Name of Iran their country "Arya", "Iran", "Iranshahr", "Iranzamin" (Land of Iran), "Aryānām" (the equivalent of "Iran" in the proto-Iranian language) or its equivalents. The term "Arya" has been used by the Iranian people, as well as by the rulers and emperors of Iran, from the time of the Avesta. Evidently from the time of the Sassanids (226–651 CE) Iranians have called it "Iran", meaning "the land of Aryans" and "Iranshahr". In Middle Persian sources, the name "Arya" and "Iran" is used for the pre-Sassanid Iranian empires as well as the Sassanid empire. As an example, the use of the name "Iran" for
Name of Canada — in "Bref récit", Cartier fully understands the actual meaning of the word ("They call a town Canada"), and his earliest name for the wider territory is "le pays des Canadas" ("country of Canadas", "land of Canadas" or "land of villages"). While the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian origin for the name "Canada" is now widely accepted, other theories have been put forth in the past. The most common alternative theory suggested that the name originated when Portuguese or Spanish explorers, having explored the northern part of the continent and unable to find gold and silver, wrote ("nothing here" in Portuguese), or ("Cape