r/AskEurope • u/donotpassgo2514 • 5d ago
Culture If someone says they are from “Moldavia”, what current country would you expect them to be from?
Someone said this to me and I assumed she meant Moldova. I then learned Moldavia is a region across several different countries.
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u/notveryamused_ Warszawa, Poland 5d ago
I would expect them to be from Moldova :)
By the way, this probably isn’t the best place but it’s such a bloody cool novel I can’t help myself but recommend it here. Gregor von Rezzori’s Ermine in Czernopol is one of the best novels ever written, the guy was basically Oscar Wilde from Bukovina.
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u/Wanda7776 Poland 5d ago
It definitely helps that Moldavia sounds like Mołdawia, which in Polish means Moldova.
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u/PeteLangosta España 5d ago
I'll write that novel down! Ty
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u/notveryamused_ Warszawa, Poland 5d ago
Very appropriate for a Spaniard to be interested, other European Galicia says hi :-)
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u/Impossible_Mode_1225 5d ago
Just randomly came across your post. This sounds really good! Thanks for the recommendation
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u/DarthTomatoo Romania 5d ago
Definitely appreciate book recommendations wherever I see them. Thanks!
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u/LateInTheAfternoon Sweden 5d ago
Moldavien is the name of the country in Swedish so I would probably think they were from Moldova (while still erroneously believing the name to be Moldavia). TIL
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u/11160704 Germany 5d ago
In German the colloquial name is also Moldawien (officially Republik Moldau). And I think most Germans don't even know that a region in Romania is also named similarly.
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u/TrampAbroad2000 5d ago
That's really confusing, as Moldau is also the German name of the Vltava river, in Czechia (Czech composer Smetana famously wrote a piece of music by that title in German).
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u/Draig_werdd in 5d ago
The region of Moldavia is named after a river called Moldova(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova_(river). One of theories of the name is that is of Germanic origin and has the same meaning as Moldau.
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u/gugfitufi 5d ago
Many such cases
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u/TrampAbroad2000 5d ago
Such as ... ?
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u/PiusTostus 5d ago
For example there are two Iberias and two Galicias at the opposite ends of Europe.
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u/11160704 Germany 5d ago
Here it's easier in German than in English. The one in Poland/Ukraine is Galizien with z and the one in Spain is Galicien with C.
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u/LateInTheAfternoon Sweden 5d ago
Same in Swedish. The two names are pronounced the same, however, unlike in German.
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u/PiusTostus 5d ago
Ist mir noch nie aufgefallen xd. Anscheinend gibt es auch noch ein Gallizien in Österreich.
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u/8bitmachine Austria 5d ago
There are also two Austrias, one is in Europe and the other is a continent
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u/LateInTheAfternoon Sweden 5d ago
Not quite the same perhaps, but there's New Zealand which is named after Zeeland (notice the spelling) in the Netherlands and not Zealand, the biggest island in Denmark.
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u/geotech03 Poland 5d ago
Romanian from Romanian region of Moldavia would say he/she is Romanian first, so Moldavian would mean person from the state of Moldavia/Moldova
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u/SteO153 5d ago
Moldavia is Moldova in Italian, so I (as Italian) would assume they are from Moldova.
But Moldavia is also an historical region spanning Romania* and Moldova, and (today) the region in East Romania (Iași). While today's Moldova is mainly what was called Bessarabia in the past.
*historical Romania is the union of Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia.
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u/katbelleinthedark Poland 5d ago
Hands down Moldova because "Moldavia" (or Mołdawia or something close) is how the country Moldova is known in a bunch of languages. People might simply be English-ifying their mother tongue name instead of using the actual English word.
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u/outlanderfhf Romania 5d ago
I kinda hate hearing Moldavia, when everyone both in Romania and Moldova, just say Moldova
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u/katbelleinthedark Poland 5d ago
I mean, fair. But there's nothing that people can do about what the word is in their mother tongues.
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u/outlanderfhf Romania 5d ago
Yeah but at the same times its not the Deutschland case, where the differences are so big that changes might be weird, Moldavia->Moldova seems easier than Germany->Deutschland
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u/Jagarvem Sweden 5d ago edited 5d ago
Germany is hardly comparable, its naming an exceptional case. It's not like Polska is that different from Polonia(?) or whatever either.
But languages and their phonology are different, so why wouldn't their words for stuff be? Languages use different suffixes, and foreign constructions are…foreign. Sometimes more similar words are the harder to get right just because they are so close.
In Swedish the region is indeed called Moldova, but the country's name (Moldavien) certainly rolls of the tongue nicer. It just fits better into the language with a more familiar construction.
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u/pannenkoek0923 Denmark 5d ago
Eh, in Danish Latvia is Letland, Lithuania is Litauen, Estonia is Estland, all are very similar, with barely any changes.
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u/LateInTheAfternoon Sweden 5d ago
Tbf Moldavia sounds like a Latinized version of the name which is not too bad in my books though I very well understand that people almost always prefer the vernacular name (I too do that but Latinized names are still kinda cool imho).
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u/outlanderfhf Romania 5d ago
I mean, the language is already latin based
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u/LateInTheAfternoon Sweden 5d ago
True, but when people liked to Latinize names in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, they used classical Latin or Neo-Latin or some other form which makes it different. It's weirdly still a Latinization.
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u/TheShinyBlade Netherlands 5d ago
Moldova, because I would think I didn't understand them properly and they probably would have said Moldova
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u/notdancingQueen 5d ago
IIRC in Spanish both the region and the country are written Moldavia.
So I would assume the country, because I'm not perfect on geography in English.
By the way, another frequent confusion is Galicia. There's a Spanish one, and a Polish one
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u/Silent-Laugh5679 5d ago
The only Romanian citizens that flaunt their local affiliation first are the Transylvanians because the Transylvania "brand" (Dracula, multikulti, Central European) is somewhat cooler than the Romania "brand". Therefor if someone says they are from Moldova I would assume the Republic.
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u/Agamar13 Poland 5d ago
If the region is spread between a few countries, the likelihood of someone describing themselves as being from "Moldavia" instead of their country is exeedingly low. Like, nobody talking to a foreigner would say "I'm from Pomerania", instead of "I'm from Poland" or "I'm from Germany".
But if it did happen, in my language Moldova is called Mołdawia, pronounced almost exactly like Moldavia, so yeah, I'd assume Moldova.
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u/Decent_Background_42 5d ago
I would expect them to be from Moldova and assume they made a common mistake in the name of the country. Same how I’d expect someone to be from France if they had told me they’re from Frence.
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u/Xitztlacayotl Croatia 5d ago
What?
I would expect them to be from Moldova. Actually I always thought the name of the country was Moldavia. With Moldova being the Romanian endonym.
And I dobt anyone introduces themselves by their region as opposed to their country.
"I'm from Macedonia". Nobody from Greek Macedonia would say that.
"I'm Frisian". Could be German, Netherland or maybe even Danish?
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u/donotpassgo2514 5d ago
I totally agree with your thinking. Honestly, I didn’t even question it until I learned of the different region.
But to the other point about people not identifying themselves by a region: I have met people who do tend to do that. For example they might say they are Sicilian rather than Italian; or Welsh rather than British; or Québécois rather than Canadian; Hawaiian rather than American.
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u/Xitztlacayotl Croatia 5d ago
Hmm, Yes ok. Makes sense. I think it depends on the region. On how much the region feels itself separate from the main country. And the person itself. Whether they feel themselves as a part of local identity or not. Or furthermore the same person might express themselves in a different way depending on the context.
Still, my point was. When you meet strangers. They would say the country they are from first. I never met someone who would say something like they are from Quebec. Instead of just saying they are from Canada.
Or in the case of Hawaii, maybe it depends on the question...
- Where are you from? Hawaii.
- What's your home country? America/USA"
Or whatever, I don't have an answer to this. It all depedns.
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u/InviteEducational400 5d ago
Romanian here, usually people from The Republic of Moldova say they are Moldovan, people from Romania beside the regions (Moldova, Transilvania, etc) say they are from Romania, Romanian
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u/Timauris Slovenia 5d ago
Porbably Moldova, which is also called "Moldavija" in my language. The eastern part of Romania would be the second option.
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u/bagpulistu 5d ago
In English, Moldova designates today’s Republic, while Moldavia is a more archaic term that refers to the historical Principality, which—besides the territory of the present Republic—also included the Romanian region of Moldova, Southern Bukovina, and the areas of Northern Bukovina and the Bugeac, which are now part of Ukraine. I assume English ended up with both variants via borrowing from French (they use Moldavia for both). Note, however, that this distinction is particular to English; in Romanian there is only one term, Moldova, which designates the Republic, the historical Principality, and the Romanian region alike.
As a Romanian, if I hear someone say they are from Moldova, I would assume they mean the Romanian region of Moldova (the western half of the historical Principality). People from the Republic of Moldova, when speaking to Romanians, typically say they are from the Republic or from Basarabia.
For foreigners, however, the assumption works the other way around: if someone says they are from Moldova, it should be understood as the Republic of Moldova. Romanians from the region of Moldova would usually just say they are from Romania, since they would not expect foreigners to be familiar with Romania’s internal regions.
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u/Christoffre Sweden 5d ago edited 5d ago
I would expect you to be from Moldavien (“Moldova, the country”).
Mostly because when introducing yourself, you usually start with the country (or continent), then narrow it down to the local region and area. So I would not expect anything to be amiss.
Of course, this doesn’t always apply when speaking with people from your own or neighbouring countries, since they may already have a good understanding of the local geography.
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u/Dic_Penderyn 5d ago
Moldavia is the older English name for what is now called Moldova. It only became standard in English to call it that when the country gained independence in 1991.
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u/Thin_Rip8995 5d ago
most likely they mean moldova since that’s the modern country
but moldavia can also refer to the historical region split between romania and ukraine
context is everything but casual convo = usually moldova
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u/InviteEducational400 5d ago
If it makes you feel better, in romanian (I’m Romanian) both Moldova (the region in Romania) and Moldova (the country next to us) are written the same and pronounced the same. But Moldova is usually in Romania and republic of Moldova is the country (aka Basarabia-republica Moldova). We were once whole, now split, but we refer to one another as “brothers”
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u/Dalnore Russian in Israel 5d ago
I would assume Moldova. And if it's someone relatively young, I'd also suspect they might be pro-Kremlin, as it's one of many "contested" country names in Russian which can indicate political affiliation.
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u/donotpassgo2514 5d ago
Interesting. I am not sure of her political views but I know she was 29. I only know this since I work part time as a bouncer at a bar and had to ask her birth date.
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u/Secret-Sir2633 5d ago
the English language likes very much to use foreign names to name foreign countries, even when twere's an English name readily available. The foreign name can often acquire a specialised meaning, for example when there's a sovereign state and a broader region, which builds a pretext to claim that you can't revert to the English name.
Moldova is just the Romanian name for Moldavia.
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u/lellyjoy Romania 4d ago
Moldova. People from the Moldova region in Romania would not say they are from Moldova unless specifically asked where in Romania they are from.
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u/kranj7 5d ago
I had always thought Moldova is just the English name for the country but in their language it's Moldavia - not sure but this is what I had previously understood.
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u/NotoriousBedorveke 5d ago
It is Moldova in our language, the Russians called it Moldavia
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u/Thalassin 5d ago
Moldavia is an old-fashioned translitteration of the Russian name for the country/region, which equivalents are still commonplace in some languages (eg. my language, French, calls the country Moldavie). Moldova is a translation based on the Romanian language.
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u/Jagarvem Sweden 5d ago
Do you have a source on it being a transliteration?
Sure it's called such in Russian, but Moldavia is a Latinized form…? It's attested in English since before the Russian tsardom even existed, never mind empire.
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u/CatL1f3 5d ago
It's backwards. Moldova is the Romanian name, Moldavia is the anglicisation
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u/Comfortable-Bonus421 5d ago
No. The English name for the country is Moldova.
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u/outlanderfhf Romania 5d ago
Moldova in Romanian, Moldavia is how foreigners say it
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u/Comfortable-Bonus421 5d ago
I repeat.
In the English language, the country is known as Moldova.
In other languages, it might be different.
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u/viktorbir Catalonia 5d ago
Either Moldavia (Moldova) or Moldavia (Romania). In my language both are called the same. Aren't they in English?
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u/Bierzgal Poland 5d ago
I would probably assume they are from Moldova. Especially since in polish Moldova is "Mołdawia", which sounds almost exactly like "Moldavia".
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u/RursusSiderspector 5d ago
Moldova. Moldavia is a historical term, nobody comes from there anymore, or if they do, they're probably some 150-200 years old. Romanians don't use the term Moldavia for any political subdivision of theirs, the region in question is simply called Nord-Est. I once was corrected by a Romanian that claimed that Wallachia was obsolete, and the name was Oltenia. Wallachia once upon a time combined Oltenia with Muntenia.
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u/timeless_change Italy 5d ago
Moldavia is the Italian name for Moldova so I had a bit of trouble when I first read your title 😂
Both can be used in Italian but Moldavia is the most used commonly