Japan — From Malay / Chinese to English | etymologist.ai
japan
/dʒəˈpæn/·proper noun·English 'Japan' first attested 1577 CE·Established
Origin
English 'Japan' comes via Portuguese and Malay from a southern Chinese pronunciation of 日本 ('origin of the sun') — the name traveled through four languages before reachingEnglish, distorting at each step from something like Cipangu to Japan.
Definition
An island country in East Asia, situated in the Pacific Ocean east of the Asian mainland.
The Full Story
Malay / Chinesec. 1577 CE (in English)well-attested
English 'Japan' does not comedirectly from Japanese. It derives from early Malay 'Japang' or a similar Southeast Asian form, which came from a southern Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本 — something like 'Cipangu' or 'Zipangu' (as recorded by Marco Polo in 1298). The Chinese characters 日本 mean 'origin of the sun' or 'where the sun comes from' (rì = sun, běn = origin/root), hence 'Land of the Rising Sun'. In modern Mandarin these are pronounced 'Rìběn'; in modern Japanese 'Nippon' or 'Nihon'. The English form went through
Did you know?
Like 'china' for porcelain, the common noun 'japan' (lowercase) means lacquerwork — because Japanese lacquer was so distinctive that the craft became synonymous with its country of origin. English thus has two country names that doubled as material nouns: china and japan.