germanic tribes such as the saxons were also settling nearby (East-Saxon and South-Saxon).
As for Scotland; again this is indicative of people moving from one place to another and taking their name with them; in this case settlers from what is now Ireland, known as the Scotii moved to the west coast of what is now Scotland in the late first millenium.
Wales is different however, it is a derrivative of the Angle/ Saxon word for foreigner, which is odd as the welsh were already there when the germans arrived!! The county of Cornwall is also derrived from this, the tribe who liverd there being the Cornovii were caled Cornovian-wales.... cornwall.
Ireland is a anglacised veresion of Eire, which is a reworking of Eriu, a mythical goddess who first helped the ancient Irish conquer the island.
Hope this was helpful
2006-08-23 22:03:50 · answer #1 · answered by jademonkey 5 · 5⤊ 1⤋
England is the land of the Angles - the Angles were invaders from modern day Germany. Our neighbouring island is called Eire in the indigineous Gaelic language and Ireland is simply an anglicisation. I can't tell you what exactly Eire means but I'm sure a Scot on this site will help you with Scotland.
2006-08-24 02:35:23 · answer #2 · answered by Dunrobin 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I was told that Engel was the first "German" who set foot on the island, therefore it was named after him, "the land of Engel" = England.
Ireland is almost the same: the Gaelic "Eire" which reads Ire + land.
As far as Scotland is concerned, it's the land of the native habitants, the Scots = Scotland.
2006-08-24 03:19:37 · answer #3 · answered by ngiapapa 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
England was settled by the Angles from Germany. People decided Angleland sounded funny or they didn't like it for some reason so they came up with an alternative name "England".
2006-08-24 02:41:40 · answer #4 · answered by homosceptic 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There is a whole section of David Crystal's "The Stories of English" devoted to this topic.
2006-08-24 10:00:46 · answer #5 · answered by Taivo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋