Submitted by bentobam t3_10ohrv7 in explainlikeimfive
judgingyouquietly t1_j6g1oix wrote
Reply to comment by Shawaii in ELI5: How do they come up with names for countries in foreign languages? by bentobam
>San Francisco is Jiu Jin Shan or "old gold mountain"
Was. The current translation is "San Fan Shi" or "San Fran City".
Canada is from a Huron or Iroquois word "Kanata" meaning "settlement". Basically the Europeans thought the settlement where they met was the entire territory.
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