An off the wall question.....

[Henry Wilson]

What is the origins of the name Japan? As we all know, to the Japanese it is Nihon / Nippon. So why Japan? Where did the name come from? I heard that it has something to do with silver but that could have been

1. a rumour

2. a lie

or

3. a dream I had once.......

 

[Guido]

Mr. Wikipedia says

The English word for Japan came to the West from early trade routes. The early Mandarin Chinese or possibly Wu Chinese word for Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. The modern Shanghainese (a Wu Chinese dialect 呉語) pronunciation of characters 日本 (Japan) is still Zeppen [zəʔpən]. The Malay word for Japan, Jepang (modern spelling Jepun), was borrowed from a Chinese language, and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Malacca in the 16th century. It is thought the Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. It was first recorded in English in 1577 spelled Giapan.

[Henry Wilson]

Thank you Guido and of course Mr Wiki. Very interesting. I had a feeling that this would be a Guido-type-question.

[Rich T]

thanks for that, and great question Henry. Don't you just love the internet sometimes.

 

Cheers

 

Rich

[John A Stuart]

A brief discussion of this can be found here,

http://forums.samurai-archives.com/viewtopic.php?t=1839

John