kosovohp
Posts : 708 Join date : 2010-08-26
| Subject: Names of China Sun Oct 03, 2010 2:01 am | |
| The word "China"[nb 1] is derived from Cin (چین), a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo.[11][12] In early usage, "china" as a term for porcelain was spelled differently from the name of the country, the two words being derived from separate Persian words.[13] Both these words are derived from the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन),[13] used as a name for China as early as AD 150.[14] The origin of this word is the subject of several conflicting scholarly theories.[15] The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martin Martini, is that the word is derived from "Qin" (秦 =Chin)(778 BC – 207 BC), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BC).[16] In the Hindu scriptures Mahābhārata (5th century BC )[17] and Laws of Manu (2nd century BC), the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन) is used to refer to a country of "yellow-colored" barbarians located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India.[18] The inhabitants of Yelang, an ancient kingdom in what is now Guizhou, referred to themselves as 'Zina', and may be the source of the Sanskrit word Cīna radio controlled carsAtlanta fence contractor | |
|