Last weeks POLL question was
"WHAT WAS AN OLD NAME FOR AUSTRALIA?"
Well 3 of the 6 answers were correct...
Before Australia was explored and mapped it was known only as
Terra Austalis Incognita
(which is Latin for "Unknown Southern Land").
It was later known to the Dutch as New Holland
& the English as New South Wales
(which is now the name of the state that Sydney is the capital of).
It is often referred to by the nick names
"Aus/Oz" (which I think sounds more like a place you go to
when a whirlwind picks your house up)
& "Down Under" (which I think sounds like
another name for your bottom).
The answers "Prison Island" &
"The Land of Hopping Animals" were of course wrong,
and the answer "Hell" was partially correct
as that is what I sometimes call it.
(just joking, I love Australia, most of the time...)
We noticed that
only 1 person voted on last weeks poll question.
Why? Did you not like the question?
Or is the poll not an interesting feature?
Please vote for this weeks question,
it's really easy, just one click of your mouse
(and we have no idea who you are
so don't worry about feeling shy.)
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It was later known to the Dutch as New Holland
& the English as New South Wales
(which is now the name of the state that Sydney is the capital of).
It is often referred to by the nick names
"Aus/Oz" (which I think sounds more like a place you go to
when a whirlwind picks your house up)
& "Down Under" (which I think sounds like
another name for your bottom).
The answers "Prison Island" &
"The Land of Hopping Animals" were of course wrong,
and the answer "Hell" was partially correct
as that is what I sometimes call it.
(just joking, I love Australia, most of the time...)
We noticed that
only 1 person voted on last weeks poll question.
Why? Did you not like the question?
Or is the poll not an interesting feature?
Please vote for this weeks question,
it's really easy, just one click of your mouse
(and we have no idea who you are
so don't worry about feeling shy.)
It's important for us to know
what parts of the blog you enjoy.
Thanks
The name your country “Australia” is derived from “Austalis” of Terra Austalis Incognita, isn’t it? That’s COOL! I associate Latin with a great or almost lost language. You can be proud of the name Australia:)
ReplyDeleteYeah although Latin is a dead language (no one speaks it anymore) it can still be very useful in helping us understand lots of words. Knowing a bit of Latin can also make it easier to understand other “Romantic” languages like Spanish, French & Italian.
ReplyDelete:P
Australia was discovered by the Dutch WELL before Captain Cook landed, That"s why old maps say New Holland or Neu Holland (Hollande Nuvo)The English knew were to look, even in the map above Half of the country is considered Dutch territories, the other half "Terra Australis". The west coast was mapped in 1601 by the Dutch vessel the Duyfken. This is not tought in schools but Look it up!!!
ReplyDeleteWho are you? And why are you commenting on a post that is over a year old? Did you read the post above? I said that it was known a Terra Australis Incognita BEFORE it was explored and mapped.
ReplyDeleteLegends of Terra Australis Incognita—an "unknown land of the South"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent.
I NEVER said that Cook discovered it first.
I listed the Dutch name before the English name as a nod to the Dutch finding it first. They did not however, settle the land. This IS taught in schools and is common knowledge.
Phil @ RLE