Endonym and exonym

An endonym or autonym is a common, self-chosen, native name of a group of people, an individual person of that group, a geographical place, a language or a dialect; it is 'native' in the sense that it is used inside or by a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate themselves, their place of origin, or their language.

An exonym or xenonym is a foreign-established, non-native name for a group of people, an individual person of that group, a geographical place, a language, or a dialect, meaning that it is used primarily outside the particular place inhabited by the group or linguistic community. Exonyms exist not only for historico-geographical reasons but also in consideration of difficulties when pronouncing foreign words, or from non-systematic or failed attempts to properly and faithfully transcribe and translate local-originated names into different writing systems.

For instance, Deutschland is the endonym for the country that is also known by the exonyms Germany and Germania (in English and Italian, respectively), Alemania and Allemagne (in Spanish and French, respectively), Niemcy (in Polish), and Saksa and Saksamaa (in Finnish and Estonian, respectively).

Naming and etymology

The terms autonym, endonym, exonym and xenonym are formed by adding specific prefixes to the Greek root word ὄνομα (ónoma) 'name', from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nómn̥.

The prefixes added to these terms are also derived from Greek:

endonym: ἔνδον (éndon) 'within';

exonym: ἔξω (éxō) 'outside';

autonym: αὐτός (autós) 'self'; and

xenonym: ξένος (xénos) 'foreign'.

The terms autonym and xenonym also have different applications, thus leaving endonym and exonym as the preferred forms.

Marcel Aurousseau, an Australian geographer, first used the term exonym in his work The Rendering of Geographical Names (1957).

Typology

Endonyms and exonyms can be divided into three main categories:

endonyms and exonyms of places (toponyms),

endonyms and exonyms of humans (anthroponyms), including names of ethnic groups (ethnonyms), localised populations (demonyms), and individuals (personal names),

endonyms and exonyms of languages (glossonyms).

Endonyms and exonyms of toponyms

As it pertains to geographical features, the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names defines:

Endonym: "Name of a geographical feature in an official or well-established language occurring in that area where the feature is located."

Exonym: "Name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is spoken, and differing in its form from the name used in an official or well-established language of that area where the geographical feature is located."

For example, India, China, Egypt, and Germany are the English-language exonyms corresponding to the endonyms Bhārat (भारत), Zhōngguó (中国), Masr (مَصر), and Deutschland, respectively.