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TIL America was named after a obscure German city (www.behindthename.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/til@lemmy.ca
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Many people know that Amerika was named after Amerigo Vespucci. It turns out tha Amerigo is the Medieval Italian name for Emmerich, a rather uninspiring German city close to the Dutch border.

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[–] 1 point 3 years ago

Emmerich is also just an old-fashioned German name. I would assume that the name Amerigo is derived from the name Emmerich, not the town Emmerich.

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