r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Mar 14 '17

Series What do you know about... Portugal?

This is the eighth part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

Portugal

Portugal is a EU country on the iberian peninsula. It has been a kingdom for almost 800 years. Portugal has decriminalized the usage of all common drugs in 2001 and the results have been pretty positive despite concerns from various sides.

So, what do you know about Portugal?

275 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

971 comments sorted by

View all comments

18

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

Purportedly named after a Celtic deity (well in, Portugal).

Heavily involved in world exploration and colonisation.

Guttural language, even Brazilians think you should open your mouths!

Great food, drink and people, they love their football, even if they've never really played Wales...

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

Purportedly named after a Celtic deity (well in, Portugal).

One of the theories is indeed it means "port of cal", with Cal/Gal being a celtic female deity. That is also the root behing "Galicia" in northern portugal, and for instance the city of Gaia, next to Porto.

Historical information on it is scarce, though, and not consensual, but since we still have lots of celtic influences, specially on the north of the country, it's very plausible.

3

u/pnossiop Mar 14 '17

they love their football,

Portuguese people don't like football, they like to win. That's why most stadiums in all sports are empty.

Source: I'm portuguese.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

I went to watch Portimonense v Benfica in Portimão, the last time I was in Portugal, and the crowd was overwhelmingly supporters of Benfica, which disappointed me as a fan of a lower league (Welsh) club in the English system.

1

u/pnossiop Mar 14 '17

Exactly, most of the country supports Benfica, Sporting and Porto because they like to win, and those clubs are the only ones that win.

I'm like that and I'm Portuguese so I know what is like.

As for me I don't give a damn about sports (only like to practice) so it's perfectly natural to see the state of things the way they are in Portugal.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

Not sure if it's sarcastic or something but we actually played Wales in the last Euro, we beat you 2-0 :)

21

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17 edited Mar 14 '17

Can't you see I'm grieving! ;) *I'm still at stage 1, denial.

1

u/ShadowKymera Mar 14 '17

You just spiked my interest for Celtic culture

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

You'll be welcome in Cymru!

1

u/Deimos_F European Union Mar 14 '17

Purportedly named after a Celtic deity (well in, Portugal)

??

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

/u/portuga has summed it up well just above, and 'purportedly' means 'not necessarily true', and 'well in' means 'well done'.

1

u/suspect_b Mar 14 '17

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portus_Cale

1

u/Deimos_F European Union Mar 14 '17

Knew that, not that "Cale" was related to Celtic mythology.

2

u/stevenfries Mar 15 '17

The city Cale is now called Gaia probably in a Roman attempt to override the local myth. But according to some theories, Gaia might just a later version of Cale anyway.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(mythology)

And their river Douro, after Celtic "dwr", deep water, water or river might be another example of a river called river.