The mystery of “Venice” in 🇹🇷:

Almost without fail, names for cities and countries in west/north Europe in Turkish derive from Italian due to frequent late medieval-era cultural and political exchange between the Ottomans and Italian city states, among them most notably Venice
2. Due to frequent Ottoman contact with Venice & other Italian city states, almost all names for cities and countries in western and northern Europe in Turkish derive from Italian, including İsviçre (🇨🇭Svizzera), Cenevre (🇨🇭Ginevra), İsveç (🇸🇪 Svezia) & İngiltere (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Inghilterra)
3. The impact of historic and frequent Ottoman contact with Venice and other Italian city states on Turkish language has been so powerful that even names for nearby Mediterranean cities have entered into Turkish via Italian, therefore “Marsilya”
and not “Marseille” in Turkish
4. As a result of frequent exchange between Ottomans and Venice (other Italian city states) in late medieval era, names for many west European countries and cities in Turkish are often direct borrowing from Italian —Take for instance, Londra (you guessed it, from 🇮🇹 “Londra”)
5. While historic contact with Venice and other Italian city states has given 🇹🇷 language dozens of names for European cities & countries, from Londra to İsveç -all from Italian- the name for Venice in Turkish, “Venedik”, derives from German, and not 🇮🇹

🧐 The mystery of Venice
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