Exonym and Endonym (Paperback)

An exonym is a name for a place or a personal name that is not used within that place or for that person by the local inhabitants (neither in the official language of the state nor in local languages), or a name for a people or language that is not used by the people or language to which it refers. The name used by the people or locals themselves is called endonym, autonym, or self-appellation. For example, Germany is the English exonym corresponding to the endonym Deutschland and Greece is the English exonym corresponding to the endonym Ellada. Exonyms may derive from distinct roots as in the case of Deutschland, Germany mentioned above, they may be cognate words which have diverged in pronunciation or orthography, or they may be fully or partially translated from the native language. For example, London is known as Londres in French, Spanish and Portuguese, Londino in Greek, Londen in Dutch, Londra in Italian, Romanian and Turkish, Londn in Czech and Slovak, Londyn in Polish, Lundnir in Icelandic, and Lontoo in Finnish. An example of a translated exonym is the name Soviet Union. Exonyms can also be divided into native and borrowed (i.e., from a third language).