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
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

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

    • psud@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

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