A name for a place or person used by outsiders that differs from the name used by the people who live there or by the person themselves.
From Greek 'exo-' (outside) and '-onym' (name). This linguistic term emerged in the 20th century to describe how different cultures call the same place by different names, like how English speakers say 'Munich' while Germans say 'München'.
Exonyms show how geography is culturally constructed—the city of 'Istanbul' was called 'Constantinople' by outsiders for centuries, and 'Cologne' in English comes from the Latin name 'Colonia,' not from the German 'Köln.' It's like each culture gets to rename the world according to their own languages and histories.
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