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Why are the names of certain nations referred to as "The," for example, The Yemen, The Gambia, The Lebanon?
Question
#38415. Asked by ladyjane160. (Sep 04 03 3:01 PM)
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Stew54
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A possible reason in some cases is that the name of the country in its native language has a definitie article. I know that is the case with the Yemen (al Yaman) for example.
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Gnomon
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The Gambia is called that because it is a river, the river Gambia. Everything around the river gets the same name as the river, so the country is called The Gambia.
I don't know about the other ones. Up to about 1950 the country now called Cameroon was always called The Cameroons.
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