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proper nouns - Why does English have city/country names that differ from the local language?


For example:



  • Italy = Italia

  • Florence = Firenze

  • Rome = Roma

  • Venice = Venezia

  • Munich = München


Different reasons for different cities? Anglicised for pronunciation? The name changed and English didn't follow suit?



Answer



The section on Anglicised place names in wikipedia states that many have been taken directly from the French name, which itself may come from Latin or a corrupted form of the local name.


There is an interesting example that confirms your idea that some names may have been 'stuck' in English while the local version has changed:



Sometimes a place name can appear anglicised, but is not, such as when the form being used in English is an older name that has now been changed. For example, Turin in the Piedmont province of Italy was named Turin in the original Piedmontese language, but is now officially known as Torino in Italian.


The English/French name for Florence in Italy is closer to the original name in Latin (Florentia) than is the modern Italian name (Firenze).



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