The Top 10: Countries that used to be ‘the’

From the Argentine to the Ukraine: nations that used to take the definite article

Map of Argentine Republic, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, 1892

This was an idea of Tom McTague’s, when Ukraine, which dropped the “The” when the USSR broke up in 1991, was in the news four years ago (leading up to the Russian annexation of Crimea). It turned out to be complicated, so I allowed myself to be diverted into compiling a list of old names of countries instead. To resume, then, only The Bahamas and The Gambia now must have a definite article in English, according to The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World and the US Department of State.

There is also El Salvador, “The Saviour” in Spanish, and Algeria, named after Algiers, which is from al-Jazā’ir, “The Islands” in Arabic. (Joyously, the name in Spanish, Argelia, transposes the L and R.)

1. The Argentine. Nominated by Toad and Graham Kirby. In English, this form was more common than “Argentina” in the 1840s to 1860s. According to Wikipedia, most Argentinians call it “la Argentina”.

2. The Congo. Nominated by Greg Callus and Kevin Dunbar. Two countries, both of which were called “the” probably because they are named after the river. This seems to happen with geographical features (see the Gambia River, and the Bahama islands, above). Now their full names, often used to tell them apart, have two definite articles: “the Democratic Republic of the Congo” and “the Republic of the Congo”.

3. The French Territory of the Afars and Issas. Named thus 1967-77. Now Djibouti.

4. The Gilbert Islands. Now Kiribati, pronounced Kiribass, a local rendering of “Gilbert”, and the only country in the northern, southern, eastern and western hemispheres.

5. The Gold Coast. Now Ghana. Nominated by John Peters and Geof Walker.

6. The Irish Free State. The name of Ireland from 1922 to 1937. Thanks to Mick O’Hare.

7. The Lebanon. Another geographical feature, the country named after Mount Lebanon. Nominated by Greg Callus, Graham Kirby and Mary Novakovich.

8. The Sudan. And another, “the black lands”. Nominated by Mary Novakovich and Graham Kirby.

9. The Swiss Confederation. Still the formal name of the country. Bonus points for knowing that the Swiss German name of the country, Schwiiz, sounds the same as Schwyz, the name of one of its cantons, and is distinguished in speech by the definite article, d’Schwiiz.

10. The Ukraine. Where we started: Ukrainians regard the definite article as an insult because it comes from a disputed etymology of u-krayina meaning borderland and suggests the country is part of Russia.

Many countries still require “the” in normal speech, even if they are not part of the formal name: the Maldives and the Philippines (although it is just Pilipinas in Filipino; named after Philip II, Felipe II, of Spain), the Netherlands (which contains a city with the definite article, The Hague), the Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom and the United States. This last used to be plural before the Civil War: “The United States are …”

Next week: Foreign Words for Animals, such as slug in German: Nacktschnecke or naked snail

Coming soon: Album Title Puns, such as Aladdin Sane

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk