Dia duit, in this video we're going to look at some international countries and
regions that have an interesting name in the Irish language, if you want to learn
more about Irish words, verbs, grammar and lots of conversational phrases then
consider subscribing to this channel and hitting that bell notification where you
can be notified whenever I upload a new video. So let's get started with the
Irish word for Switzerland, the Irish for Switzerland is An Eilvéis and
it's called that because it originates from Latin- the Latin word word Helvetia
that is and you will see that on Swiss postage stamps, car registrations and
even the Swiss Internet domain contains the word H for Helvetia, so the Irish
language takes it's nod from the latin language Helvetia for Switzerland so
the Irish for Switzerland is on An Eilvéis. Similarly the Irish for China is on An tSín
and again this originates from the Latin language and Sina, so you might
have heard of for example the Sino-Indian war or things like that if
if China was involved in a war was probably called a Sino whatever war so
this comes from the Latin language and that's where that originates, so the
Irish for China is An tSín.
Next we have the Netherlands or Holland as it's
also known, the Irish for the Netherlands is An Ísiltír
So there's two words there, Íseal is low or ground level and Tír is country so it's
basically describing them as the lowlands which is quite suitable
considering that lots of various parts of The Netherlands are
below sea level, The Netherlands - An Ísealtír.
Moving north then to Scandinavia
the Irish for Scandinavia is Críoch Lochlann - two words there
again Críoch means a frontier or a border or finish or terrain, it can mean any of
those things depending on the context so we have to assume in this context it
means the borders or the land of the Vikings
because Lochlann is Vikings so together Críoch Lochlann means the terrain or the
borders of the Vikings, and if you know anybody that has a surname Loughlin or O'Loughlin
it's thought that they originate from the Vikings. Scandinavia = Críoch Lochlann.
Moving on then to Newfoundland in Canada, the Irish for
Newfoundland is Talamh an Éisc and this literally translates into
the land of the fish the land of the fish so it's quite an interesting and
poetic way to describe a part of Canada which incidentally has a rich Irish
heritage due to emigration there over the years, Newfoundland = Talamh an Éisc.
If you know of any other interesting or poetic place names around the world
described in the Irish language please let me know in the comment section and
perhaps I could do a video on that again in the future, in the meantime thanks for
watching and I'll be back very soon, go raibh maith agat agus slán go fóill.