6mementomori@lemmy.world 10 months ago
we call it Japan from the name Marco Polo gave it, Cipango, which should come from the name of some random island he ended up in. we call it Greece because the Romans called it Graecia, for reasons I can’t figure out
Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Because they thought it was full of greasy bastards?
SacrificedBeans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Interestingly, the Romans called the Greeks Grekili , a degrading term, signifying they were fallen, decadent and servile. This is thought to be because allegedly the Greeks were not fans of straightforward battle, but preferred other tactics like ambushes and night-attacks.