Well … Madagascar is a shortcut for la République de Madagascar
Adding a one pixel state, it’s le Vatican of course.
This map is, I’m afraid, largely useless, except in serving to show the gulf that exists between languages that have grammar with genders and those that don’t.
A few examples. The US is shown in blue because its official name is *Les États unis" which is masculine because “État” is masculine. But “Amérique” is feminine. Mexico is masculine because the original Spanish is masculine also, just like “Brasil” is masculine in Portuguese. The UK is masculine because its official name is “Le Royaume uni” and “royaume” is masculine. But “Angleterre” is feminine because “terre” (land) is feminine, from the Latin “terra”. Écosse (Scotland) is feminine, whereas Wales is masculine, because the French translation is “Pays des Galles” and “pays” is masculine. All countries whose names begin with “Republic of” will be feminine in French, because “République” is feminine, from the Latin, again. Australia is feminine because its name comes originally from the latin “Terra australis incognito” - unknown southern land.
In other words, this doesn’t signify anything, and more than the fact that there are seventy million “personnes” (people) in France means that they are all feminine.
Belongs in /r/jai14ansetcestinteressant
Well I don’t suppose it’s meant to be useful. Especially pointless that it distinguishes between La and L’. But it’s interesting anyway.
Maybe because république is feminine ?
Another confusing French map !
Anyway, There’s a little mistake, Algeria should be colored with a brighter red, because it’s L’Algérie not La Algérie…
The more so because its official title is the République algérienne democratique et populaire and is therefore truly feminine.
On the other hand, if the kingdom of Morocco (le Maroc or le Royaume du Maroc, both masculine) were to become a republic, it would move from blue to red …
yes like in la République populaire démocratique de Corée ( DPRK )
I’m most curious about why some of these countries do not take any article.
Anybody know what’s up with that?
Maybe we should ask the Gambia?
One should never assume the assigned gender for a country is the one the country will identify as…
Or the Sudan…
On the map, most of the Congo basin is feminine.
Good question, maybe because it’s islands. So for example Madagascar is short for l’île de Madagascar (island of Madagascar)… But, hum, I have honestly no idea.
Note : City don’t have articles it’s not le or la Paris, just Paris, but régions have articles L’Aquitaine, Le Pas-de-Calais, etc.
All of this is really confusing.
That’s because it’s mostly the République démocratique du Congo, and French compound names take their gender from the first noun. But “Congo” is masculine, and Zaire, which was the name of the country for much of Mobutu’s reign, is masculine also. The country changed genders about fifteen years ago - which demonstrates how silly all this.
Indeed. The German names for Germany and France are both neuter …
