"Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines

[Barbara Need]

>FYI
>
>      Lateran Treaty

Stuff deleted showing use of "Vatican City" rather than "the Vatican City".

Is this the text of the treaty? If so, it is a translation from,
what? Latin? Italian? When does the translation date from? Is it
contemporaneous with the original treaty? A recent translation? If it
is not a translation, when does the text date from.

My point is that different languages handle the question of articles
in front of country names differently (I know this comes as no
surprise!). What I call Paraguay in English is el Paraguay in
Spanish. Originally, the Ukraine was called just that, for whatever
reason, be it ellipsis or something else. After independence the
country requested (demanded?) that English remove the article. I have
never figured out why.

Perhaps when I reacted to "in Vatican City", my ear was expecting to
hear "in the Vatican" and so I found the actual form odd. But whyever
I found it odd, I did so. I guess I just speak a funny variety of
this funny language.

Barbara