Cathay

Signification (Anglais)

1. (archaic) China, specifically medieval northern China as reached by the overland Silk Road to Xi'an or Beijing, not known at the time to be related to southern China as reached by the maritime routes to Guangzhou.
2. A settlement in North Dakota.
3. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Cathay Pacific.

Concepts

Cathay

Chine

🇨🇳

République populaire de Chine

République Populaire de Chine

Seminoles de Florida State

chine continentale

Synonymes

China

Communist China

People’s Republic of China

Red China

PRC

mainland China

Traductions

Catay

Cina

Catai

China

🇨🇳

Catai

Κίνα

China

🇨🇳

China

🇨🇳

Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία της Κίνας

Xina

الصِّين

Repubblica popolare cinese

Cathay

جُمْهُورِيّة الصِّين الشّعْبِيّة

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/kæˈθeɪ/

Étymologie (Anglais)

Appartenant à mongol: хутга

Appartenant à russe: Кита́й

In summary

From Latin Cathaya, variant of Cataya, from Old Turkic 𐰶𐰃𐱃𐰪 (Qïtań), and ultimately from Khitan 𘱿𘲫 (*qid ún); the Khitan people who conquered northern China as the Liao dynasty in the 10th century and ruled the central Asian Qara Khitai Khanate in the 12th, just prior to the overland European missions to China occasioned by the Pax Mongolica. Most likely cognate with Mongolian хутга (xutga, “knife”) from Proto-Mongolic *kïtuga.
Doublet of Khitan. Cognate with Russian Кита́й (Kitáj, “China”). See Names of China.