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Why do we call China,'China'?

L

LOLyourFace

Banned
As for me being Korean, I know why Korea is called Korea despite what we call our nation, 'Han Kuk'

Back in dynasty days (10-15th century~), 'Korea' was actually comprised of 3 distinct nations: Shinra, Baek Jae, & Koryuh. The 3 nations constantly fought for power and ultimately Koryuh united them all by taking down both Baek Jae and Shinra.

Soon after this happened, the westerners started to take great interest in countries in Asia. I believe this was also the time when both countries of East and West started to trade with one another with great interest.

The europeans talked about this interesting nation called Koryuh and that word molded into the shape of our current name, Korea. That was even after our Koryuh was changed to ChoSun then to our current korean name, Han Kook.

So what's the deal with China and Japan? Chinese call themselves Jong Kuok. (Jong being the center, Kuok means Nation) Then where did the word, "China" come from? How about for Japan? Why instead of Nippon?
 
Found this on China: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CHEMPIRE/CHIN.HTM
In Chinese history, the Ch'in are the great, evil dynasty, but Western historians often stand in awe of the Ch'in. They were repressive, autocratic, and frequently cruel, but they were also brilliant political theorists and reformers who historically brought about one of the most energetic periods of Chinese government. Their story, however, is a very brief one. For from the time the Ch'in unified China in 221 BC, to the time of their fall fifteen years later in 206 BC, not even a generation had passed. For all that, so massive was their accomplishment that our name for China is derived from the Ch'in.
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Also this: http://www.sacklunch.net/placenames/C/China.html
China: Is a Western corruption of Tsina, so called in honor of Tsin, the founder of the great dynasty which commenced in the Third Century B.C., when a knowledge of this country was first conveyed to the Western nations. It was this Tsin who began to build the great wall of China (or Tsin) to keep out the Barbarians.
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we got our word for china for the persians. chin comes from the chinese word Qin, which was the dynasty that was ruling at the time trade took off with the persians.
 
If I remember correctly the word 'Japan' comes from old Chinese. It translated something about where the sun rises, or something of that nature. I suppose the point is, contrary to what you may think, there is rhyme and reason to why things are done the way they are.

Edit: had to surf the net to find it again, but the old Chinese pronunctation of Japan is ja-pun. I don't know, maybe that is how they say it still, but that is how it was originally said to the Europeans and is what stuck.
 
Yeah, I think the name "Japan" is based off of the Chinese words for Sun and Book, the two kanji characters which make up the word Nihon, the Japanese word for Japan. (Japanese and Chinese share kanji, the ideograms. Or as most of you know it, all them funny blocks of those there squiggly-lookin' lines. The meanings are usually the same, but the pronunciations are massively different.)
 
Originally posted by: Rudee
Why do we call an Orange a "Orange" but we don't call an Apple a "red"?
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From wikipedia.org :

The fruit originated in India (some say Vietnam) and was called na rangi in Sanskrit. The na rangi or naranja was translated as "norange", and in English usage a norange was back-formed into the more acceptable an orange. The same thing happened in French and Italian, but in Spanish it is still naranja. (Not every language uses naranja as the root for their word; Dutch, for example, calls the fruit sinaasappel but calls the colour oranje.)


For apple?
So where'd it get the name "apple"? Likely from the Latin abella, the name of a Campanian town that was renowned for its orchards and whose fruits were likely carried to the Roman frontier in England...subsequently it became the Old English aeppel, which meant fruit, eyeball, anything round.
 
Originally posted by: Babbles
If I remember correctly the word 'Japan' comes from old Chinese. It translated something about where the sun rises, or something of that nature. I suppose the point is, contrary to what you may think, there is rhyme and reason to why things are done the way they are.

Edit: had to surf the net to find it again, but the old Chinese pronunctation of Japan is ja-pun. I don't know, maybe that is how they say it still, but that is how it was originally said to the Europeans and is what stuck.
Click to expand...

Strange, the pronunciation for Japan in Chinese (Mandarin) is actually "Nippon" Which is also how some Japanese people pronounce it or "Nihon".
 
Originally posted by: Pepsei
Originally posted by: Babbles
If I remember correctly the word 'Japan' comes from old Chinese. It translated something about where the sun rises, or something of that nature. I suppose the point is, contrary to what you may think, there is rhyme and reason to why things are done the way they are.

Edit: had to surf the net to find it again, but the old Chinese pronunctation of Japan is ja-pun. I don't know, maybe that is how they say it still, but that is how it was originally said to the Europeans and is what stuck.
Click to expand...

Strange, the pronunciation for Japan in Chinese (Mandarin) is actually "Nippon" Which is also how some Japanese people pronounce it or "Nihon".
Click to expand...

In cantonese, Japan is "Yatpun" or close to ja-pun i guess
 
Originally posted by: Bootprint
Originally posted by: Rudee
Why do we call an Orange a "Orange" but we don't call an Apple a "red"?
Click to expand...

From wikipedia.org :

The fruit originated in India (some say Vietnam) and was called na rangi in Sanskrit. The na rangi or naranja was translated as "norange", and in English usage a norange was back-formed into the more acceptable an orange. The same thing happened in French and Italian, but in Spanish it is still naranja. (Not every language uses naranja as the root for their word; Dutch, for example, calls the fruit sinaasappel but calls the colour oranje.)


For apple?
So where'd it get the name "apple"? Likely from the Latin abella, the name of a Campanian town that was renowned for its orchards and whose fruits were likely carried to the Roman frontier in England...subsequently it became the Old English aeppel, which meant fruit, eyeball, anything round.
Click to expand...

Good job! 😉
 
Originally posted by: Pepsei
Originally posted by: Babbles
If I remember correctly the word 'Japan' comes from old Chinese. It translated something about where the sun rises, or something of that nature. I suppose the point is, contrary to what you may think, there is rhyme and reason to why things are done the way they are.

Edit: had to surf the net to find it again, but the old Chinese pronunctation of Japan is ja-pun. I don't know, maybe that is how they say it still, but that is how it was originally said to the Europeans and is what stuck.
Click to expand...

Strange, the pronunciation for Japan in Chinese (Mandarin) is actually "Nippon" Which is also how some Japanese people pronounce it or "Nihon".
Click to expand...


lol chinese don't call Japan "nippon". I don't know pinyin very well (used the taiwanese system), but I'm 100% sure that pinyin is not even like that anyways.
 
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Yeah, I think the name "Japan" is based off of the Chinese words for Sun and Book, the two kanji characters which make up the word Nihon, the Japanese word for Japan. (Japanese and Chinese share kanji, the ideograms. Or as most of you know it, all them funny blocks of those there squiggly-lookin' lines. The meanings are usually the same, but the pronunciations are massively different.)
Click to expand...

Ding! Two minor corrections. The Chinese charater for 'book' is also the same charater for origin. The charater came from a pictograph of a tree with the roots emphasied, and then later came to mean book since books were considered the origin of knowledge. Also, as for the Sun character, there is a lot of debate if it is to mean literally the Sun or the first emperor of japan, who used that character as his name.

-Chu
 
China used to be 9 small countries. Around 2000 yrs ago, Qin (chin as called by western historians) conquered them all and formed a united country called the "middle kingdom".
 
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