dEhiN wrote:Does 日本語 literally translate to “this sun language”? I used Google Translate to look up the individual Kanji - 日、本、語 - and based on what GT gave for each character, that's what I came up with. Is that correct?
dEhiN wrote:Ok, thanks. Unfortunately I don't know enough Deutsch to understand the site.
Ciarán12 wrote:You can use this one then - http://jisho.org/
dEhiN wrote:Does 日本語 literally translate to “this sun language”?
mōdgethanc wrote:Ever hear it called "Land of the Rising Sun", dEhiN?
linguoboy wrote:dEhiN wrote:Does 日本語 literally translate to “this sun language”?
The root meaning of 本 is, well, "root". The "root of the sun" is in the East, which is where Japan was relative to the Middle Country.
dEhiN wrote:
So then etymologically, does the name 日本 come from China and their referring to Japan as "the root of the sun" country? I always thought the name of the country was just what the Japanese people called their own country. But that wouldn't make sense since, from the Japanese people's point of view, their own country is not relative to anywhere!
Ciarán12 wrote:dEhiN wrote:
So then etymologically, does the name 日本 come from China and their referring to Japan as "the root of the sun" country? I always thought the name of the country was just what the Japanese people called their own country. But that wouldn't make sense since, from the Japanese people's point of view, their own country is not relative to anywhere!
Yeah, it was imported from China.
linguoboy wrote:I don't believe it was. The building blocks--the kanji, the notion of Japan being "east of centre"--were imported, but the name itself was composed by the Japanese themselves.
Two names applied to Japan which originated in China but are 東洋 "east ocean" and 海東 "sea east [i.e. "east of the sea"]". In more recent times, 東洋 has come to be used as a translation of "Orient" in the Eurocentric sense of "East Asia". 海東 was used not just for Japan but all lands east of China and is occasionally used by Koreans as a poetic name for their own country.
Ciarán12 wrote:Perhaps you're right. I assumed it was as it a) is a kanji compound, b) is read with the Chinese rather than native Japanese readings and c) is used in contemporary Chinese as the name for Japan.
linguoboy wrote:Actually, many "Chinese names" for European countries, as well as a great deal of Sinitic vocabulary relating to Western society and technology generally, were invented in Japan and exported from there into Modern Chinese (and often Korean and Vietnamese as well). See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Japanese_vocabulary#Words_.27made_in_Japan.27.
linguoboy wrote:In more recent times, 東洋 has come to be used as a translation of "Orient" in the Eurocentric sense of "East Asia".
Youngfun wrote:linguoboy wrote:In more recent times, 東洋 has come to be used as a translation of "Orient" in the Eurocentric sense of "East Asia".
No, AFAIK in modern Chinese 東洋 still refers to Japan, or at most to Japan & Korea.
Compare 南洋 = South-East Asia.
dEhiN wrote:So does 洋 mean Asia?
Youngfun wrote:linguoboy wrote:In more recent times, 東洋 has come to be used as a translation of "Orient" in the Eurocentric sense of "East Asia".
No, AFAIK in modern Chinese 東洋 still refers to Japan, or at most to Japan & Korea.
linguoboy wrote:dEhiN wrote:So does 洋 mean Asia?
Good question. I wonder if there's some way of finding out.
This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests