undefined | Better HN

0 pointsY_Y4mo ago0 comments

https://thelanguagenerds.com/2023/literal-chinese-translatio...

You might then enjoy a list of these "accidental semantics" acquired by foreign country names, which are* rough transliterations, usually from local or English name.

I can't find the nice source I originally had, so here's a stochastic patrot's approximation:

  United States 美国 Měiguó Beautiful Country
  China 中国 Zhōngguó Middle Country
  Japan 日本 Rìběn Origin of the Sun
  Germany 德国 Déguó Virtuous Country
  India 印度 Yìndù India
  United Kingdom 英国 Yīngguó Heroic Country
  France 法国 Fǎguó Law Country
  Italy 意大利 Yìdàlì Italy
  Canada 加拿大 Jiānádà Canada
  South Korea 韩国 Hánguó Han Country

* Obviously CJK etc countries already had names

0 comments

fluoridation4mo ago

Most of those are just phonetic approximations using convenient characters. I'm not sure I'd say the names have any semantic content. The names for China, Korea, and Japan are the names the ancient Chinese gave them. China is the "middle" or "center" country because it's the country of the people who named it. Japan is the origin of the sun because it's to the East of China. And of course the Han are what Koreans called themselves. Nothing accidental about any of those names.

pimlottc4mo ago

Sure, but there are multiple characters nearly every sound in Mandarin, I’m sure it’s no accident they ended up with mostly flattering ones.

pinkmuffinere4mo ago

+1, it's no accident. The most obvious case is with corporate names, which sometimes get carefully analyzed in translation. Coca-Cola is famously translated as 可口可乐 (Ke3 kou3 ke3 le4, numbers indicate tones), with individual characters meaning "can taste can happy", and intuitively meaning something like "drinkable deliciousness"

0xis4mo ago

According to Baxter & Sagart (2014), the name Hán 韓 *[g]ˤar is from Gaya language word kara.

Y_YOP4mo ago

Indeed, that is what I wrote

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse