The translation of Monaco to Munich comes as a surprise, but it seems you could clarify that you mean Munich, Bavaria by saying ‘Monaco di Baviera’, or you could indicate the Monaco principality by saying ‘Principato di Monaco’
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As always, conversational context comes in handy - “Sono un monaco di Monaco in Germania e voglio andare a Monaco per vedere il Gran Premio”
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A solid point about context.
I found this interesting tidbit by a resident of Munich:
The city of Munich (München) is thought to be named after monks (modern German Mönche) who lived there around the 12th century and were presumably connected to the monastery at Schäftlarn. At any rate, the name in its earliest recorded form, forum apud munichen, was eventually Latinized as Monacum, which would have then given rise to the modern Italian name of the city, Monaco, and other forms such as Munich.
The name of the Principality of Monaco is entirely unrelated and can be traced back to an ancient Greek colony by the name of Mónoikos, but nonetheless, there remains the potential for confusion.
What do you do when you have two places with the same name? You add something to make at least one of the names unique: Frankfurt an der Oder. Newcastle-under-Lyme. Aix-les-Bains. Monaco di Baviera.
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Veeery interesting Bill. I’ve often wondered about “Monaco”.
Very interesting.
But maybe geography shouldn’t be “translated” at all.
Just because you are used to “Munich”, it is not more “natural” or “less strange” than “Monaco”.
Whether a “translation” for e.g. a city name exists in another language is more or less abitrary.
See this recent discussion in the German forum:
Whether a “translation” for e.g. a city name exists in another language is more or less abitrary.
We do have naming practices which have evolved over time, the product not really of arbitrariness (random choice or personal whim), but of a complex social and cultural history/evolution. When we “translate” a city name into our own language we are using our language’s naming practice to clearly identify the city. Of course often a city or village has no such special naming practice, and we just use something like the name the people of that country call their city. And often, as you say, the practice changes or evolves, but maybe not arbitrarily.