Here is a collection of the
etymology of the names of subnational entities for the convenience of interested reader who then would not have to go into each individual place's article to find out the word origin. (See also:
List of country name etymologies)
- Britain
- Alba (Scotland) 'highland' from the Latin albus, 'white' as in mountains.
- England - from pre-5th-century Latin/Low German Angli, a people from an angle- or corner-shaped land (now Schleswig in Germany).
- Gibraltar - from Arabic "djebl al-Tarik" -> "Tarik's rock" because this is where the Arabic general Tarik started his conquest of the Iberian peninsula in 711.
- Wales - "land of the foreigners", from the Germanic 'welsche' the term used by Anglo-Saxon invaders of the Britsh Isles for the native Celts the encountered. The Welsh native toponym "Cymraig" meant "land of the people". Several areas in Europe were named by the ancient Germans in the same way, the term used only for places inhabited by poeples of Celtic or Latin descent, including "Wallonia" in Belgium, "Valais" (in Switzerland), and the archaic "Welschenland" a term for Italy.
- Canada
- Alberta - Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.
- British Columbia - "British America," name chosen upon unification.
- Manitoba - Ojibwa, "Spirit Straits," name for The Narrows on Lake Manitoba.
- New Brunswick - the British royal family's house of Brunswick.
- Newfoundland and Labrador - "new found land," name dating to 1502; llavrador ("farmer"), called for a crewman of John Cabot's, who sighted it.
- Nova Scotia - Latin, "New Scotland".
- Ontario - from Lake Ontario, Wyandot ontare ("lake").
- Prince Edward Island - Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, brother of George III.
- Quebec - from Quebec City; Algonquian kebek, "narrow passage".
- Saskatchewan - from the Saskatchewan River; Cree kisiskatchewan, "fast-flowing river".
- Northwest Territories - from the North-West Territory, the Arctic Ocean watershed.
- Nunavut - Inuktitut, "our land".
- Yukon - from the Yukon River; Gwich'in[?], "great river".
- Egypt
- Kemt[?] - "land of the black (mud of the Nile, or people)".
- Netherlands
- Holland - (Germanic) - 'wooded land' (often incorrectly regarded as meaning 'hollow land')
- Batavia - (Germanic) - 'arable land'
See also; Placename etymology