Re: Language naming terminology

Nik Taylor wrote:

> Related note: in my Japanese class, we've learned some nation-terms,
> most of them are based on the words used by the peoples themselves.
> Nationality is the nation's name + -jin, and language is nation + -go
> Japan = Nihon or Nippon (written with kanji meaning "origin" and "sun")
> China = Chuugoku (written with kanji meaning "middle" and "country")
> Korea = Kankoku (written with a compound kanji, the second means
> "country", I don't know what the first means)
> Germany = Doitsu
> Italy = Itaria
> France = Furansu
> England = Eikoku (literally "Proud" or "Brilliant" Country!) OR Igirisu
> (I don't know why it's not *Ingirisu)
> Thailand = Tai
> Switzerland = Suisu
> Spain = Supein (not *Esupanya)
> India = Indo
> Egypt = Ejiputo
> Australia = Oosutoraria (took me a while to figure that one out)
> New Zealand = Nyuujiirando
> Vietnam = Betonamu (at least, I think that is Vietnam)
yes
> America = Amerika or Beikoku (literally "Country of Rice"!)
> I don't know why some have -koku at the end,
You're probably looking at direct Chinese imports. China, of course, has
been calling itself the Middle Kingdom from time immemorial. Don't know
about the word "Nihon" itself. "Source of the sun", aka Land of the
Rising Sun, makes sense if you're standing on Chinese soil, but perhaps
it has to do with the sun goddess in Japanese mythology (whose name my
brain refuses to remember -- begins with an "A". Ameritsusomething?),
from whom the imperial line is supposed to be descended (FWIW, in
official writing, -koku is tacked on to Japan as well: Nihonkoku).

As for "Kankoku" (Chinese: Hanguo), my Chinese dictionary says the
character "han" originally meant "fence" -- whether that means anything
in terms of the Chinese naming of Korea, I have no idea. The character
is also a Chinese surname and a name of two feudal states in the late
Chou Dynasty. The Korean language in Korean is Hangul, so I'll hazard a
guess that in Korean the country is called "Hangwok", "Hankwok",
"Hangok", "Hankok" or some such. Don't know what the Koreans called
themselves before the Chinese got there. There is an older word for
Korea in Chinese, Chaoxian (chao = imperial court, dynasty; xian =
fresh; attractive), which exists as well in Japanese as "Choosen".

Eikoku makes more apparent sense in Chinese where it's read "Yingguo",
the "ying" meant to sound like the "eng" in England (actually, there is
a fuller, older term: Yinggelan. It's rarely used now except as a name
for chi-chi karaoke clubs and motels that rent by the hour). That the
character has a flattering meaning is merekan added bennie. This is the
same principal behind the Chinese word for the US; the "mei" of Meiguo
is meant to pick up the "me" sound in America, and the character means
"beautiful", so much the better. This seems to be what's happening with
the Japanese "Beikoku", though why the Japanese ditched the "beautiful"
character and replaced it with "rice" eludes me. (It *might* have to do
with the fact that the rice character has auspicious overtones in
Japanese -- the components of the character, if you're so inclined, look
like the number 88 in characters, a ripe old age -- but that could well
be a bit of a reach.)

The character for "Buddha", "butsu" is used as an abbreviation for
France (I don't know if "Bukkoku" exists) and "doku" (only, sole) for
Germany (ditto). You can take the -koku off the above "-koku countries"
for similar one character abbreviations. You might see these in TV
listings, for example, to indicate the country and/or language of a
foreign film - certainly more readily recognizable than a lone kana
floating in space.