Exonym and Endonym - Types of Exonyms

Types of Exonyms

Exonyms may derive from different roots (as in the case of Germany for Deutschland), they may be cognate words which have diverged in pronunciation or orthography, or they may be fully or partially translated from the native language. For example, London is known by the cognate exonyms Londres in Catalan, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tagalog, Londino (Λονδίνο) in Greek, Londen in Dutch, Londra in Italian, Maltese, Romanian and Turkish, Londer in Albanian, Londýn in Czech and Slovak, Londyn in Polish, Lundúnir in Icelandic, Lontoo in Finnish, Lun Dun in Mandarin and Luân Đôn in Vietnamese. An example of a translated exonym is the name Soviet Union.

Exonyms can also be divided into native and borrowed (i.e. from a third language). For example, Slovene uses the native exonyms Dunaj (Vienna) and Benetke (Venice), and the borrowed exonyms Kijev (Kiev) and Vilna (Vilnius), from Russian and Polish, respectively. A substantial proportion of English exonyms for places in continental Europe are borrowed (or adapted) from French, for example: Navarre (Navarra/Nafarroa), Belgrade (Beograd), Cologne (Köln), Munich (München), Prague (Praha), Turin (Torino), Copenhagen (København) etc.

Read more about this topic:  Exonym And Endonym

Famous quotes containing the words types of and/or types:

    ... there are two types of happiness and I have chosen that of the murderers. For I am happy. There was a time when I thought I had reached the limit of distress. Beyond that limit, there is a sterile and magnificent happiness.
    Albert Camus (1913–1960)

    He’s one of those know-it-all types that, if you flatter the wig off him, he chatter like a goony bird at mating time.
    —Michael Blankfort. Lewis Milestone. Johnson (Reginald Gardner)