Many people know that Amerika was named after Amerigo Vespucci. It turns out tha Amerigo is the Medieval Italian name for Emmerich, a rather uninspiring German city close to the Dutch border.

  • 4ce@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Emmerich is also just an old-fashioned German name. I would assume that the name Amerigo is derived from the name Emmerich, not the town Emmerich.

    • AkasazhOP
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      1 year ago

      Fair enough. I do kind of ignore that, as I live quite close to said town, and that’s a nice story starter, Like how Rome and jpw not Remulus but Romulus got to name the city.

    • AkasazhOP
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      1 year ago

      I phrased it a bit too acutely, it shares it’s namesake.

    • psud@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s not named after the city, it’s named after the guy who was named after the obscure city