Ukraine

[Gary H. Toops]

First some remarks on Max Pyziur's French examples:

The French name for "Ukraine" is precisely that: "Ukraine" (two syllables),
not *Ukranie.  "En Ukraine" means "in/to (the) Ukraine."  Although the
French names of most countries are accompanied by the definite article, not
all are, two notable examples being Israe"l (en Israe"l) and Cuba (a` Cuba).

The French situation is complicated, furthermore, by the fact that country
names that were once feminine are now masculine, so, e.g., Que'bec (au
Que'bec) and Luxembourg (au Luxembourg).  Their original feminine gender
is reflected in frozen, "historical" appellations like "Province de Que'bec"
(in lieu of "Province du Que'bec") and "Grand-Duche' de Luxembourg" (in
lieu of "Grand-Duche' du Luxembourg").

I disagree that the use of "de France" and "de la France" is dictated by
notions of partitivity.  One says, for example, "La Banque de France"
'the Bank of France', but "les banques de la France" 'the banks of France,
France's banks', i.e., the latter formulation would appear to be possessive.
This distinction is not possible with country names of masculine gender,
since the article is not omissible.  (Cf. also "le Dieu d'amour" 'the God
of love, the loving God' vs. "la de'esse de l'amour" 'the goddess of love,
the love goddess').

I also disagree with Loren Billings when he says that "the Sudan" refers
to the sub-Sahara.  (The) Sudan borders southern Egypt; the Sahara is
further west.

It has always been my impression that English country names like "the
Lebanon" and "the Gambia" are British, not American; at least I grew up
in the U.S. saying "Lebanon" and "Gambia."  Also, "Gold Coast" (when it
existed) seemed American, "the Gold Coast" - British.

The rule for use of the definite article in German is fairly straight-
forward (at least more so than in French):  if the country name is a
neuter noun (most of them are), then no article is used.  So, Deutschland,
Frankreich, Spanien, Kanada, China, etc. (not *das Deutschland, etc.).
"In" the country is express as "in" (in Deutschland, in Frankreich, in
Spanien...), "to" the country as "nach" (nach Deutschland, nach Frank-
reich, etc.).  Even though plural nouns denoting countries should use
_in + article + accusative_, one hears more and more frequently "nach
USA" instead of correct "in die USA" 'to the USA' (but only "in die
Vereinigten Staaten" 'to the United States').

Masculine and feminine country names in German require the article.  "In"
the country is _in + article + dative_, "to" the country is _in + article
+ accusative_.  So, one says "in der/die Ukraine," "in der/die Schweiz,"
"in der/die Tuerkei," "in der/die Mongolei," "in dem/den Iran," "in dem/
den Libanon."  With the independence of the Czech Republic, what was
called "die Tshechei" (in der/die Tschechei) under Hitler is now called
(neuter) Tsechien (in/nach Tschechien).


Gary H. Toops                               TOOPS at TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU
Associate Professor                         Ph (316) 689-3180
Wichita State University                    Fx (316) 689-3293
Wichita, Kansas 67260-0011 USA              http://www.twsu.edu/~mcllwww