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by atleta 1399 days ago
FWIW, Germany which is also a federal state, also calls its constituents states. (Just to mention a non-English-speaking example.)
3 comments

Germany is a "Bundesstaat" (or "Staat"). The name for its constituents is "Bundesland" (or "Land"). I do not think it is a correct example.
Well, I don't speak German (only recognize a few words), but the meanings of "Land" seem to include both "country" and "state". (As it's part of quite a few country names in German. Including Deutschland itself :) )

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Land#German

“Deutschland” historically meant “the territory where German-speaking people live”, not a country. The name comes from early Middle Ages when the concept of a national country was not established yet. The idea of Deutschland as a country exists only from 19 century.
Well, that's true for most countries. The idea of nation states originated (or at least became popular) in the 19th century. Before that the areas were mostly organized around rulers (like kings).

But it has little to do with the current meaning of the word. I've looked up a few more countries that have the word 'Land' in their name: Weißrussland, England, Estland, Finnland, Griechenland, Russland, etc.

It indeed looks pretty common.

Adjacent Netherlands is also one of the four countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten being the other three).
a close neighboring country to the USA is the United Mexican States, Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

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