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今天admin問了我一個問題:問什么中國的英文名字是China?這個名字跟瓷器有關嗎?
我越來越意識到這是一個嚴肅的問題。有些中國人對China這個詞有偏見,認為是侮辱性的。實際上,瓷器稱作China是因為它產自中國,而不是中國因為生產瓷器而叫China。
到網上搜了一下China這個詞的由來,發現中文資料非常的不可靠,幾乎沒有可信來源的信息。最后還要用英文的wiki。wiki的好處是,所有的觀點都有佐證,而不是隨口亂說。查到的結果和我以前所知道的大致相同:最流行的說法是China源自“秦”,這個強大的國家或朝代。
There are various scholarly theories regarding the origin of this word. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini, is that "China" is derived from "Qin" (秦, pronounced chin), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 BC).[18] In the Hindu scriptures Mahābhārata (5th century BC)[19] and Manusmṛti (Laws of Manu) (2nd century BC), the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन) is used to refer to a country located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India.[20] Another theory is that this word is derived from Yelang, an ancient kingdom in what is now Guizhou whose inhabitants referred to themselves as 'Zina'.[21] |
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