How to Master What Do They Call...
TLDR: What Do They Call… challenges you to identify what nations call each other in their authentic native languages. Distinguish internal endonyms (names people call themselves, such as Sverige, Suomi, or Deutschland) from external exonyms (names outsiders use, such as Niemcy, Saksa, or Allemagne). Success comes from recognizing historical root stems: ancient contact tribes, geographical directions, and phonetic evolutions across Germanic, Romance, Slavic, and Finno-Ugric linguistic families.
How the Game Works
What Do They Call… tests world geography, comparative linguistics, and cultural history. Each round presents a question asking what speakers of a particular language call a specific country or its people.
You are given four native choices:
- One authentic native name (the target answer).
- Three plausible distractors (drawn from authentic names in related languages or false cognates).
When you choose correctly, the game reveals the fascinating etymological story behind the term, explaining how ancient trade routes, tribal confederations, and geographical vantage points shaped the modern name.
Endonym versus Exonym: An endonym is a name used by a group to describe themselves or their homeland (for example, Deutschland in German, or Hayastan in Armenian). An exonym is a name bestowed by an external group (such as Allemagne in French, Niemcy in Polish, or Saksa in Finnish). Spotting whether the question asks for an internal self-name or an external historical exonym clarifies your search immediately.
Major Linguistic Families and Etymological Patterns
Rather than memorizing forty isolated country pairs as rote flashcards, organize your thinking around how different language families historically encountered their neighbors.
The Germanic Tribe Imprint
Why do different languages have completely different names for Germany? Because different neighbors encountered different ancient Germanic tribes:
- The Alamanni: Bordering Gaul along the Upper Rhine, the Alamanni gave their name to the French Allemagne and Spanish Alemania.
- The Saxons: Sea-trading and Baltic-facing Saxons gave their name to the Finnish Saksa and Estonian Saksamaa.
- The Volk (Theodisk): The Germanic endonym Deutschland and Dutch Duitsland derive from Old High German diutisc, meaning “of the people”.
- Old Norse Svíaríki: The realm of the Svear tribe evolved into the Swedish and Norwegian Sverige, Icelandic Svíþjóð, and Danish Sverige.
The Slavic “Mute” and “Foreigner” Roots
Slavic languages share deeply historical designations for their neighbors:
- Niemcy (Germany): In Polish, Czech (Německo), and Russian, the root originates from Proto-Slavic nemec, meaning “the mute one”, historically describing neighbors whose tongue sounded unintelligible to early Slavic speakers.
- Włochy (Italy): Polish calls Italy Włochy, which traces back to Proto-Germanic walhaz, a term used by ancient Germanic and Slavic peoples to designate Celtic and Romanized neighbors.
- Rakousko (Austria): Czechs call Austria Rakousko (and Austrians Rakušané), derived from the border castle and region of Raabs an der Thaya (Ratgoz) on the northern Austrian frontier.
Finno-Ugric Coastal and Rowers Heritage
Finnish and Estonian preserve unique names based on Baltic geography:
- Ruotsi and Rootsi (Sweden): Finns say Ruotsi and Estonians say Rootsi. This word comes from Old East Norse roþs-, referring to rowing or the coastal rowers of Roslagen in eastern Sweden. This same root also gave birth to the name Rus.
- Venäjä and Venemaa (Russia): Derived from the ancient Venedes (Vistula Veneti), an early tribe encountered along eastern trade paths.
- Viro (Estonia in Finnish): Finns call Estonia Viro, named after Virumaa, the northern coastal province of Estonia closest to the Gulf of Finland.
Look for Geographical vantage points: Austria is Österreich in German (“Eastern Realm”), reflecting its location at the eastern march of the Holy Roman Empire. Similarly, Japan is Nihon or Nippon (“origin of the sun”) from the viewpoint of continental East Asia looking east toward the sunrise.
Cross-Cultural Self-Names (Endonyms)
Many rounds challenge you to recognize how nations identify their own ancient homelands:
- Greece: Greeks call their country Elláda (Hellas) in Greek, while outsiders use derivatives of Latin Graecia or Persian Yunanistan (named after the coastal Ionians).
- Wales: The Welsh name is Cymru (“fellow countrymen”), while English Wales stems from Germanic walhaz (“foreigner”).
- Georgia: Georgians call their nation Sakartvelo, meaning the land of the Kartvelians, derived from their mythical ancestor Kartlos.
- Armenia: Armenians call their country Hayastan, honoring their legendary founding patriarch Hayk.
- Ireland and Scotland: Irish Gaelic calls Ireland Éire (from the goddess Ériu), while Scottish Gaelic calls Scotland Alba.
Avoid the English Phonetic Trap: English exonyms often obscure native reality. English speakers assume Japan is similar in Japanese, but the native tongue uses Nihon or Nippon. Do not pick an option simply because its letters sound like the modern English pronunciation.
Common Decoy Traps
Trap 1: Confusing closely related Scandinavian forms. Norwegian and Swedish use Sverige, while Icelandic retains the classical Old Norse compound Svíþjóð, and Estonian uses Rootsi. Pay close attention to the specific asking language in the question prompt.
Trap 2: Mixing demonyms with country names. When the question asks “What do the French call Germans in French?”, the correct answer is the plural demonym les Allemands, not the country name Allemagne. Verify whether the stem targets the nation or its inhabitants.
Trap 3: Suffix evolution in Asian transliterations. In Chinese, names often pair a phonetic transliteration with guó (“country”): the United States is Měiguó (“Beautiful Country”, matching the syllable “mer” in America) and the United Kingdom is Yīngguó (“Heroic Country”, matching “Eng” in England). In Japanese, historical trade with Portugal and the Netherlands produced loan exonyms like Igirisu for the UK (from Portuguese Inglês) and Oranda for the Netherlands (from Holland).
Watch the eyebrow prompt: The top eyebrow displays the exact native language of the speaker. Always let that tongue anchor your mental dictionary before evaluating the four choice buttons.
Practice and Mastery Structure
Mastering What Do They Call… happens through progressive linguistic tiers:
- Level 1 - Core European Neighbors: Focus on the big Western and Central European exonym shifts: Allemagne, Deutschland, Sverige, Österreich, and Niemcy.
- Level 2 - Regional Tribal and Celtic Stems: Learn Baltic and Celtic endonyms: Ruotsi, Saksa, Venäjä, Cymru, Lloegr, and Alba.
- Level 3 - Global Polyglot Exonyms: Master East Asian, Caucasian, and Mediterranean shifts: Sakartvelo, Hayastan, Elláda, Yunanistan, Měiguó, and Igirisu.
The Etymology Payoff: Every answer in What Do They Call… carries a genuine history lesson. Read the explanation panel after every round to build an enduring web of cultural memory that turns future rounds into instant recognitions.
Through What Do They Call…, names on a map transform from arbitrary labels into centuries of living human history. Test your intuition, explore the world’s tongues, and discover how humanity names itself.
What Do They Call...
Guess what different countries call each other in their native tongue. Discover world exonyms and endonyms
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