• 6mementomori@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    67
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    we call it Japan from the name Marco Polo gave it, Cipango, which should come from the name of some random island he ended up in. we call it Greece because the Romans called it Graecia, for reasons I can’t figure out

    • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Because they thought it was full of greasy bastards?

      Edit: more realistically the Graecians were one of the first to colonize Italy, so the Romans likely ran into the Graecians first, then when they ran into the rest of the Hellenes, figured hey, they guys are just more Graecians.

      Edit two: it would be like a US American running into a Louisiana-ian as a first impression for French, then calling the rest of the Francophonie “Louisians” and the country of France “Louisburg”

      • SacrificedBeans@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Interestingly, the Romans called the Greeks Grekili , a degrading term, signifying they were fallen, decadent and servile. This is thought to be because allegedly the Greeks were not fans of straightforward battle, but preferred other tactics like ambushes and night-attacks.