Where does the name Japan come from? In Japanese it is 日本 [nihon] or [nippon] and bares no resemblance to “Japan”. The name Japan seems to have originated from Cipangu, which was first mentioned in Europe in the accounts of the travels of Marco Polo. Japan appears for the first time on a European map in 1457, although it appears much earlier on Chinese and Korean maps such as the Kangnido. Following the accounts of Marco Polo, Cipangu was thought to be rich in silver and gold, which in medieval times was correct, owing to the volcanism of the islands and the possibility to access precious ores without resorting to unavailable deep-mining technologies.
Some other pronunciations in Southeast Asia of the word Japan are:
1. Modern Shanghainese: Zeppen
2. Modern Japanese Cipangu is written as ジパング
3. Mandarin Chinese: Ri4ben3
4. Cantonese: Yat pun
5. Korean: Ilbon
6. Vietnamese: Nhật Bản (Nhựt Bổn)
7. Min Nan (Hokkien): Jit-pun, which has influenced the Thai name
8. Thai: Yipun
*Older Hokkien speakers may use Ue-kok (倭國) and in the past Korea used 倭國, pronounced Waeguk.
It is also interesting to note that the word “China” is derived from Cin, a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo as well and derived from the Sanskrit Cīna.
Tags: linguistics, word origin
![It originates on the misfortune day [Red tongue day]. Besides, it is assumed the misfortune by the good luck only until about 1 PM of 11 AM. It takes care about the origin of fire and cutlery. The thing that [Death] is associated in a word is noted.](http://www.irohaproject.org/blog/wp-content/plugins/koyomi/image/roku5.gif "It originates on the misfortune day [Red tongue day]. Besides, it is assumed the misfortune by the good luck only until about 1 PM of 11 AM. It takes care about the origin of fire and cutlery. The thing that [Death] is associated in a word is noted.")
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