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Country Name Etymologies #1

We describe the origin of the country name. You guess the country.
Answer must correspond to yellow box
Quiz by Quizmaster
Rate:
Featured Quiz
Last updated: June 15, 2019
More quiz info >>
First submittedJune 17, 2013
Times taken53,360
Rating4.96
Quiz and answer stats >>
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Hint
Country
"Land of the Franks"
France
"White Russia"
Belarus
"The Savior" in Spanish
El Salvador
Named after Christopher Columbus
Colombia
Describes its position at the south
of a continent
South Africa
Named after Simón Bolívar
Bolivia
"Land of the Aryans"
Iran
"Rich Coast" in Spanish
Costa Rica
Based on Marco Polo's rendering
of "Sun Origin"
Japan
"Black Mountain" in Italian
Montenegro
"Low lands"
Netherlands
Hint
Country
Taken from the Latin for "Southern"
Australia
From the Latin word for "Free"
Liberia
Incorrectly called "Land of the Moors"
Mauritania
From the Greek for "small islands"
Fed. States of
Micronesia
Named after a province in the Netherlands
New Zealand
"Land of the Indus River"
India
Named after the Biblical figure Jacob
Israel
Named after King Philip II of Spain
Philippines
Means "Lion City"
Singapore
Combines Tanganyika and Zanzibar
Tanzania
Italian for "Little Venice"
Venezuela
dwo
+4
Level 88
Jun 18, 2013
I kept trying to put in Central African Republic instead of South Africa. Perhaps it needs to accept both.
Quizmaster
+6
Level ∞
Jun 18, 2013
Changed the clue to rule out CAR. Thanks.
dwo
+1
Level 88
Jul 24, 2013
five stars
Nick16
+1
Level 50
Sep 29, 2017
it says south of the continent
Maladroit
+12
Level 54
Sep 29, 2017
Didn't when dwo wrote his comment. That's why QM changed it.
Sifhraven
+4
Level 67
Sep 25, 2019
It says "changed the clue"
quizzicalguy
+1
Level 57
Jul 24, 2013
Fun quiz.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Jul 24, 2013
neat idea for a quiz but I think there are a lot of countries with more interesting etymologies you could have included. Maybe in the next one...
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Nov 18, 2015
I must have forgotten I had taken this quiz when I did another one on the same subject. here

Doubled up on many of the same answers but included a few others missing from this one.

bocoker
+1
Level 74
Sep 25, 2019
Likewise here: https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/108179/country-name-etymology-2
bluesdjben
+1
Level 73
Jul 24, 2013
Cool quiz idea. Could have used another minute to think of the last few.
nettybet
+1
Level 72
Jul 24, 2013
Good quiz
lolrobbielol
+4
Level 55
Jul 24, 2013
Definitely needs more time, but great quiz. For "The Land Of The Aryans" I was trying just about every Nordic/northern European country, going on the lines of the Nazi 'Aryan Race' ideology... was a liiittle far off
Algernon
+1
Level 70
Sep 4, 2016
You and me both!
Skymatone
+1
Level 55
Jul 24, 2013
Excellent quiz! Needs more time, Very interesting though.
thegrasswren
+1
Level 28
Jan 23, 2014
Great quiz. Please make another three!!!! :)
joeythelemur
+1
Level 84
Jun 3, 2014
wow, did shockingly bad. Will have to come back and try again sometime!
ander217
+1
Level 78
Jul 24, 2015
Great quiz. I missed six, and when I saw the answers for five of those it seemed so obvious I wanted to smack myself. I would have never gotten Singapore, though.
rocamorar
+1
Level 73
Nov 18, 2015
Doesn't the clue for Australia work for Austria too?
plattitude
+6
Level 89
Nov 18, 2015
Nope. Similar as they are in English, Austria comes from the German Österreich, which means Eastern reach or realm.
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Mar 22, 2020
We should call Australia Sudria or Sutria ;)
haggy999
+2
Level 57
Nov 18, 2015
Zealand is a province of Denmark, not the Netherlands.
erikj
+4
Level 57
Nov 18, 2015
We also have a Zeeland, which made New Zealand new :)
Arp2600
+1
Level 82
Nov 22, 2015
It's named like that because it was discovered by the dutch explorer Tasman, in 1642.
kiwiquizzer
+1
Level 65
Mar 9, 2017
Abel Tasman, my children are directly descended from him.
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Jan 14, 2019
no it is a province of the netherlands AND it is where newzealand gets its name from. And isnt the zealand in denmark a region, not a province
Quizzer6794
+1
Level 65
Nov 18, 2015
Singapore is also misnomered "Lion City" (skip to 1:18)
DrakiGuy
+1
Level 51
Mar 22, 2020
The video you cited literally says Singapore means "Lion city".
MikeinOregon
+1
Level 44
Nov 19, 2015
I wrote Micronesia but it wasn't accepted.
Yossarian
+1
Level 65
Nov 19, 2015
Spelling options for Mauritania? (not even sure I got that right...)
MickeyMcNutt
+2
Level 24
Nov 25, 2015
How is Israel named after the Biblical figure Jacob?
brandybuck96
+3
Level 79
Dec 6, 2015
He was later called Israel.
joez
+1
Level 70
Oct 15, 2016
If you like this one, try these by joez. http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/170770/capital-city-etymologies and http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/170770/capital-cities-name-etymologies-2
skalidor
+1
Level 58
Feb 7, 2017
Missed out on Belarus because I thought it was spelled Belorus.

Maybe add it as an alternative spelling?

kiwiquizzer
+1
Level 65
Mar 9, 2017
Enjoyable quiz, thanks. Needed a bit more time to think.
idontlikeit2
+1
Level 71
May 23, 2017
Surprised so many people got Montenegro...
morequizzes4u
+2
Level 39
May 23, 2017
Australia comes from southern ''land'' (terra australis), not just southern
EytanMelech
+1
Level 67
Mar 17, 2021
The land part is terra, the southern is australis. No need to add land.
someone2018
+3
Level 83
Jul 17, 2018
Peasy. There's always someone to brag how easy it was for himself as everyone else struggled. I am he. Let the pretenders utter their false time stamps and ages in reply, but I found this the peasiest of the easy.
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Jan 14, 2019
Most were easy. But anyone else first tried morocco for the moor question and sudan (sud) for the south ?

I dont think no matter how much more time I would ve gotten i would have gotten israel or singapore.

Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Jul 7, 2019
Missed the same two again... I am amazed though at how extremely low the scores were for everything below 40% ( besides the two I mentioned) T o me they all seem quite self explanatory.
takmike
+3
Level 55
Sep 7, 2019
Iranians(=Persians) consider themselves europeans, and rightly so, since they came from eastern europe via russia to iran.

Thus they have high pride, but 2 shameful historical events, invasion by non-europeans, the arabs and the mongols.

Especially the Arab one was huge, as they had to adopt their language to a huge extent, and more importantly their religion.

When I worked in Tehran, my colleagues, and mansion owner, doctor used to say these things. Most common people like america as well.

ArturTamilin
+1
Level 56
Sep 25, 2019
Belarus is White Rus, not white Russia
Anderis
+1
Level 64
Sep 28, 2020
But the name Russia comes from the name Rus as well.
loganite
+3
Level 83
Sep 25, 2019
Yes, Mauritania is incorrectly referred to as the Land of the Moors. It should be correctly referred to as the Land of the Moops! ;)
EytanMelech
+1
Level 67
Mar 17, 2021
Kids today won't get that reference, and that makes me so sad.
TheCrusher
+3
Level 73
Sep 25, 2019
Good quiz! Although I believe it's "Land of the Moops".
Eigengrau
+2
Level 60
Sep 25, 2019
Montenegro is the strongest country in the world as it can say the n word.
IPS
+2
Level 56
Sep 25, 2019
"Venezuela" and "Montenegro" are not proper Italian, I think the hints should be slightly modified.
Mausu
+1
Level 35
Sep 26, 2019
I thought that new zealand was named after the island of zealand in denmark. you learn something new every day
Arii78
+1
Level 46
Jan 19, 2020
A slightly harder version of this quizz woud be nice. Without the names, for example. This is fun though.
Sifhraven
+2
Level 67
Mar 22, 2020
Without which names, the clues or the answers?? How would you know what to type?? That would be just name a random country wouldnt it
FatSpartanJediLlama
+3
Level 45
Aug 24, 2020
I always think "Sierra Leone" for Lion City
EcceHomo
+1
Level 68
Mar 23, 2021
..although I'm sure you know it comes from Lion Mountains or Mountain Range of lions...
JonOfKent
+1
Level 48
Nov 19, 2020
"Venezuela" is actually Spanish for "little Venice". The Italian equivalent is (says Wikipedia) Veneziola.
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