▲ 210 ▼ How do names of countries get translated? What is the reason why Nippon/Nihon is called Japan or Ellada is called Greece in English? (lemmy.dbzer0.com) submitted 3 years ago by pinchcramp@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world 24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] morgan_423@lemmy.world 52 points 3 years ago There are actually specific words in the English language for precisely what you're talking about. Endonym - The native name of a geologic feature or place. From your example: Nihon in Japanese. Exonym - The foreign name of a geologic feature or place. From your example: Japan in English. permalink fedilink source