|
|
Question
#38415. ladyjane160
asks:
Why are the names of certain nations referred to as "The," for example, The Yemen, The Gambia, The Lebanon?
|
Stew54
|
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.
Sep 04 03, 7:07 PM
|
Gnomon
|
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.
Sep 05 03, 3:55 AM
|
|
Fun Trivia | 
Quizzes | 
Games
| 
People | 
Services | 
Help | 
Me
Sign up for your FREE FunTrivia ID! Compete,
play free games, and meet people! Click here...
Have a question that you want answered? Are you able to answer questions from other FunTrivia guests? Then you have come to the right
place!