November 04, 2017

List of UN country names in Chinese and their meanings

Recently I made a video which was a part of my Experimental Chinese videocourse teaching Mandarin Chinese without characters and without tones to complete beginners and someone asked a question about the story behind the word 美国 (the Chinese name for USA) in the comments. A discussion followed and since I love etymology, I thought it would be a good idea to write an article about the names of all countries in Chinese. (All UN member countries to be precise)

There are 4 types of country names in Chinese:
  1. Names that have a meaning in Chinese (中國，日本，冰島)
  2. Phonetic transcripts with no meaning in Chinese (斯洛伐克，捷克）
  3. Names that are a combination of 1. and 2. （ 安地卡及巴布達， 白俄羅斯）
  4. Abbreviations 
    1. Abbreviations of longer 2. type country names（印尼， 阿根廷）
    2. Abbreviations of longer 3. type country names（美國，德國，法國，澳洲 etc.)
1. Names that have a meaning in Chinese

中国  China (Zhōngguó)

中 means 'center' and 国 means 'country'. The most common way of translating this name is Middle kingdom, it is however not entirely correct. The term 中国 originally referred to kingdoms (plural) on the central Chinese plain in Ancient China that were collectively related to each other through the same Ancient Chinese culture and related languages. Equally, they were labeled Central kingdoms as opposed to the barbarian states and nations around them. Only later the name shifted from Central kingdoms to Middle kingdom.

冰岛 Iceland (Bīngdǎo)

冰 means 'ice' and 岛 means 'island'. Ice island = Iceland

日本 Japan (Rìběn)

日 means 'sun' and 本 means 'root, origin'. The origin of the sun. 

黑山 Montenegro (Hēishān)

黑 means 'black' and 山 means 'mountain'. Montenegro in English means Black mountain.

獅子山 (Shīzi shān)

獅子 means 'lion' and 山 means 'mountain'. Sierra Leone in English means Lion mountain.

2. Phonetic transcripts with no meaning in Chinese

Characters for these names of these countries are chosen so that they are phonetically close to the pronunciation of the country name in English or occasionally other languages. They are however not related to the name of the country through meaning. Additionally, Chinese has only about 300 - 400 syllables and the pronunciation does not always match perfectly. Respectful or neutral characters are chosen.

荷兰 Holland (Hélán)

荷 lotus
兰 orchid

尼加拉瓜 Nicaragua (Níjiālāguā)

尼 buddhist nun
加 to add
拉 to pull
瓜 melon fruit

不丹 Bhutan (Bùdān)

不 bù no, not
丹 dān red

3. Names that are a mix of 1. and 2.

卢森堡 Luxembourg (Lúsēnbǎo)

卢 lú 'rice bowl
森 sēn 'forest'

Lúsēn = Luxen-

堡 castle, fortress = bourg

马绍尔群岛 Marshall Islands (Mǎshào'ěr qúndǎo)

马 mǎ 'horse'
绍 shào 'to continue'
尔 ěr 'you'

Mǎshào'ěr = Marshall

群岛 archipelago

新西兰 New Zealand (Xīn Xīlán)

新 xīn 'new'

西 xī 'west'
兰 lán 'orchid'
Xīlán = Zealand

4. Abbreviations

4.1 Abbreviations of longer 2. type country names

The full name of Indonesia in Chinese is 印度尼西亚 (Yìndùníxīyà) which is just a phonetic transliteration of the name Indonesia with the characters having no meaning relation to the name (Although one could argue that 印度 stands for India, which is the real origin of the Indo- part of the name Indonesia). 

印 to engrave
度 degree  
尼 buddhist nun
西 west
亚 second

印度尼西亚 is however too long and since it is a very frequently mentioned country, it was shortened. Two characters from the name 印度尼西亞 specifically 印 and 尼  were chosen and the country Indonesia is called 印尼 in Taiwan.

4.2 Abbreviations of longer 3. type country names

美国 United States of America (Měiguó)

The original full name of the United States of America in Chinese was 亚美理驾合众国 (Yàměilǐjià hézhòngguó) a combination of a phonetic transcription of 'America' and the word 'Federated nation' in Chinese:

亚 second
美 beautiful
理 inner essence
驾 to harness

Yàměilǐjià = America

合众国 Federated nation

As with Indonesia, since USA is a very frequently mentioned country, the name was shortened to

美国

With the character 美 'pretty' chosen respectfully from the name 亚美理驾 and the character 国 'country' added as the second character. The name 美国 thus effectively means 'pretty country' as well.

德国 Germany (Déguó)

Country name originated similarly to the Chinese name of USA. The original name for Germany was 德意志联邦共和国 (Déyìzhì liánbāng gònghéguó) a combination of a phonetic transcription of 'Deutsch' and the word 'Federative republic' in Chinese:

德 virtue
意 idea
志 ambition

Déyìzhì = Deutsch

联邦共和国 = Federative republic

As with Indonesia and USA since Germany is a very frequently mentioned country, the name was shortened to

德国

With the character 德 'virtue' chosen respectfully from the name 德意志 and the character 国 'country' added as the second character. The name 德国 thus effectively means 'virtuous country' as well.

法国 France (Fǎguó)

Country name originated similarly to the Chinese names for USA and Germany. The original name for France was 法兰西国家 (Fǎlánxī guójiā) a combination of the phonetic transcription of 'Francia' and the word 'country' in Chinese:

法 rule, law
兰 orchid
西 west

Fǎlánxī = Francia

国家 country

As with USA and Germany, since France is a very frequently mentioned country, the name was shortened to

 法国

With the character 法 'rule, law' chosen respectfully from the name 法兰西 and the character 国 'country' added as the second character. The name 法国 thus effectively means 'country of law' as well. 

List of all UN countries and their Chinese names*

Country name Simplified Chinese Pinyin Name type
Afghanistan 阿富汗 Āfùhàn
2
Albania 阿尔巴尼亚 ā'ěrbāníyǎ
2
Algeria 阿尔及利亚 ā'ěrjílìyǎ
2
Andorra 安道尔 āndào ěr
2
Angola 安哥拉 āngēlā
2
Antigua and Barbuda 安提瓜和巴布达 ān tí guā hé bā bù dá
3
Argentina 阿根廷 āgēntíng
4.2
Armenia 亚美尼亚 yàměiníyǎ
2
Australia 澳大利亚 àodàlìyǎ
2
Austria 奥地利 àodìlì Probably 2
Azerbaijan 阿塞拜疆 āsèbàijiāng
2
Bahamas 巴哈马 bāhāmǎ
2
Bahrain 巴林 bālín
2
Bangladesh 孟加拉国 mèngjiālā guó 3 Hokkien
Barbados 巴巴多斯 bābāduōsī
2
Belarus 白俄罗斯 bái'èluósī
3
Belgium 比利时 bǐlìshí 2 French
Belize 伯利兹 bó lìzī
2
Benin 贝宁 bèi níng
2
Bhutan 不丹 bù dān
2
Bolivia 玻利维亚 bōlìwéiyǎ
2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那 bōsīníyǎ hé hēisāigēwéinà
3
Botswana 博茨瓦纳 bócíwǎnà
2
Brazil 巴西 bāxī
2
Brunei 文莱 wén lái 2 Hokkien
Bulgaria 保加利亚 bǎojiālìyǎ
2
Burkina Faso 布基纳法索 bù jī nà fǎ suǒ
2
Burundi 布隆迪 bùlóngdí
2
Cabo Verde 佛得角 fú dé jiǎo
3
Cambodia 柬埔寨 jiǎnpǔzhài 2 Teochew
Cameroon 喀麦隆 kāmàilóng
2
Canada 加拿大 jiānádà
2
Central African Republic 中非 zhōng fēi
4.3
Chad 乍得 zhàdé
2
Chile 智利 zhìlì
2
China 中国 zhōngguó
1
Colombia 哥伦比亚 gēlúnbǐyǎ
2
Comoros 科摩罗 kē mó luó
2
Congo 刚果 gāngguǒ
2
Costa Rica 哥斯达黎加 gēsīdálíjiā
2
Côte d'Ivoire 科特迪瓦 kētèdíwǎ 2 French
Croatia 克罗地亚 kèluódìyà
4.2
Cuba 古巴 gǔbā
2
Cyprus 塞浦路斯 sāipǔlùsī
2
Czech Republic 捷克 jiékè
4.2
Democratic People's Republic of Korea 朝鲜 cháoxiǎn ?
Democratic Republic of the Congo 刚果民主共和国 gāngguǒ mínzhǔ gònghéguó
3
Denmark 丹麦 dānmài
2
Djibouti 吉布提 jíbùtí
2
Dominica 多米尼加 duōmǐníjiā
2
Dominican Republic 多明尼加共和国 duō míng ní jiā gònghéguó
3
Ecuador 厄瓜多尔 èguāduō'ěr
2
Egypt 埃及 āijí
2
El Salvador 萨尔瓦多 sà'ěrwǎduō
4.2
Equatorial Guinea 赤道几内亚 chìdào jǐnèiyǎ
3
Eritrea 厄立特里亚 èlìtèlǐyǎ
2
Estonia 爱沙尼亚 àishāníyǎ
2
Ethiopia 埃塞俄比亚 āisāi'ébǐyǎ
2
Fiji 斐济 fěijì
2
Finland 芬兰 fēnlán
2
France 法国 fǎguó
4.3
Gabon 加蓬 jiāpéng
2
Gambia 冈比亚 gāngbǐyǎ
2
Georgia 格鲁吉亚 gélǔjíyà
2
Germany 德国 déguó
4.3
Ghana 加纳 jiānà
2
Greece 希腊 xīlà 2 Greek base
Grenada 格林纳达 gélínnàdá
2
Guatemala 危地马拉 wēidìmǎlā
2
Guinea 几内亚 jǐnèiyǎ
2
Guinea-Bissau 几内亚比绍 jǐnèiyǎ bǐ shào
2
Guyana 圭亚那 guīyǎnà
2
Haiti 海地 hǎidì
2
Honduras 洪都拉斯 hóngdūlāsī
2
Hungary 匈牙利 xiōngyálì
2
Iceland 冰岛 bīngdǎo
1
India 印度 yìndù
2
Indonesia 印度尼西亚 yìndùníxīyà
2
Iran 伊朗 yīlǎng
2
Iraq 伊拉克 yīlākè
2
Ireland 爱尔兰 ài'ěrlán
2
Israel 以色列 yǐsèliè
2
Italy 意大利 yìdàlì
2
Jamaica 牙买加 yámǎijiā
2
Japan 日本 rìběn
1
Jordan 约旦 yuēdàn
2
Kazakhstan 哈萨克斯坦 hāsàkè sītǎn
2
Kenya 肯尼亚 kěnníyǎ
2
Kiribati 基里巴斯 jīlǐbāsī
2
Kuwait 科威特 kēwēitè
2
Kyrgyzstan 吉尔吉斯斯坦 jí'ěrjísī sītǎn
2
Laos 老挝 lǎowō
2
Latvia 拉脱维亚 lātuōwéiyǎ
2
Lebanon 黎巴嫩 líbānèn
2
Lesotho 莱索托 láisuǒtuō
2
Liberia 利比里亚 lìbǐlǐyǎ
2
Libya 利比亚 lìbǐyǎ
2
Liechtenstein 列支敦士登 lièzhīdūnshìdēng
2
Lithuania 立陶宛 lìtáowǎn
4.2
Luxembourg 卢森堡 lúsēnbǎo
3
Madagascar 马达加斯加 mǎdájiāsījiā
2
Malawi 马拉维 mǎ lā wéi
2
Malaysia 马来西亚 mǎláixīyà
2
Maldives 马尔代夫 mǎ'ěrdàifū
2
Macedonia 马其顿 mǎqídùn
4.2
Mali 马里 mǎlǐ
2
Malta 马耳他 mǎ'ěrtā
2
Marshall Islands 马绍尔群岛 mǎshào'ěr qúndǎo
3
Mauritania 毛里塔尼亚 máolǐtǎníyǎ
2
Mauritius 毛里求斯 máolǐqiúsī
2
Mexico 墨西哥 mòxīgē
2
Micronesia 密克罗尼西亚 mì kè luó ní xī yà
2
Moldova 摩尔多瓦 mó'ěrduōwǎ
2
Monaco 摩纳哥 mónàgē
2
Mongolia 蒙古 ménggǔ ？
Montenegro 黑山 hēishān
1
Morocco 摩洛哥 móluògē
2
Mozambique 莫桑比克 mòsāngbǐkè
2
Myanmar 缅甸 miǎndiàn
1
Namibia 纳米比亚 nàmǐbǐyǎ
2
Nauru 瑙鲁 nǎo lǔ
2
Nepal 尼泊尔 níbó'ěr
2
Netherlands 荷兰 hélán
2
New Zealand 新西兰 xīnxīlán
3
Nicaragua 尼加拉瓜 níjiālāguā
2
Niger 尼日尔 nírì'ěr
2
Nigeria 尼日利亚 nírìlìyǎ
2
Norway 挪威 nuówēi
2
Oman 阿曼 āmàn
2
Pakistan 巴基斯坦 bājīsītǎn
2
Palau 帕劳 pà láo
2
Panama 巴拿马 bānámǎ
2
Papua New Guinea 巴布亚新几内亚 bābùyǎ xīn jǐnèiyǎ
3
Paraguay 巴拉圭 bālāguī
2
Peru 秘鲁 bìlǔ
2
Philippines 菲律宾 fēilǜbīn
2
Poland 波兰 bōlán
2
Portugal 葡萄牙 pútáoyá ？
Qatar 卡塔尔 kǎtǎ'ěr
2
Romania 罗马尼亚 luómǎníyǎ
2
Russian Federation 俄罗斯 èluósī 2 Mongolian
Rwanda 卢旺达 lúwàngdá
2
Saint Kitts and Nevis 圣基茨和尼维斯 shèng jī cí hé ní wéi sī
3
Saint Lucia 圣卢西亚 shèng lú xīyǎ
3
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 圣文森特和格林纳丁斯 shèngwénsēntè hé gélín nà dīng sī
3
Samoa 萨摩亚 sàmó yǎ
2
San Marino 圣马力诺 shèngmǎlìnuò
3
Sao Tome and Principe 圣多美和普林西比 shèng duō měihé pǔ lín xī bǐ
3
Saudi Arabia 沙特阿拉伯 shātè ālābó
2
Senegal 塞内加尔 sài nèi jiā'ěr
2
Serbia 塞尔维亚 sài'ěrwéiyǎ
2
Seychelles 塞舌尔 sāi shé ěr
2
Sierra Leone 塞拉利昂 sèlālì'áng
2
Singapore 新加坡 xīnjiāpō 2 Hokkien
Slovakia 斯洛伐克 sīluòfákè
4.2
Slovenia 斯洛文尼亚 sīluòwénníyǎ
2
Solomon Islands 所罗门群岛 suǒluómén qúndǎo
3
Somalia 索马里 suǒmǎlǐ
4.2
South Africa 南非 nánfēi
4.3
South Korea 韩国 hánguó
1
South Sudan 南苏丹 nán sūdān
3
Spain 西班牙 xībānyá
2
Sri Lanka 斯里兰卡 sīlǐlánkǎ
2
Sudan 苏丹 sūdān
2
Suriname 苏里南 sūlǐnán
2
Swaziland 斯威士兰 sī wēi shì lán
2
Sweden 瑞典 ruìdiǎn 2 Cantonese?
Switzerland 瑞士 ruìshì 2
Hokkien French base
Syria 叙利亚 xùlìyǎ
2
Tajikistan 塔吉克斯坦 tǎjíkè sītǎn
2
Tanzania 坦桑尼亚 tǎnsāngníyǎ
2
Thailand 泰国 tàiguó
4.3
Timor-Leste 东帝汶 dōngdìwèn 3 Cantonese?
Togo 多哥 duō gē
2
Tonga 汤加 tāngjiā
2
Trinidad and Tobago 特立尼达和多巴哥 tè lì ní dá hé duō bā gē
3
Tunisia 突尼斯 túnísī
2
Turkey 土耳其 tǔ'ěrqí
2
Turkmenistan 土库曼斯坦 tǔkùmàn sītǎn
2
Tuvalu 图瓦卢 tú wǎ lú
2
Uganda 乌干达 wūgāndá
2
Ukraine 乌克兰 wūkèlán
4.2
United Arab Emirates 阿拉伯联合酋长国 ālābó liánhé qiúzhǎngguó
3
United Kingdom 英国 yīngguó
4.3
United States of America 美国 měiguó
4.3
Uruguay 乌拉圭 wūlāguī
2
Uzbekistan 乌兹别克斯坦 wūzībiékè sītǎn
2
Vanuatu 瓦努阿图 wǎnǔ'ātú
2
Venezuela 委内瑞拉 wěinèiruìlā
2 Cantonese
Viet Nam 越南 yuènán
1
Yemen 也门 yěmén
2
Zambia 赞比亚 zànbǐyǎ
2
Zimbabwe 津巴布韦 Jīnbābùwéi
2

*As used in Mainland China
Posted by

13 comments:

  1. DavidLJNovember 15, 2017 at 2:50 AM

    Vladimir,

    A fine and useful list. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 30, 2017 at 2:32 PM

    Very helpful! Thanks a lot.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ASWMay 21, 2019 at 8:09 PM

    This is awesome. 你也是很好看啊！

    ReplyDelete
  4. LirielNovember 20, 2020 at 7:09 PM

    Hi there! Your list is a great cheat sheet! But I just wanted to mention that you may have a tendency (that many folks who spend time in Taiwan have) to overestimate the influence of Hokkien, which is evidenced in your "Name type" column. Many of these are not actually from Hokkien. A good example is Cambodia. The Chinese name for Cambodia is not from Hokkien, it's from Teochew.
    1) Not many Chinese-Cambodians were Hokkien, even at their height, they were probably <10% of the Chinese-Cambodian population.
    2) Linguistically, Hokkien is just not a great fit. For instance, an alternate name for Cambodia is 高棉, which is related to the endonym Khmer. The Hokkien pronunciation for 高棉 is something like ko-bian, whereas the Teochew pronunciation is something like kao-miang, which, obviously, preserves M in the original Khmer.

    Similarly, Venezuela, Sweden, Portugal, Timor Leste are almost certainly from Cantonese.

    Also, I would propose that there is a significant subcategory of category 1 (names with meanings), which is names of countries with historical ties to China, which is where you will find the origin for names like 朝鮮、韓國、日本、越南

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VladimirNovember 21, 2020 at 1:00 AM

      Hello. Thank you for the interesting comment. Right off the bat, my trying to figure out the etymology of these countries took about an hour and I consulted exactly one friend from Taiwan so I'm certainly no expert:) The Taiwan-bias was not intentional.

      I did some research on Cambodia, Sweden, Portugal, Timor-Leste and Venezuela just now and here's what I think:

      The phonetic similarity of the contemporary name of the country (English or native) and the contemporary pronunciation in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien or Hakka (or any Chinese language) is insufficient in determining which Chinese language the name actually comes from.

      It's essential to know, who actually started using the specific Chinese characters for the name of the country first caused wide-spread adoption, which is objectively a difficult thing to do.

      Example:

      The contemporary Hakka pronunciation of Cambodia seems much closer to the contemporary Khmer pronunciation of Cambodia than the one of Cantonese:

      Khmer: Kam pu ča
      Cantonese: gaan2 bou3 zaai6
      Hakka: kan3 pu1 tsai5

      Hokkien: kán poo tsē
      Middle Chinese: gɛ̌n* biǒ* sək*/sə̀i*

      Does that mean that the Hakka were the first to use this name and everyone else adopted it from them? Probably not, as you pointed out: "Not many Chinese-Cambodians were Hokkien, even at their height, they were probably <10% of the Chinese-Cambodian population." I would imagine Hakka was even less than 10%.

      But then if you consider this, why say 委內瑞拉 comes from Cantonese too?

      Venezuela:

      The Cantonese pronunciation of Venezuela is much closer to the name 'Venezuela' than the Hokkien one I agree, but does this mean that it was actually the Cantonese speaking folk who used the name first and everyone else adopted it?

      I don't know a lot about Sino-Venezuelan relations, but to me they seem quite young in time, as the name 'Venezuela' itself is, and I feel like the name choice 委內瑞拉 is quite young too. Maybe the name was invented by some Mandarin official and when 委內瑞拉 pronounced in Cantonese, it just so happens that the syllables in Cantonese better match the syllables in 'Venezuela' than the Mandarin ones do.

      Maybe the basis for Venezuela was 委內瑞拉 in Mandarin and other Chinese languages just adopted it.

      But then again why use 委內瑞拉 if you could use 委內雪拉 in Mandarin and sound better instead for example. I don't know. Cantonese sounds more plausible as a basis, but since Sino-Venezuelan relations are so recent, there is a strong argument against it too. But then again, I know nothing about Sino-Venezuelan relations.

      What was the Cantonese speaking population in Venezuela compared to the Mandarin speaking population in Venezuela when the name was first used? Is this even crucial to determine how the name 委內瑞拉 came about? For instance:

      There are about 300 Chinese people in Slovakia, most of them from 浙江。 The name for Slovakia in Mandarin is 斯洛伐克。 Was the name 斯洛伐克 invented by Chinese living in Slovakia or by Mandarin speaking officials in China looking at the English name? The Mandarin speaking population in Slovakia is not relevant at all in this case. I feel like historically there were also many more speakers from 浙江 in Slovakia and Czechoslovakia than Mandarin speakers, yet I still feel 斯洛伐克 was an arbitrary name given to us by a Chinese official in China looking at the English name of Slovakia. Slovakia in Slovak is Slovensko by the way.

      Delete
    2. VladimirNovember 21, 2020 at 1:01 AM

      Sweden:

      Same as Venezuela.

      Portugal:

      I agree. This seems to come from Cantonese. Although, who knows what the pronunciation of Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka and Hokkien was at the time when the Portuguese first came to China and how Portuguese themselves pronounced 'Portugal' at that time (different dialects in Portugal pronounce it differently maybe, who knows which part of Portugal was represented in China most at that time) and how many Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese etc. lived in Portugal and who was the first to say the then-word for Portugal in a Chinese language and made everyone else adopt it.

      Cantonese: pou4 tou4 ngaa4
      Hokkien: phû tô gâ
      Hakka: p’u2 t’au2 nga2
      Middle Chinese: bho dhɑu nga

      Timor-Leste:

      Here I don't know why you think Cantonese is the probable source to be honest.

      Cantonese: 东 dai3 man4
      Hokkien: 东 tè men
      Hakka: 东 ti5 wun3
      Middle Chinese: 东 dèi miə̀n

      Why would you create a sub- category for names of countries with historical ties to China?

      Delete
    3. VladimirNovember 21, 2020 at 1:18 AM

      I just asked my local friend from 浙江 how he pronounces Cambodia in his language and it almost matches the modern Khmer pronunciation. If purely based on phonetic similarity, his dialect is the closest no doubt.

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    4. LirielNovember 22, 2020 at 8:15 AM

      Hahaha, you have written so much! Thanks for your detailed responses!

      Cambodia:
      First, I'm not quite sure how I should pronounce "ča." Apologies for my unfamiliarity with Slavic languages, is it anything like "ça?" Is the diphthong in "chea" (IPA: iə) accounted for? Similarly, is your "k" a hard k (as in "Katie") or it a softer "k" (as in the "k" in "skip")? Just trying to get a better sense of how the word sounds to you.

      Second, why have you elided Teochew from your analysis of possible Chinese dialects? You have Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Zhejiang Wu (I'm guessing Wenzhou?), and even Middle Chinese, but you have completely omitted from your analysis, the topolect spoken by >75% of Chinese Cambodians. Which is honestly, how I'm making most of these snap calls, based on the history of Chinese immigration patterns. Given that >75% of Chinese-Cambodians for the last 3 centuries have been Teochew, my starting point is Teochew-influenced transliteration. I'm open to being disproven, but that's why I don't think Hokkien or Wenzhounese are particularly good starting points, with modern Wu being a worse starting point than Hokkien since I'm 3rd generation Chinese-Cambodian myself, and I've never met (or even heard of) a Wu-speaker in Cambodia pre-1990. I'm sure there must be some, but enough to hit the critical mass needed to get other folks to adopt the Wu pronunciation? I'm not convinced. Alright, so...let's get nerdy! :D

      So, starting from the assumption that you are correct, that a dialect of modern Wu is the closest to Modern Khmer pronunciation of កម្ពុជា, why would this be the case, with a negligible number of Wu speakers having contact with Cambodia?

      With Cambodia, as with Thailand and Vietnam, we have the benefit of a whole bunch of vocabulary to help triangulate the situation of contact and adoption. That's why I brought up Khmer/ខ្មែរ/高棉. There's also Battambang/បាត់ដំបង/馬德望，Angkor/អង្គរ/吳哥，Preah Vihear/ព្រះវិហារ/柏威夏，plus, in the other direction, all the Chinese words, that got ported over into Khmer.

      Here's what makes things interesting, the history of Sino-Khmer contact is so lengthy that both languages actually undergo significant changes during this contact. First contact between China and Cambodia occurred while Chinese folks were speaking Middle Chinese and Khmer folks were speaking Old Khmer so we have to account for BOTH of these changes. A good example is the aforementioned Angkor. In the transition from Middle Khmer to Modern Khmer, voiced stops were devoiced, meaning the voiced G stops became unvoiced K stops, and An-gor became Ang-kor. This is preserved in Chinese with the G sound in 吳哥. As for the 吳, it is a good representation of the ng/ង sound, as maintained in standard Cantonese and some Wu dialects.

      Alright, moving back to កម្ពុជា／柬埔寨, it's acknowledged that the J sound (IPA: tɕ) in modern Mandarin was formerly the K sound (IPA: k) in Middle Chinese, which is preserved in...just a whole bunch of Southern topolects. Next, Middle Khmer also had this really interesting consonant restructuring in which a stiff voiceless "p" became a voiced implosive "ɓ" and a slack voiced "b" became a voiceless "p." A process I think you can sorta track through the older Chinese transliterations of Kampuchea 究不事 and 甘勃智, although I don't believe anyone has looked at this. And complicated by the fact that Kampuchea is itself a borrowing from the Indo-European Sanskrit, and not actually native to to the Austroasiatic Khmer language. (i.e. people sometimes just pronounce loanwords differently)

      I'm not as familiar with the other Middle Chinese sound changes, but I think, at this point, my armchair deduction suggests that I was wrong about Techew, and 柬埔寨 is likely from Middle Khmer by way of Middle Chinese.

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    5. VladimirNovember 22, 2020 at 8:27 AM

      Hello. When it comes to Cambodia, I give up:) I have no way of contributing in any meaningful way compared to you since even your armchair knowledge is more than my regular knowledge about the subject.

      But..I was thinking about the same thing: since Sino-Cambodian relations go way back, it's maybe not that relevant to look at modern pronunciations in Cambodian or any modern Chinese language.

      What do you think about my comments about the remaining countries?

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    6. LirielNovember 22, 2020 at 8:36 AM

      My apologies for what was effectively a live blog of my brain processing historical and linguistic information. I hope you don't mind overmuch!

      I do want to say too, that this is probably why I would add a sub-category for names of countries with long historical ties to China. From a cultural context standpoint, it helps the user understand that mess of Old Khmer-Middle Khmer-Middle Chinese-Modern Mandarin. And, perhaps more relevantly, stuff like 朝鮮 being a call back to the Joseon Dynasty whereas 韓國 is a call back to the Great Korean Empire. For me, as a Chinese person, especially as one from a historical diaspora, these names feel like they are at a different register than names like 冰島, but YMMV bc this choice would be more cultural than linguistic in nature.

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    7. LirielNovember 27, 2020 at 10:48 AM

      Sorry for the delay - Thanksgiving prep time here in the States, ya know. :)

      Alright, so, RE: the other countries. I start from the same place that I started with Cambodia - what is the dominant topolect of the Chinese diaspora there and when did they arrive?

      Venezuela & the rest of Latin America:
      For the vast majority of South and Central America, that's going to be Cantonese-speaking people brought there by British, Portuguese, and Spanish traders as part of the coolie trade. The practice was so common, you can now Google the Spanish name for it and read all sorts of papers comparing it with the Middle Passage: la trata amarilla.

      In the mid to late 1800s, corresponding with the post-First Opium War economic crisis in China, the ceding of Hong Kong and Macau (1/4 of all Chinese coolies left port just from Macau), and the abolition of slavery in the British & Spanish empires (i.e. loss of cheap labor), Cantonese folks were imported literally everywhere throughout Latin America, from Portuguese Brazil to Spanish Guatemala to British Jamaica. (Also why I think the names of these places are also most likely from Cantonese, but the phonological difference between Mando and Canto in these cases are not huge.) The most prominent of these Latin American destinations were Peru and Cuba. 100,000 Chinese men were imported to Peru, mostly to work the guano mines, and 150,000 Chinese men were imported to Cuba, mostly to work the sugar plantations. It's estimated that even today, up to 20% of the Peruvian population can claim some Chinese heritage.

      In the mid-1800s, with Chinese folks coming to the New World in massive numbers but the Qing Dynasty in serious decline, it would be highly unlikely that there was a top-down, Mandarin-based, official dictate of the names for these numerous, far away, foreign places. It's much more likely that a name arose organically among the Cantonese speaking emigres and became widespread by the Republican era, perhaps even helped along to codification by the Cantonese-speaking Sun Yat-sen, who himself, had emigrated to a 夏威夷 whose Chinese population was overwhelmingly of 中山 extract (hence the Cantonese pronunciation).

      Timor Leste:
      The majority of Chinese emigres to Timor Leste were Hakka, so that's my starting point. However, Hakka is not a great phonological fit for 東帝汶. So this bears further consideration.

      Well, Timor Leste was a colony of Portugal for many years, and more to the point, was a colony of Portugal that 1) was administered from Portuguese Macau and 2) had it's economic deficits covered by Macanese revenue. Quote from Boletim do Governo de Macau e Timor issued 18 February 1867, "There shall be in Timor an Adjunct or Delegate of the Treasury subject to the Treasury Board of the Province of Macau to which an account shall be rendered of all its acts." Both politically and economically, Timor Leste was beholden to Macau.

      So...in this case, I believe that the modern transliteration for Timor Leste was indeed created by random Chinese officials not in Timor Leste, but these random Chinese officials were most likely Cantonese-speaking residents of Macau.

      Sweden:
      I have no awareness of any historical Chinese diasporic community in Sweden. I admit that in this case, my assertion was mostly due to phonological similarity to Cantonese pronunciation. With a very nebulous thought toward British-Scandinavian relationships and the fact that the vast majority of British-Chinese have historically been Cantonese-speaking.

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    8. VladimirNovember 27, 2020 at 11:16 AM

      Wonderful and very interesting. All points taken. I updated the table. Thanks for the input.

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