The origin of the word "Japan"
If you have studied Japanese for a little while, you know that Japan in Japanese is nihon. Japan doesn’t sound anything close to nihon, does it?! So where does the word Japan come from?
It is commonly believed that the word Japan comes from how an Italian traveler Marco Polo (1254-1324) called the country in his book, “Il Milione”.
He writes, “People on the Island of Cipangu have tremendous quantities of gold.”
So he called the country Cipangu, and this is said to be the origin of the word Japan (or Giappone in Italian, Japon in French, etc...). But why did Marco Polo call it Cipangu? Where does that come from?
Through his book, Marco Polo is known to have introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He also wrote about Japan but he actually never went to Japan. He only heard about the country while he was in China. So the word Cipangu comes from how “the country of Japan” is referred to in Chinese.
In sum, the origin of the word Japan is Cipangu, which is an Italian phonological interpretation of the Chinese word that means “the country of Japan”. Who knew?!
It is commonly believed that the word Japan comes from how an Italian traveler Marco Polo (1254-1324) called the country in his book, “Il Milione”.
He writes, “People on the Island of Cipangu have tremendous quantities of gold.”
So he called the country Cipangu, and this is said to be the origin of the word Japan (or Giappone in Italian, Japon in French, etc...). But why did Marco Polo call it Cipangu? Where does that come from?
Through his book, Marco Polo is known to have introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He also wrote about Japan but he actually never went to Japan. He only heard about the country while he was in China. So the word Cipangu comes from how “the country of Japan” is referred to in Chinese.
In sum, the origin of the word Japan is Cipangu, which is an Italian phonological interpretation of the Chinese word that means “the country of Japan”. Who knew?!
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