<p>It's all joking lah!</p>

<p>The translation of a nation name is often chosen according to its sound, but Chinese characters have their own meanings as well, so you can indeed explain it somehow that way, which has nothing to do with the characteristics of that nation.</p>

<p>英国 Britain：英勇之国 the nation of bravery</p>

<p>法国 France：律法之国 the nation of law</p>

<p>德国 Germany：美德之国 the nation of virtue</p>

<p>捷克 Czech：捷速攻克 who quickly conquered</p>

<p>匈牙利 Hungary：匈＞胡＞白人+牙利
=white with sharp teeth</p>

<p>etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:52:22.483Z
It is interesting though how some of these actually correspond to certain stereotypes about this or that nation.
Tamás Polgár
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T06:03:16.510Z
@TamásPolgár I think it's because somehow when Chinese choose the word corresponding to the sound, the word's meaning is taken into consideration too.
sylvia
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T07:46:38.807Z
The Chinese call themselves 中国。Meaning the "Central Country", like the Center of the World. Wonder how that came about?
Wayne Cheah
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2020-01-11T07:52:55.330Z
@WayneCheah Because the ancient people did think that way.
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T08:24:26.887Z
And why is the USA the "Beautiful Country?" Indeed it isn't ugly, but most others aren't either.
Tamás Polgár
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T08:29:49.890Z
美利坚 = American, me -- 美, ri -- 利, can -- 坚. Abbreviated as 美国. "--" means the pronunciations are similar. Same for France = 法兰西, 法 -- F, 兰 -- ran, 西 -- ce; Czech = 捷克, 捷 -- Cze, 克 -- ch; Britain = 不列颠, B -- 不, ri -- 列, tain -- 颠.
xbh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T09:59:43.200Z
@WayneCheah 中國 (或) is a Zhou Dynasty term for the central regions of the Kingdom. Since 中原 was pretty much always the central region of Chinese culture, the whole country was later named 中國.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-14T01:42:51.240Z
@sylvia  Yes.  There will be many different Chinese words with similar sounds.  The name chosen for a country should not be thought of as a very serious description of that country.  But it is likely to mean something that some people either think is nice to say, or really do associate with that country.
Colin McLarty
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:49:13.607Z
2020-01-11T05:49:13.607Z
Toosky Hierot
<p>I don't speak Mandarin at all, but I have a Chinese coworker who told me that Mandarin doesn't have nouns per se, it prefers to describe things with their most obvious properties.</p>

<p>I was curious how the Chinese call foreign nations. I found that it's mostly the Chinese people's general impression of them. For example they call the English "brave people", the French "people of law and teaching", and the Austrians "people difficult to make business with". Czechs seem to be the ones "who quickly lose the war". Apparently the Chinese weren't aware that Czechia exists before 1938. My own nation, Hungary is something like "white people for profit", which corresponds to how we are frequented by Chinese merchants since the early 20th century. And the Jews are simply referred as "contradiction". Oh you brutally honest people, you.</p>

<p>Then I found that the Chinese name for the Polish means "abandoned honour". Why is that? The Poles are one of the bravest people in the world. Is this because they were so badly defeated in World War II?</p>

<p>Do the name of nations change over time?</p>

<p>When a country's name is a transliteration of their original name (like Canada or Bulgaria), does that somehow carry a meaning too?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:06:15.360Z
I'm not sure if your Chinese coworker is just joking with you. Of course there are nouns in Mandarin. In Mandarin referring people from a certain country is usually just "Country Name people", such as "England people" (英国人), "France people" (法国人). Polish are just "Poland people" (波兰人).
Chan MT
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:16:56.817Z
I mean 英国人 consists of three parts: 英 means hero, brave (and some other things, indeed), 国 means country and 人 is language. Which sums up as "language of the brave country".
Tamás Polgár
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:19:13.120Z
@TamásPolgár the 英 is short for 英格兰 (ying-ge-lan = "England"). Country names are almost all chosen by _sound_, and in a couple rare cases by literal translation (e.g., Iceland is 冰岛 = ice island). The 英 was just chosen as a vaguely positive character that sounds like "ying". It wasn't chosen by starting with the meaning.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:22:19.730Z
So 抛光 is simply "Poland" -> "Paoguang"?
Tamás Polgár
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:39:15.570Z
@TamásPolgár Poland is 波兰（Bo Lan）, simply a transliteration. As for polish 抛光, LOL, what is the meaning of polish in English? **P**olish is 波兰人/波兰语.
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T05:50:50.863Z
抛光 is what Google Translate says.
Tamás Polgár
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T06:16:22.020Z
that’s polishing (e.g. a shoe), not the country name.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-11T08:23:04.830Z
FYI 抛光 is definitely not the same thing as 抛 + 光, or "abandoned" "honour".
xbh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-20T01:11:00.473Z
@TamásPolgár 人 doesn't mean "language". It means "person" or "people". 英国人 literally means "people of England". 英文 (ying1 wen2) means "the English language". 文 is one of the words that mean "language", but it will usually not come on its own. The word "language" itself is 语言 (yu3 yan2), and for some languages, 语 comes after the country name, and not 文. For example, 法语 (fa3 yu3) is "French", or literally, "the language of France", and sure enough, 法国 (fa3 guo2), means "France". Chinese (中文, zhong1 wen2) is a beautiful language!
obe
<mandarin>
Why does the Chinese name for Poland mean "abandoned honour"?
# Why does the Chinese name for Poland mean "abandoned honour"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-11)

I don't speak Mandarin at all, but I have a Chinese coworker who told me that Mandarin doesn't have nouns per se, it prefers to describe things with their most obvious properties.

I was curious how the Chinese call foreign nations. I found that it's mostly the Chinese people's general impression of them. For example they call the English "brave people", the French "people of law and teaching", and the Austrians "people difficult to make business with". Czechs seem to be the ones "who quickly lose the war". Apparently the Chinese weren't aware that Czechia exists before 1938. My own nation, Hungary is something like "white people for profit", which corresponds to how we are frequented by Chinese merchants since the early 20th century. And the Jews are simply referred as "contradiction". Oh you brutally honest people, you.

Then I found that the Chinese name for the Polish means "abandoned honour". Why is that? The Poles are one of the bravest people in the world. Is this because they were so badly defeated in World War II?

Do the name of nations change over time?

When a country's name is a transliteration of their original name (like Canada or Bulgaria), does that somehow carry a meaning too?

**Tags:** mandarin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm not sure if your Chinese coworker is just joking with you. Of course there are nouns in Mandarin. In Mandarin referring people from a certain country is usually just "Country Name people", such as "England people" (英国人), "France people" (法国人). Polish are just "Poland people" (波兰人).  
> **username_0**: I mean 英国人 consists of three parts: 英 means hero, brave (and some other things, indeed), 国 means country and 人 is language. Which sums up as "language of the brave country".  
> **username_2**: @username_0 the 英 is short for 英格兰 (ying-ge-lan = "England"). Country names are almost all chosen by _sound_, and in a couple rare cases by literal translation (e.g., Iceland is 冰岛 = ice island). The 英 was just chosen as a vaguely positive character that sounds like "ying". It wasn't chosen by starting with the meaning.  
> **username_0**: So 抛光 is simply "Poland" -> "Paoguang"?  
> **username_3**: @username_0 Poland is 波兰（Bo Lan）, simply a transliteration. As for polish 抛光, LOL, what is the meaning of polish in English? **P**olish is 波兰人/波兰语.  
> **username_0**: 抛光 is what Google Translate says.  
> **username_4**: that’s polishing (e.g. a shoe), not the country name.  
> **username_5**: FYI 抛光 is definitely not the same thing as 抛 + 光, or "abandoned" "honour".  
> **username_6**: @username_0 人 doesn't mean "language". It means "person" or "people". 英国人 literally means "people of England". 英文 (ying1 wen2) means "the English language". 文 is one of the words that mean "language", but it will usually not come on its own. The word "language" itself is 语言 (yu3 yan2), and for some languages, 语 comes after the country name, and not 文. For example, 法语 (fa3 yu3) is "French", or literally, "the language of France", and sure enough, 法国 (fa3 guo2), means "France". Chinese (中文, zhong1 wen2) is a beautiful language!  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-01-11. Score: 1

It's all joking lah!

The translation of a nation name is often chosen according to its sound, but Chinese characters have their own meanings as well, so you can indeed explain it somehow that way, which has nothing to do with the characteristics of that nation.

英国 Britain：英勇之国 the nation of bravery

法国 France：律法之国 the nation of law

德国 Germany：美德之国 the nation of virtue

捷克 Czech：捷速攻克 who quickly conquered

匈牙利 Hungary：匈＞胡＞白人+牙利
=white with sharp teeth

etc.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: It is interesting though how some of these actually correspond to certain stereotypes about this or that nation.  
> **username_7**: @username_0 I think it's because somehow when Chinese choose the word corresponding to the sound, the word's meaning is taken into consideration too.  
> **username_8**: The Chinese call themselves 中国。Meaning the "Central Country", like the Center of the World. Wonder how that came about?  
> **username_3**: @username_8 Because the ancient people did think that way.  
> **username_0**: And why is the USA the "Beautiful Country?" Indeed it isn't ugly, but most others aren't either.  
> **username_5**: 美利坚 = American, me -- 美, ri -- 利, can -- 坚. Abbreviated as 美国. "--" means the pronunciations are similar. Same for France = 法兰西, 法 -- F, 兰 -- ran, 西 -- ce; Czech = 捷克, 捷 -- Cze, 克 -- ch; Britain = 不列颠, B -- 不, ri -- 列, tain -- 颠.  
> **username_4**: @username_8 中國 (或) is a Zhou Dynasty term for the central regions of the Kingdom. Since 中原 was pretty much always the central region of Chinese culture, the whole country was later named 中國.  
> **username_9**: @username_7  Yes.  There will be many different Chinese words with similar sounds.  The name chosen for a country should not be thought of as a very serious description of that country.  But it is likely to mean something that some people either think is nice to say, or really do associate with that country.  

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