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In the very Wikipedia page it says: > Marco Polo called Japan 'Cipangu' around 1300, based on the Chinese name,[6] probably 日本國; 'sun source country' (compare
by yongjik 2y ago
In the very Wikipedia page it says:
> Marco Polo called Japan 'Cipangu' around 1300, based on the Chinese name,[6] probably 日本國; 'sun source country' (compare modern Min Nan pronunciation ji̍t pún kok).
The pronunciation "Japan" is from Chinese (or, to be pedantic, some Chinese language) pronunciation of 日本, which is pronounced as Nippon in Japan. It happened because the Chinese character 日 ("sun") has widely different sounds in modern languages. Probably it had an unusual sound in the old time.
- shiroiushi 2y agoYes, the name is a corruption of a Chinese name for Japan. So what's your point? Japanese is not the same language as Chinese; it isn't even related linguistically other than borrowing part of its writing system. It's basically like making up a name for the UK based on a corruption of what the Romans called it 2000 years ago, and then trying to claim this is similar to what Britons call it today.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- fsckboy 2y ago2000 years ago, the Romans called it Brittania