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- "Aceasta este Țara Galilor."
8 Comments
844
In French, Wales is "Pays de Galles", so it would seem likely that Romanian got the name, or at least the word "Gal" from French, where the word "Galle" appears to be a corruption into French from Anglo-Saxon or old Germanic. From French Wikipedia:
"Le nom anglais, Wales, est issu du mot germanique Walh, qui signifie « parlant une langue celtique ou romane ». Il a donné Galles en français car le W germanique est devenu G en français (ex. : Wilhelm = Guillaume, Walho = pays gallo)"
(The English name, Wales, comes from the Germanic Walh, which means "speaking a Celtic or Roman language" (i,e. for an Anglo-Saxon, a foreigner). It came into French as "Galles" because the Germanic W became G in French, eg Wilhelm > Guillame)
844
It's not accepted because although the literal meaning of "Țara Galilor* may be "the land of the Welsh", it's simply the standard proper name in Romanian (notice that Țara starts with a capital) for the country whose standard name in English is Wales, not the land of the Welsh, however good, even poetic, English that might be. As the song says:
"When you come home again to Wales"
- "Când vii din nou acasă în Țara Galilor"