Re: List of natlangs

Tom Wier wrote:

> Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > There are also partial translations, for instance England --> Sp.
> > Inglatierra, where the -land was translated into -tierra (but why Eng
> > --> Ingla, perhaps descended from Latin "anglicus"?).
>
> The Angles called their own land "Englaland", so that might have somethingto do with it.
> Was there ever any rule in Spanish that /e/ --> /i/ / _[nasal]?
> I know "Ingles" is like that too, and I feel that this too was a loan because
> of the -es part...
Well.  "Inglaterra" is "tierra de los anglos", where "anglo" is the name of the people (Like
Anglo-Saxen)  I've always wonder why the /a/-/i/ shift but I guess it has something to do with
French.

> > But, does anyone
> > know *why*, for instance, Ireland --> Sp. Irlanda, and not *Irtierra?
>
> Languages are erratic like that, in part because different speakershave different interests
> and different levels of linguistic perception.
Probably Ireland was not very important to Spaniards or other Spanish speakers when
"Inglaterra" became part of the language.  As a later borrowing "Ireland" became "Irlanda" as
Holland-->Holanda
Finland-->Finlandia
Gro/nland-->Groenlandia
Island-->Islandia

The -landia has become an productive suffix in Spanish:
Disneylandia (from Disneyland)
Patolandia (where Donald Duck lives in)
Animalandia (TV program in Colombia)


--
Carlos Eugenio Thompson Pinzsn
  ITEC-Telecom, Colombia

  cthompso@alpha.telecom-co.net
  http://alpha.telecom-co.net/~cthompso/