<p>Yes. </p>

<p>瑞 is seoi6 (IPA: /sɵy̯²²/) <a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/2582/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">in Cantonese</a>, and sūi (IPA: /sui²²/) <a href="https://www.moedict.tw/&#39;%E7%91%9E" rel="nofollow noreferrer">in Hokkien</a>, so is a fairly close match to the French word <em>Suisse</em> and the English name for <em>Sweden</em>. The origin of a lot of translations for smaller Western countries came from the Chinese varieties of the southern ports of Guangzhou (Canton) and Xiamen (Amoy) amongst others.</p>

<p>惹 in <a href="https://www.moedict.tw/&#39;%E6%83%B9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">some varieties of Hokkien</a> (specifically Zhangzhou, which gave rise to Penang's variety) is pronounced jiá (IPA: /d͡ʑia⁵³/), which again is a closer match to the voiced affricate of -ja ज in Sanskrit-derived Indo-Aryan languages. </p>

<p>The 者 version is one option that Mandarin has (being an affricate, and in right area of the mouth), and also has the right semantic connotations (representing a person).</p>

<p>Although it is not a general phenomenon, topolectally-divergent transliteration is still a thing. Compare how <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB%C2%B7%E8%B4%9D%E5%85%8B%E6%B1%89%E5%A7%86" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mainland Chinese</a>, Malaysians and Singaporeans transliterate David Beckham's surname (貝克漢姆, simpl. 贝克汉姆) with how <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB%C2%B7%E8%B4%9D%E5%85%8B%E6%B1%89%E5%A7%86" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hong Kongers/Macanese</a> do so (碧咸), with how <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB%C2%B7%E8%B4%9D%E5%85%8B%E6%B1%89%E5%A7%86" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Taiwanese</a> do so (貝克漢). </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T10:50:53.270Z
2019-06-17T10:50:53.270Z
Michaelyus
<p>In Malaysia/Singapore, “Raja” is often transliterated to 拉惹，although Wikipedia uses 拉者as the name for its article on the title.
e.g. Ayer Rajah 亚逸拉惹
Perlis’s Raja 玻璃市拉惹（<a href="https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E7%8E%BB%E7%92%83%E5%B8%82%E6%8B%89%E6%83%B9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E7%8E%BB%E7%92%83%E5%B8%82%E6%8B%89%E6%83%B9</a>）</p>

<p>拉<em>惹</em>勒南 Ra<em>ja</em>ratnam
惹兰 (Jalan) also frequently appears in street names. Why is 惹 used to transliterate ~ja other languages?</p>

<p>On a perhaps unrelated note, why is 瑞 in 瑞士 and 瑞典used to transliterate the ~sw/su in Swiss or Sweden?</p>

<p>Were 瑞/惹 read something like sw/ja respectively in a more popular dialect of Chinese when such transliterations were standardised? Are there other examples of transliterations into Chinese reflecting dialectal pronunciations (e.g. 麦当劳 McDonald’s?) </p>

<pronunciation><topolect><transliteration>
Origin of transliteration of ~j/sw to ~r in Mandarin
# Origin of transliteration of ~j/sw to ~r in Mandarin

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-17)

In Malaysia/Singapore, “Raja” is often transliterated to 拉惹，although Wikipedia uses 拉者as the name for its article on the title.
e.g. Ayer Rajah 亚逸拉惹
Perlis’s Raja 玻璃市拉惹（<https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E7%8E%BB%E7%92%83%E5%B8%82%E6%8B%89%E6%83%B9>）

拉*惹*勒南 Ra*ja*ratnam
惹兰 (Jalan) also frequently appears in street names. Why is 惹 used to transliterate ~ja other languages?

On a perhaps unrelated note, why is 瑞 in 瑞士 and 瑞典used to transliterate the ~sw/su in Swiss or Sweden?

Were 瑞/惹 read something like sw/ja respectively in a more popular dialect of Chinese when such transliterations were standardised? Are there other examples of transliterations into Chinese reflecting dialectal pronunciations (e.g. 麦当劳 McDonald’s?)

**Tags:** pronunciation, topolect, transliteration


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-06-17. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Yes.

瑞 is seoi6 (IPA: /sɵy̯²²/) [in Cantonese](http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/2582/), and sūi (IPA: /sui²²/) [in Hokkien](https://www.moedict.tw/'%E7%91%9E), so is a fairly close match to the French word *Suisse* and the English name for *Sweden*. The origin of a lot of translations for smaller Western countries came from the Chinese varieties of the southern ports of Guangzhou (Canton) and Xiamen (Amoy) amongst others.

惹 in [some varieties of Hokkien](https://www.moedict.tw/'%E6%83%B9) (specifically Zhangzhou, which gave rise to Penang's variety) is pronounced jiá (IPA: /d͡ʑia⁵³/), which again is a closer match to the voiced affricate of -ja ज in Sanskrit-derived Indo-Aryan languages.

The 者 version is one option that Mandarin has (being an affricate, and in right area of the mouth), and also has the right semantic connotations (representing a person).

Although it is not a general phenomenon, topolectally-divergent transliteration is still a thing. Compare how [Mainland Chinese](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB%C2%B7%E8%B4%9D%E5%85%8B%E6%B1%89%E5%A7%86), Malaysians and Singaporeans transliterate David Beckham's surname (貝克漢姆, simpl. 贝克汉姆) with how [Hong Kongers/Macanese](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB%C2%B7%E8%B4%9D%E5%85%8B%E6%B1%89%E5%A7%86) do so (碧咸), with how [Taiwanese](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB%C2%B7%E8%B4%9D%E5%85%8B%E6%B1%89%E5%A7%86) do so (貝克漢).


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