Historical Usage
Ryūkyū is an exonym and is not a self-designation. The word first appeared in the Book of Sui (636). Its obscure description of Liuqiu (流求) is the source of a never-ending scholarly debate over what was referred to by the name, Taiwan, Okinawa or both. Nevertheless the Book of Sui shaped perceptions of Ryūkyū for a long time. Ryūkyū was considered a land of cannibals and aroused a feeling of dread among surrounding people, from Buddhist monk Enchin, who travelled to Tang China in 858, to an informant of the Hyōtō Ryūkyū-koku ki, who travelled to Song China in 1243. Later, some Chinese sources used Great Ryukyu (大琉球, Da Liuqiu) for Okinawa and Lesser Ryukyu (小琉球, Xiao Liuqiu) for Taiwan. Although some dialectologists managed to find Okinawan forms of "Ryūkyū", Ruuchuu (ルーチュー?) or Duuchuu (ドゥーチュー?) in the Shuri-Naha dialect and Ruuchuu (ルーちュー?) in the Nakijin dialect, it was not used among Okinawans.
From about 1829 until the mid-20th century, the island's English name was spelled Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew. These spellings were based on the Chinese pronunciation of the characters for "Ryukyu", which in Mandarin is Liúqiú, as well as the Okinawan language's form Ruuchuu (ルーチュー?).
Read more about this topic: Ryukyu Islands, Names and Extents, Ryukyu
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