Date
Type Country
Usage Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovene, Croatian, Albanian, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay
Pronounced Pron. beh-neh-SWEH-la(Latin American Spanish) beh-neh-THWEH-la(European Spanish) veh-neht-tsoo-EH-la(Italian) VEH-NEH-ZWEH-LA(French) vehn-i-ZWAY-lə(English) veh-nə-zuy-EH-la(Dutch) VEH-neh-zoo-eh-law(Hungarian)
Meaning & History
Possibly from Italian Veneziola meaning "little Venice". This is the name of a country on the northern coast of South America. The region was supposedly named this in 1499 by a Spanish expedition (which included Amerigo Vespucci) because an indigenous town on Lake Maracaibo was built on stilts over the water, reminiscent of the Italian city. Another theory suggests that the country's name comes from Veneciuela, the name of a local people.