2006-12-19 10:10:18 · 5 answers · asked by <.< 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Good answers.
Interestingly, in addition to "japs", the perjorative for japanese during WW2 was "nips", an obvious reference to Nipon or Nippon.
2006-12-19 17:14:59 · answer #1 · answered by SafetyDancer 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They didn't!
On his travels, Marco Polo heard rumours of an 'island of gold' lying to the East of China. The Chinese name for this island was "Jipang", and Marco Polo took these rumours back to Europe. He never actually VISITED Japan though, or he would have learned the local name for the island - Nippon! The name 'Jipang' was corrupted to make it easy to say in each country, and so the name in English became Japan - while in France it became Japon.
BTW, before anyone starts moaning, æ¥æ¬ can be pronounced either as Nippon OR Nihon, it's not illegal, immoral, or in any way insulting to ANYONE in Japan to call it Nippon! In fact, in many businesses, including the bank of Japan, Nihon is NOT acceptable! However, as far as I'm aware, in the days of Marco Polo Nihon wasn't yet used. (I've been around here for quite a long time - long enough to know some of the attitudes a few people have!)
2006-12-20 02:05:04 · answer #2 · answered by _ 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Americans didn't change it. They inherited 'japan' from the English, who got it adapted it from the Dutch and Portuguese explorers who first reached 'Japan'. These knew Japan as 'Cipangu' or 'Chipangu' [of Chinese origin] and further corrupted that word to Japan [along with most of the rest of Europe, ie: Japon, Japao, Giappono, etc.].
2006-12-19 18:22:51 · answer #3 · answered by B 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
why would you want to? i dont know what it means, but i do have some china/pottery with nippon on the bottom, is that what our talking about? you cant change that, its like wanting to call a ming vase a chinese vase.. if thats what you mean
2006-12-19 18:22:56 · answer #4 · answered by s p 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Possibly it was influenced by the Chinese pronounciation of Japan, which is "yat bun" in Cantonese, and "ri ben" in Mandarin which is pronounced as "ruh bun" and since most Chinese could not pronounce the letter "r" , they pronounce it as "juh bun", or "jurr burn". While the Japanese will pronounce it "Ni hon" or as the words "Knee horn".
2006-12-19 18:30:57 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋