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今天admin问了我一个问题：问什么中国的英文名字是China？这个名字跟瓷器有关吗？
我越来越意识到这是一个严肃的问题。有些中国人对China这个词有偏见，认为是侮辱性的。实际上，瓷器称作China是因为它产自中国，而不是中国因为生产瓷器而叫China。
到网上搜了一下China这个词的由来，发现中文资料非常的不可靠，几乎没有可信来源的信息。最后还要用英文的wiki。wiki的好处是，所有的观点都有佐证，而不是随口乱说。查到的结果和我以前所知道的大致相同：最流行的说法是China源自“秦”，这个强大的国家或朝代。
There are various scholarly theories regarding the origin of this word. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini, is that "China" is derived from "Qin" (秦, pronounced chin), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 BC).[18] In the Hindu scriptures Mahābhārata (5th century BC)[19] and Manusmṛti (Laws of Manu) (2nd century BC), the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन) is used to refer to a country located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India.[20] Another theory is that this word is derived from Yelang, an ancient kingdom in what is now Guizhou whose inhabitants referred to themselves as 'Zina'.[21] |
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发表于 2011-3-30 22:11:21
发表于 2011-3-31 18:14:45