Literal translation of country names

Dingbat

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Apr 17, 2021, 7:22:00 PM4/17/21

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This was in someone's posting:
Literal translation of country names | Forbes
https://blogs.forbes.com/duncanmadden/files/2018/03/Literal-Translation-of-Country-Names.jpg
Not all these are literal translations. Consider the map's claimed translation
of China as Central Land.

Zhongguo, formerly a Chinese name of China, literally translates to
"Middle Kingdom".

Middle Kingdom or Middle Country, Mandarin Zhongguo, Chinese name
for China. It dates from c. 1000 BC, when it designated the Chou empire
situated on the North China Plain. The Chou people, unaware of high
civilizations in the West, believed their empire occupied the middle of
the earth, surrounded by barbarians. It is retained in the Chinese name
for China, Zhonghua renmin gongheguo literally translated to English
as "Glorious Middle Country People's Republic", but the standard
translation is a non-literal one: "People's Republic of China".
https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/asia-africa/china-mongolia/middle-kingdom

China, is actually a Portuguese term (that they pronounced Cheena) for
Land of the Chin (pronounced Cheen).
Ch'in in Herbert Giles' 1892 Chinese-English dictionary.
Qin is the Hanyu Pinyin (Romanized) spelling, by China's current
romanization standard.
Hanyu Pinyin differentiates between multiple 'Ch' like sounds in Mandarin
by writing one of them as 'Q'; yet, I've never seen China spelled as Qina
in accordance with Hanyu Pinyin conventions.

Dingbat

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Apr 17, 2021, 7:35:51 PM4/17/21

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On Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 4:22:00 PM UTC-7, Dingbat wrote:
> This was in someone's posting:
> Literal translation of country names | Forbes
> https://blogs.forbes.com/duncanmadden/files/2018/03/Literal-Translation-of-Country-Names.jpg
> Not all these are literal translations. Consider the map's claimed translation
> of China as Central Land.

... a claim as apparent to the Anglophone reader blissfully unaware
that the actual claim is that the Chinese name for China translates
to Central Land.

CDB

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Apr 18, 2021, 7:42:06 AM4/18/21

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*Hanyu* Pinyin. It isn't a Chinese word.

bruce bowser

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Apr 18, 2021, 11:27:11 AM4/18/21

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On Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 7:22:00 PM UTC-4, Dingbat wrote:
> This was in someone's posting:
> Literal translation of country names | Forbes
> https://blogs.forbes.com/duncanmadden/files/2018/03/Literal-Translation-of-Country-Names.jpg
> Not all these are literal translations. Consider the map's claimed translation
> of China as Central Land.
>
> Zhongguo, formerly a Chinese name of China, literally translates to
> "Middle Kingdom".
>
> Middle Kingdom or Middle Country, Mandarin Zhongguo, Chinese name

> for China. It dates from c. 1000 BC, ...

In german Österreich means Austria. What does Österreich literally mean?

Dingbat

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Apr 18, 2021, 1:40:20 PM4/18/21

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Eastern realm. This gives other names:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margraviate_of_Austria

Peter Moylan

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Apr 18, 2021, 7:26:03 PM4/18/21

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I was going to suggest that you type "das öster Reich" into Google
Translate, but Google was one jump ahead of me and failed to give an answer.

Reverso did something similar. To get a literal translation, apparently,
you have to enter the words separately.

Anyway, the general principle remains. On-line translation tools exist,
and can usually handle questions like this.

--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW http://www.pmoylan.org