I noticed that a lot of countries and places end the "ia" like somalia, bolivia, romania, and the like. Does anyone know what "ia" means?
2007-03-12 01:00:25 · 12 answers · asked by mad hatter 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
It's the way country names are formed from people name in Latin (and in latin origin languages, as Italian).
In English form, suffix -ia usually becomes -y (es. lat./it. GERMANIA becomes Germany).
It is not a theme as English -land, but it is a suffix only
Eg lat. Italia = land of "Itali" (a tribe that unhabited a zone of today Italy)
Eg. Romania = land of Romani (Romans)
eg . Francia = land of Franci (teutonic tribe that founded Kingdom of France)
Some relatively new countries have its own names formed according the same pattern:
Bolivia from Simon Bolivar
2007-03-12 03:30:46 · answer #1 · answered by ? 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is derived from an ancient practice begun in Syria, where Syria means "Land of the Lord." Syr or Sir means God, Lord, Father, or Master. Sinaa also means "Land of the Sin (Moon God)" and so on. I found these answers in a book called God's Untold Story, a great book
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Untold-Story-Misunderstood-ebook/dp/B00DAFY4R2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380490703&sr=8-2&keywords=God%27s+Untold+Story
2013-09-29 10:50:12 · answer #2 · answered by Hercules The Great 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just that these were established by the same types of people. Like all the countries that end in "stan" are Muslim countries -Paskistan, Afghanistan, Turkistan. Maybe as those lands were taken over, those people kept going and taking more land and naming them with similar names.
2007-03-12 01:11:16 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Most likely Greek rather than Sumerian and stemming from gaea=earth=land, a Mythological Goddess.
2007-03-12 01:57:13 · answer #4 · answered by emiliosailez 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
... and Austria, Australia, India, Russia, Zambia, Scandinavia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Arabia, Algeria, Luthuania, Mongolia, Colombia.
.
2007-03-12 02:04:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
i have 2 answers. my first thought is, ia means 'here'referring to the place.it is gotten from the sound. My second idea, ia is from area,like niger area is called nigeria,shortened through constant pronounciation.
2007-03-12 01:11:46 · answer #6 · answered by ajoke77 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"IA" means "land" in ancient Sumerian, which is the root of most modern languages. Thus, "Bolivia" means "Land of (Simon) Bolivar," for whom Bolivia is named.
2007-03-12 01:36:38 · answer #7 · answered by Timothy S 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
"ia" is a feminine termination and a country is a "she".
2007-03-13 06:34:24 · answer #8 · answered by manu 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
its from Greek or Latin, it is a suffix that means state of.
2007-03-12 01:10:37 · answer #9 · answered by ligoneskiing 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
possibly something to do with Latin
2007-03-12 01:04:36 · answer #10 · answered by pH neutralizer 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋