Thread: The Continent of Nodria

While your rivers are much better in this map than in Sudria's map, it is kind of odd that you have a mountain range right on the southern coast, that prevents any rivers from reaching the southern coast, though that is not an impossible geologic feature. Study this map to learn what to do for rivers on your other map.

Same argument, as Sudria, regarding the name's meaning. To call one land the Land of the Whites and the other the Land of the Blacks, seem to indicate a third people somewhere that is naming all these ethnically describing names. Just as Sudrians, wouldn't call themselves "blacks", Nodrians wouldn't call themselves "white" - both would call themselves "normal", and everyone else by color.

So I'm starting to wonder who the people are that are naming these continents?

Also notable are any lands with the "ia" at the end, sounds very Roman or European. For example Romans name the lands of the teutonic peoples Germania, but the Germans never called themselves that, nor do most call themselves Germans, now. This is a Roman name for them only. Nations with names ending in "ia" generally are given by outsiders.

GP

Here's an idea: I'm going to rename Nodria and Sudria to Tuaisceart and Deisceart respectivley. Tuaisceart is Iartharian for "north" and Deisceart means "south" in the same language.

Well, except that it's still basically got the same problem. Wherever you are, folks think that they're the center of the world, especially if you have a medieval-type culture (we didn't have even rudimentary world maps until the 16th century (which is the tail end of the medieval age). However, North and South are much preferable to black and white; at least it's somewhat objective, so it makes more sense that folks would name themselves so.

Please, understand, you're free to name your continents whatever you want, I'm just trying to follow the logic in your explanation of their names. One doesn't name themselves a direction, unless they are comparing themselves to elsewhere. If a people recognize that they are in a region dominated by two continents, at the time of naming, then North and South would make sense.

Usually a continent is named after the most powerful nation on that continent, a name them implies "belonging to them". Most often the naming occurs long before they are even aware that another continent exists. One doesn't name themselves "north" unless they are aware of another land that is south. Also, naming your continent while referring to another seems counterintuitive, it somehow indicates the land to the south being important or more important than themselvs, thus they name their country a direction with the other continent in mind.

I would try to use your conlang language description of "our land", then whichever continent had explorers first would name the other land in reference to their own. Such as, Nodria meaning our land, and Sudria meaning the lands south of Nodria - that would make much more sense. Thus both names are of the language of Nodria.

When a people are noting themselves for the first time, they never compare themselves to the rest of the world, which they no little about.

GP

Maybe the continents were named by a small island of explorers in between the two continents and since nobody actually had a name for their own continent (being unaware of others to that point, they'd simply called it their generic term for "land"), the names given by the exploring islanders stuck.