Re: Cambodia v. Kampuchea

From: John Atkinson (johnacko_at_bigpond.com)
Date: 11/28/04 

Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 03:31:52 GMT

"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> wrote...

> *** T. Winter wrote:
> >
> > "Guillaume" <guillaume51@alussinan.org> writes:
> > >
> > > "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net> a écrit...
> > >
> > > >> Cambodia is a translation, not a transcription (like Cambodge in
French).
> > ...
> > > > Er, no, "Cambodia" doesn't mean a thing in English. It's an English
> > > > approximation of the French "Cambodge,"
> > >
> > > Do you mean that "Italy" is a transcription of "Italia"?
> >
> > I do not think Peter means that. It is the English rendition of the
native
> > name (like Dutch "Italië", German "Italien" and French "Italie" are
> > renditions of the original name in the local language). In the case
> > of "Cambodia", the French "Cambodge" is an attempt at transcription,
> > the English version is an approximation of the French transcription.
> >
> > A true translation is French "Pays Bas" for the "Netherlands" (which in
> > turn is an English rendition of the Dutch name of the country, not a
> > transcription).
>
> A translation, actually. "Nether" = 'lower'.

Actually, both. The more obvious translation would be the Low Countries,
which is in fact a somewhat old-fashioned English expression still used for
Holland (the country, not the province), Belgium and Luxemburg. The form
"Netherlands" (also originally used for the territory now occupied by both
Holland and Belgium) was presumably chosen rather than "Low Country" as the
"official" English name for Holland because it sounds much more like what
the inhabitants chose to call it -- as *** says, "an English rendition of
the Dutch name".

Both alternatives date back to the sixteenth century.

John.

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