England
From Old English Engla Land, “Angle Land”, named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that invaded southern Britain in the 5th century AD. The Angles were called this because they came from the land of Angul, right where the peninsula of Denmark (Jutland) stabs into northern Germany. Here, the coastline makes a sharp ninety-degree angle; hence, Angul.
The primary syllable, “Eng”, is light, tense energy, reverberating. The implications for the character of the English is one that lends itself to cycles of high energy alternating with times of quieter retraction. (Will the British Empire rise again?) “Land” is an interesting case: diffuse, balanced power narrowed and targeted towards a decision. This seems very appropriate for the landing that an airplane does, but is harder to relate to a broad countryside. However, the original meaning of land definitely included the idea of a bordered territory, one which belonged only to one person or tribe; so perhaps the “nd” ending refers to that.
