Japan

Betekenis

A country and archipelago in East Asia

Uitgespreek as (IPA)

/d͡ʒəˈpæn/

Etimologie

First attested in English as Giapan in Richard Willes's 1577 The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies (cited in Peter C. Mancall's Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery, pp. 156–57), translating a 19 February 1565 letter of the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis as "Of the Ilande of Giapan".
Borrowed from Portuguese Japão with possible influence from Dutch Japan, both from either or both:
* Malay Jepun, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (ȵiɪt̚ puən^X, “sun origin”).
* Indonesian Malay Jepang, from Teochew 日本 (rig⁸ bung²), from Middle Chinese 日本 (ȵiɪt̚ puən^X, “sun origin”).
With /j/ readings, such as Iaponia / Japonia or Japon / Iapon from Cantonese 日本 (jat⁶ bun²), also from Middle Chinese 日本 (ȵiɪt̚ puən^X, “sun origin”).
Compare also modern Mandarin 日本 (Rìběn), Japanese 日本(にっぽん) (Nippon) / 日本(にほん) (Nihon), Korean 일본 (Ilbon) (日本), Vietnamese Nhật Bản (日本).
The earliest form of Japan in Europe was Marco Polo's Cipangu, from some form of synonymous Sinitic 日本國／日本国 (Rìběnguó, “nation of Japan”).

Sinne

The other major Go association in Japan is Kansai Ki-in.