The word for Motherland
By jormungand
@jormungand (91)
Turkey
January 2, 2008 5:50pm CST
What is the word for "motherland" in your language? What is its exact translation to English?
I wonder because it is different sometimes. Its "anavatan" in Turkish. "Ana" meaning mother and "vatan" meaning land. But for instance in German, it is "Vaterland", "Vater" meaning "father".
So, in your language, is the word for "motherland" related with mother too?
4 responses
@jormungand (91)
• Turkey
3 Jan 08
Yes, if you're in US and your mother tongue is English, it's motherland. I'm curious about other languages.
@daryush (42)
•
22 Mar 08
In Persian its simply "Vatan." I think it comes from the Arabic (likewise in Turkish) because it's spelt with a Tà and not a Te (if that makes any sense to anyone else).
@Dasidasi (35)
• China
21 Jan 08
In Chinese motherland is "zuguo"(juguo), "zu" means ancestor, "guo" means country. Because in ancient china, people were very much inclined to worship the ancestor instead of God, which is different from your culture.
@elguiruela (631)
• Japan
1 Feb 08
Well in Filipino, motherland is "Inang Bayan"
Inang means mother.
Bayan means country.
Inang Bayan, Mother Country, Motherland.
It's straightforward.
Yes, Inang Bayan is related to mother.
I believe in most language, the word motherland is directly related to the word mother. (Not because they have the same mother in them. lol) It's like motherland takes care of her people as mother takes care of her child.
