<p>There is a paper on the history of both the Chinese translations of Oxford and Cambridge.</p>

<p><a href="https://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/repo/ouka/all/55438/mgsl055_081.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/repo/ouka/all/55438/mgsl055_081.pdf</a></p>

<p>In short,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>‘牛津’ was an invention by James Legge, a sinologist who was appointed the first professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford in 1876. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>By the way 牛津 wasn't a freshly made up word. It had other meanings in the past. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-27T20:27:48.223Z
2020-01-27T20:27:48.223Z
xiaomy
<p>牛 - is a cow or ox. Now look at the 津 closely. It has water on the left and hand holding a stick on the right + two horizontal lines belowe the hand, indicating water level. It means poking water with a stick to measure it's depth.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-24T15:31:08.120Z
2017-08-24T15:31:08.120Z
coobit
<p>This is a rare example of Chinese translation for foreign cities or the similar, there's no rule to govern this type. In short it translates literally the meaning of Oxford:
Ox: 公牛， 牛
Ford: ferry, 津,水渡也。——《说文》
Hence, Oxford == 牛津</p>

<p>The meaning of ferry in 津 is not seen often in modern Chinese, here are a few examples:
天津， 天子之津渡。
城阙辅三秦 风烟望五津  ----送杜少府之任蜀川   王勃
无人问津 ---成语</p>

<p>Also two examples of naming:
Little Rock, 小石城
Springfield， 春田市， 斯普林菲尔德 also work.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-28T21:21:21.977Z
Yes but it is very difficult to come up with it as Oxford, since it doesn't follow the vast majority of other places which are mapped phonetically I believe.
Blaszard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-25T12:30:21.767Z
Thanks but why is Oxford an exception here? It is near impossible to understand what it means when I encounter the word, without the prior knowledge.
Blaszard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-25T16:00:35.510Z
@user6065 not sure if I understand your question correctly, but in Chinese language (probably like any other languages), a place is often named by its prominence in geography or topography, for example, `原`, wide and flat, `口`, throughway, thus `太原，开原， 张家口，营口` etc. To name a place with 津 follow this suit, for example `孟津， 津市，江津，新津， 延津`, when you see the word 牛津, given context, you should know it's referring a place.
eN_Joy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-27T19:38:56.850Z
While it's less common, I wouldn't consider it rare. For example, Little Rock = 小岩城, Phoenix = 鳳凰城, Silver Spring, MD = 銀泉, Virginia Beach = 維吉尼亞海灘, Buffalo, NY = 水牛城, Atlantic City = 大西洋城, Ocean City = 海洋城, Salt Lake City = 鹽湖城
C.J. Jackson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-24T17:52:23.777Z
2017-08-24T17:52:23.777Z
eN_Joy
<p>Most chinese words about the name of foreign places are mapped phonetically, such as 华沙, 纽约 or 首尔, I believe. But in some cases it is from the historical incident, such as 旧金山 (I don't know how many are from this rule). Also, Japanese places are directly from the equivalent Japanese characters, such as 东京 or 北海道.</p>

<p>But why is Oxford called 牛津?</p>

<p>Also, in general is there any rule regarding that the word should be mapped phonetically or not?</p>

<p><a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/1160/official-place-names">The related question</a> focuses on who decides the names but I would like to ask how they are decided.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-24T13:44:44.867Z
see examples for "new" (or  other Indo-european versions)
rendered phonetically or by meaning (新），https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/22551/why-is-new-york-called-%e7%b4%90%e7%b4%84/22557#22557
esp。comment#5, also note Cambridge (剑桥, 剑 "phonetic" for "Cam" (etymology in doubt) New York suburbs e.g. Long Island 长岛, 牛ox 津a ford (river crossing)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-24T14:02:40.113Z
Baidu answer: ( https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/15440245.html )
dan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-24T21:14:15.960Z
regarding 剑 for Cam in Cambridge (see comment #1) Celtic river name, of obscure origin (etymology online) 2 more NY City Borroughs: 皇后区 Queens, 史泰登岛 Staten Island, translation from Arabic: Ba'ath Party 阿拉伯复兴社会党, Hezbollah 真主党 (Party of God) ,伊朗人民党 Tudeh (Persian) Party (Party of the Masses)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-25T12:15:07.380Z
reason for mentioning correspondence Cam-剑：剑 seems to be an unusual character for phonetic transcription （cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_into_Chinese_characters) (more examples?), therefore it might give some the impression that "Cambridge" really means 剑桥。
提到Cam-剑这样对应的原因就是＂剑＂字好象在中文译名上甚为罕见(再举几个例子吗）。因此很可能令人以为剑桥，这座英国城市的名字实际上起源于＂剑＂这样战争武器。
user6065
<word><place-names>
Why is Oxford called 牛津?
# Why is Oxford called 牛津?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-24)

Most chinese words about the name of foreign places are mapped phonetically, such as 华沙, 纽约 or 首尔, I believe. But in some cases it is from the historical incident, such as 旧金山 (I don't know how many are from this rule). Also, Japanese places are directly from the equivalent Japanese characters, such as 东京 or 北海道.

But why is Oxford called 牛津?

Also, in general is there any rule regarding that the word should be mapped phonetically or not?

[The related question](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/1160/official-place-names) focuses on who decides the names but I would like to ask how they are decided.

**Tags:** word, place-names

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: see examples for "new" (or  other Indo-european versions) rendered phonetically or by meaning (新），https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/22551/why-is-new-york-called-%e7%b4%90%e7%b4%84/22557#22557 esp。comment#5, also note Cambridge (剑桥, 剑 "phonetic" for "Cam" (etymology in doubt) New York suburbs e.g. Long Island 长岛, 牛ox 津a ford (river crossing)  
> **username_2**: Baidu answer: ( https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/15440245.html )  
> **username_1**: regarding 剑 for Cam in Cambridge (see comment #1) Celtic river name, of obscure origin (etymology online) 2 more NY City Borroughs: 皇后区 Queens, 史泰登岛 Staten Island, translation from Arabic: Ba'ath Party 阿拉伯复兴社会党, Hezbollah 真主党 (Party of God) ,伊朗人民党 Tudeh (Persian) Party (Party of the Masses)  
> **username_1**: reason for mentioning correspondence Cam-剑：剑 seems to be an unusual character for phonetic transcription （cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_into_Chinese_characters) (more examples?), therefore it might give some the impression that "Cambridge" really means 剑桥。 提到Cam-剑这样对应的原因就是＂剑＂字好象在中文译名上甚为罕见(再举几个例子吗）。因此很可能令人以为剑桥，这座英国城市的名字实际上起源于＂剑＂这样战争武器。  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2017-08-24. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

This is a rare example of Chinese translation for foreign cities or the similar, there's no rule to govern this type. In short it translates literally the meaning of Oxford:
Ox: 公牛， 牛
Ford: ferry, 津,水渡也。——《说文》
Hence, Oxford == 牛津

The meaning of ferry in 津 is not seen often in modern Chinese, here are a few examples:
天津， 天子之津渡。
城阙辅三秦 风烟望五津 ----送杜少府之任蜀川 王勃
无人问津 ---成语

Also two examples of naming:
Little Rock, 小石城
Springfield， 春田市， 斯普林菲尔德 also work.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks but why is Oxford an exception here? It is near impossible to understand what it means when I encounter the word, without the prior knowledge.  
> **username_5**: @username_1 not sure if I understand your question correctly, but in Chinese language (probably like any other languages), a place is often named by its prominence in geography or topography, for example, `原`, wide and flat, `口`, throughway, thus `太原，开原， 张家口，营口` etc. To name a place with 津 follow this suit, for example `孟津， 津市，江津，新津， 延津`, when you see the word 牛津, given context, you should know it's referring a place.  
> **username_0**: Yes but it is very difficult to come up with it as Oxford, since it doesn't follow the vast majority of other places which are mapped phonetically I believe.  
> **username_6**: While it's less common, I wouldn't consider it rare. For example, Little Rock = 小岩城, Phoenix = 鳳凰城, Silver Spring, MD = 銀泉, Virginia Beach = 維吉尼亞海灘, Buffalo, NY = 水牛城, Atlantic City = 大西洋城, Ocean City = 海洋城, Salt Lake City = 鹽湖城  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2020-01-27. Score: 2

There is a paper on the history of both the Chinese translations of Oxford and Cambridge.

<https://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/repo/ouka/all/55438/mgsl055_081.pdf>

In short,

> ‘牛津’ was an invention by James Legge, a sinologist who was appointed the first professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford in 1876.

By the way 牛津 wasn't a freshly made up word. It had other meanings in the past.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-08-24. Score: 1

牛 - is a cow or ox. Now look at the 津 closely. It has water on the left and hand holding a stick on the right + two horizontal lines belowe the hand, indicating water level. It means poking water with a stick to measure it's depth.


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