<p>Presumably it already existed. Prior to the present-day republic,
 there was the <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BE%85%E6%96%AF%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9C%8B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Belarusian People's Republic</a>, the <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BE%85%E6%96%AF%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E4%B8%BB%E7%BE%A9%E8%98%87%E7%B6%AD%E5%9F%83%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9C%8B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia</a>, and the <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF%E8%8B%8F%E7%BB%B4%E5%9F%83%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E4%B8%BB%E4%B9%89%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic</a>. All of the official Chinese names for these states/provinces include 白俄罗斯. There seem to be <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_DtSAQAAMAAJ&amp;q=%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF&amp;dq=%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwin6t-4xrLXAhWCLmMKHXApBBwQ6AEIWjAI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pre-1991 Chinese books that use the term</a>, but Google Books is not a perfect source.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-09T23:57:28.637Z
@brilliant, google books has [some results](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF&hl=en&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A%2Ccd_max%3A1989&tbm=bks). It's hard to say if some of them might be recent translations into Chinese of works originally published earlier, though.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-09T22:32:18.897Z
2017-11-09T22:32:18.897Z
Stumpy Joe Pete
<p>the internet archive has the book 瀛環志畧, in volume 4, <strong>"白峩"</strong> was used to translate belarus:</p>

<p><a href="https://archive.org/stream/02087085.cn#page/n43/mode/1up" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://archive.org/stream/02087085.cn#page/n43/mode/1up</a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/82Qw6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/82Qw6.png" alt="pic"></a></p>

<p>this book was published in 1849.</p>

<p>the 峩 (u+5ce9) was a variant of 峨 (u+5ce8), both of them share the same pronunciation with the character 俄 (u+4fc4), that is used in modern days translation.</p>

<p>then, the internet archive has another book 海國圖志, in volume 54, <strong>"白峩羅斯"</strong> was used in lieu of belarus:</p>

<p><a href="https://archive.org/stream/02087117.cn#page/n50/mode/1up" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://archive.org/stream/02087117.cn#page/n50/mode/1up</a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/yeizy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/yeizy.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>this book was published in 1843, maybe the first geographic / atlas type of book in imperial china.</p>

<p>btw, minsk was translated as "閔士其" :)</p>

<p>have fun :)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-10T02:04:53.620Z
indeed, if you can read literary chinese, the volume 56 mentioned many books about "russia", i guess some of them would talk about belarus.
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-10T01:22:21.970Z
2017-11-10T01:22:21.970Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>Did the name "白俄罗斯" for Belarus exist in Chinese language before 1991 or was it created only when Belarus became an independent state in 1991? </p>

<vocabulary><etymology>
Did the name "白俄罗斯" exist in Chinese before 1991?
# Did the name "白俄罗斯" exist in Chinese before 1991?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-09)

Did the name "白俄罗斯" for Belarus exist in Chinese language before 1991 or was it created only when Belarus became an independent state in 1991?

**Tags:** vocabulary, etymology


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-11-10. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

the internet archive has the book 瀛環志畧, in volume 4, **"白峩"** was used to translate belarus:

<https://archive.org/stream/02087085.cn#page/n43/mode/1up>

[![pic](https://i.sstatic.net/82Qw6.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/82Qw6.png)

this book was published in 1849.

the 峩 (u+5ce9) was a variant of 峨 (u+5ce8), both of them share the same pronunciation with the character 俄 (u+4fc4), that is used in modern days translation.

then, the internet archive has another book 海國圖志, in volume 54, **"白峩羅斯"** was used in lieu of belarus:

<https://archive.org/stream/02087117.cn#page/n50/mode/1up>

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/yeizy.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/yeizy.png)

this book was published in 1843, maybe the first geographic / atlas type of book in imperial china.

btw, minsk was translated as "閔士其" :)

have fun :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: indeed, if you can read literary chinese, the volume 56 mentioned many books about "russia", i guess some of them would talk about belarus.  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2017-11-09. Score: 1

Presumably it already existed. Prior to the present-day republic,
there was the [Belarusian People's Republic](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BE%85%E6%96%AF%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9C%8B), the [Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BE%85%E6%96%AF%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E4%B8%BB%E7%BE%A9%E8%98%87%E7%B6%AD%E5%9F%83%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9C%8B), and the [Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF%E8%8B%8F%E7%BB%B4%E5%9F%83%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E4%B8%BB%E4%B9%89%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD). All of the official Chinese names for these states/provinces include 白俄罗斯. There seem to be [pre-1991 Chinese books that use the term](https://books.google.com/books?id=_DtSAQAAMAAJ&q=%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF&dq=%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin6t-4xrLXAhWCLmMKHXApBBwQ6AEIWjAI), but Google Books is not a perfect source.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: @username_0, google books has [some results](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E7%99%BD%E4%BF%84%E7%BD%97%E6%96%AF&hl=en&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A%2Ccd_max%3A1989&tbm=bks). It's hard to say if some of them might be recent translations into Chinese of works originally published earlier, though.  

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