Tibet Names
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"Tibet" names and definitions are linguistically and politically
loaded language.
The modern Standard Tibetan endonym (or autonym) Bod བོད་ means
"Tibet" or "Tibetan Plateau", although it originally meant the central
region "Ü-Tsang". The standard pronunciation of Bod, [pʰø̀ʔ], is
transcribed Bhö or Phö. Some scholars believe the first written
reference to Bod "Tibet" was the ancient "Bautai" people recorded in
the (ca. 1st century) Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and (ca. 2nd
century) Geographia.[8]
The two Standard Mandarin exonyms for "Tibet" are classical Tǔbō 土蕃 or
Tǔfān 吐蕃 and modern Xīzàng 西藏 (which now specifies the "Tibet
Autonomous Region"). Tubo or Tufan "ancient name for Tibet" was first
transliterated into Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th-century (Li
Tai) and as 吐蕃 in the 10th-century (Book of Tang describing 608–609
emissaries from Tibetan King Namri Songtsen to Emperor Yang of Sui).
In the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, Tǔbō or Tǔfān are
reconstructed (by Bernhard Karlgren) as T'uopuâ and T'uop'i̭wɐn.
Xizang 西藏 was coined during the Qing Dynasty period of the Jiaqing
Emperor (r. 1796–1820). The People's Republic of China government
equates Xīzàng with the Xīzàng Zìzhìqū 西藏自治区 "Tibet Autonomous
Region".
The English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century.[9]
While historical linguists generally agree that "Tibet" names in
European languages are loanwords from Arabic طيبة، توبات Tibat or
Tobatt, they disagree over the original etymology. Many sources
propose Tibetan Stod-bod (pronounced tö-bhöt)[needs IPA] "Upper Tibet",
[10] some suggest Turkic Töbäd "The Heights" (plural of töbän),[11]
and a few favor Chinese Tǔbō or Tǔfān
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