Endonym and exonym

An endonym (also known as autonym) is a common, native name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, or linguistic community in question; it is their self-identification and self-designated name for themselves, their homeland, or their language.

An exonym (also known as xenonym) is an established, non-native name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used only outside that particular place, group, or linguistic community.[1] Exonyms exist not only for historico-geographical reasons but also in consideration of difficulties when pronouncing foreign words,[1] or from non-systematic attempts at transcribing into a different writing system.[2]

For instance, Deutschland is the endonym for the country that is also known by the exonym Germany in English, Alemania in Spanish and Niemcy in Polish.


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