The Origin of Country Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: Village, settlement

It is ironic that the word for the second largest country in the world means "village". The story goes that Jacques Cartier was speaking to some Indigenous youth who told him about the route to "kanata". They were referring to a village, but Cartier used it to refer to the entire area. Eventually it came to mean the whole country.

Answer: Arabic

The name of the country comes from the city of Algiers, which came from the Arabic word "al Jaza ir", meaning "the Islands". This is in reference to four islands off the coast that have since joined the mainland.

Answer: Portuguese

The Portuguese named the land Rio dos Camarões because of the abundance of the ghost shrimp found in the river. The pronunciation of "camaroes" changed over the years due to colonization by various European countries, eventually becoming Cameroon. The word "camaroes" originally came from Latin, with cammarus" meaning "prawn" or "crawfish". The other three choices are all legitimate languages.

Answer: Ewe

The word "Togo" comes from the Ewe language, which is spoken in Togo and Ghana by approximately 4.5 million people. It is derived from "to", meaning "river", and "godo", meaning "on the other side". It originally just meant the town of Togodo (Togoville) on Lake Togo, but eventually came to mean the entire country.

Answer: Liberia

The name from Liberia comes from the Latin word "liber", meaning "free". The Republic of Liberia began as a resettlement project by the American Colonization Society for former slaves. It was believed that they would face a better chance of freedom and prosperity in Africa. Independence was declared in 1847, and the first president was elected the following year.

Answer: Honduras

The name comes from Spanish "honda", which came from Old Spanish, "fondo", and originally from Latin "fundus". It is believed that Columbus called it that in 1524 in reference to the coastal waters on the east side, according to a supposed quote, "Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas Honduras". The statement translates as "Thank God we have departed from those depths".

Answer: True

Bermuda, located in the North Atlantic, was discovered by Juan de Bermudez, a Spanish sailor. Because the island had no native population, it was easy for explorers to use it as a resting point on their voyages. Today it is a self-governing British Overseas Territory, the capital of which is Hamilton.

Answer: False

The word "Argentina" does indeed come from Latin, but it actually means "silver". Interestingly, the name for the region did not come from Spanish sailors, but explorers from Italy like John Cabot. Juan Diaz de Solis, who arrived there in 1516 reportedly led an expedition which was shipwrecked. The Indigenous people gave the survivors gifts of silver.

Answer: Bear, near the bear

The word "Arctic" comes from the Greek word "arktikos", meaning "near the bear" or "northern", and "arktos", meaning "bear". It refers to the constellations Ursa Major (the Great Bear), and Ursa Minor (the Little Bear). These two constellations can be seen in the northern hemisphere.

Answer: two seas

The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country in the Persian Gulf, off the east coast of Saudi Arabia. The name comes from the Arabic word for "two seas", "al-bahrayn". This is likely in reference to the two types of water found there - fresh-water springs and the salty sea.