Endonym and exonym

A map demonstrating the wide diversity of exonyms for Germany, compared to the German language endonym of Deutschland

An endonym (also known as autonym) is a common, native name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate themselves, their place of origin, or their language.[1]

An exonym (also known as xenonym) is an established, non-native name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place,[1] language, or dialect, meaning that it is used primarily outside the particular place inhabited by the group or linguistic community. Exonyms exist not only for historico-geographical reasons but also in consideration of difficulties when pronouncing foreign words,[1] or from non-systematic attempts at transcribing into a different writing system.[2]

For instance, Deutschland is the endonym for the country that is also known by the exonyms Germany and Germania in English and Italian, respectively, Alemania and Allemagne in Spanish and French, respectively, Niemcy in Polish, Saksa and Saksamaa in Finnish and Estonian.

  1. ^ a b c "Exonym and Endonym". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  2. ^ Ormeling, Ferjan. "Exonyms in Cartography" (PDF). United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. Retrieved 27 February 2023.