Country Names in Estonian Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sweden

No one has given me a good answer, why is it so, but it must be quite old name, since also finns call it with (almost) the same name. Estonia was a part of Swedish empire from 1559/1583/1645 (separate parts went to Swedish with different treaties) till 1710 (officially 1721), when it all was lost to Russia. Poland ruled Southern Estonia for some 50 years in the second half of the 16th century.

The only connection with Romania is, that one of the best known kings of Poland to rule over Estonia, was Stefan Batory, who came from Transylvanian region, which now belongs to Romanian state.

He himself was of Hungarian origin.

Answer: Russia

It's thought to been derived from the name of a tribe that lived near Estonia. Others say that it comes from a word "vene" (a type of small boat). Anyway, that must also be quite ancient history, since the Finns (again) call it something similar.

Answer: Lithuania

Probably it comes from their own name "Lietuva". Lithuanians were quite a force in this region during the Middle Ages. Ask some Germans about the battles of Durbe, Saule, Grünwald (aka Tannenberg or Žalgiris).

Answer: Cote d'Ivoire

Although that country insists that its name should not be translated, in everyday language we still do so. It consists of: Elevandiluu (= Ivory, directly translated as "elephants bone") + rannik (=Coast). I hope you all managed to find an elephant from that name, it should make things a bit easier.

Answer: Germany

Due to Germany's location, seems like every nationality calls their differently. We had the contact with "Saxons". Together with the Danes they were first foreigners to come here and occupy Estonian land. (The Danes sold their Estonian territory in 1346, after severe riots, to the Teutonic Order. Before the riots they asked 20,000 marks for it, after they lowered the price to 19,000.

Switzerland is Šveits, Sweden is Rootsi and Czech Republic is Tšehhimaa.

Answer: The Netherlands

Usually we say "Holland", although "Madalmaad" is also used as a direct translation. At least I hope I managed to give you a hint with the other variants: New Zealand got its name from the province of the Netherlands, Indonesia and Suriname both belonged to the Netherlands. There is not very much historical connections between us and the Netherlands.

Answer: Finland

Finns himself call their land "Suomi", Finland is its Swedish name. Those are the two official languages of Finland. Estonians and Finns speak quite similar language and they manage to understand each other (but not that easily). Our closest linguistic relatives are the Hungarians, but we cannot understand them at all (and of course vice-versa).

Russia is Venemaa, India is still India and Somalia is Somaalia.

Answer: France

It sounds similar but has changed a bit. For example England we call "Inglismaa" and Scotland "Shotimaa".

Answer: New Zealand

Again a direct translation: Uus = New, and Meremaa = Zealand. It's almost at the other side of the earth from us, so if we start digging through the center point of the world, we can possibly reach there.

Answer: Latvia

I just can't make a test and leave our neighbours out of it. It sounds almost the same as Latvia, doesn't it? But their name for Estonia is Igaunija ... How are Russia, Finland and Lithuania are called in Estonian you all probably know by now. Hope you enjoyed the quiz.