Alternative Names For The British - Other Languages

Other Languages

In the East African Bantu languages Mzungu has come to mean any white European but more often than not especially the British or English due to their colonial past in the region.

In one of the Vindolanda tablets the Latin pejorative of Brittunculi (wretched little Britons) is used (presumably by a Roman official) in a commentary of their particular military tactics.

In many languages, the equivalent terms for 'English' and 'England' are often used interchangeably with 'British' and 'Britain', and this is also relatively common in many non-British varieties of English. For example in Turkish 'İngiltere' is used for both Britain and England, despite there being a separate word for Britain, 'Britanya'. Welsh people in particular are very often referred to in French as 'Anglais' rather than 'Gallois', in Russian as 'англичанин' Angličanin, and so on. The same occurs rather less frequently in the case of individuals from Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Ireland remained separate countries, with their own parliaments, until the early eighteenth and nineteenth centuries respectively, when the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801) were formed. However, even those countries may still sometimes be considered to form part of Angleterre or the equivalent. In French, the word britannique ('British') is restricted to more official contexts and tends to be used for governments rather than for individuals. In Assam (which became part of British India in 1828), the British are called Boga Bongal (literally meaning White Foreigners or White Intruders). Bongal was a derogatory word for foreigners and invaders in Assam under Ahom rule and it still is used.

In Polish a common formal term to describe an Englishman is Anglik, derived from the Polish word for England, Anglia, with the word Brytyjczyk meaning Briton, from the Polish name for Great Britain, Wielka Brytania. Derogatory terms coined in recent years are Angol and Brytol respectively; however, due to negative connotations they are not used in formal writing or by the media.

In the Czech Republic he term Anglán is often used, which has the same roots as the Polish Anglik- the Czechs call England Anglie. This word is neither positive nor negative. However, unlike the formal Angličan, it is not used by the press because of its informality.

In Nepal, the British are often referred to as Kuires/Khaires which means people of white or pale colour. It is also used in general for any Caucasian person with white skin.

In Malaysia, one common Malay equivalent is Mat Salleh. The term may have originated from the general depiction of British colonial sailors who were often drunk (Mad Sailors); due to the inability of locals to pronounce English words correctly, it became mat salleh (Mat and Salleh are both typical Malay names). Another possible origin of the phrase is the Mat Salleh Rebellion, led by North Borneo chief Mat Salleh, against the British North Borneo Company during the late-19th century. Another alternative to mat salleh is orang putih (literally "white people" in Malay) or its shortened rural form, omputih. In ancient Malaccan times, the term orang deringgi was also used.

Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese use terms for Britain/British which are derived from the words "England" and "English". The Japanese word for Britain has its origins in the Portuguese word for English: Inglês became (Japanese) Igirisu.

Although the Chinese Yīngguó (Hanzi: 英国), Japanese Eikoku (Kanji: 英国), Korean Yeongguk (Hangul: 영국), and Vietnamese Anh Quốc are all derived from illustrious, they are used to mean "Britain" and "British", including both Great Britain and UK. They are still used to mean England in unofficial contexts. There are also more formal specific names for the UK, such as the Chinese 聯合王國 Liánhéwángguó and Japanese 連合王国 Rengōōkoku literally meaning "United Kingdom". Separate words exist in all of these languages for each of the constituent parts of the UK, including England, although, as elsewhere, there is little awareness of correct usage. However, sport teams are called by their correct name, as can be seen in any World Cup schedule.

The written form of Yīngguó in Chinese is made up of two characters: 英国. The first 英 (yīng) as an adjective means "outstanding" and "fine", and as a noun means "flower"; the second is 国 (guó) which means "country", "state" or "kingdom". Originally the adjective word was written as 英吉利 Yīngjílì as an approximation of the adjective word English, and is still used to mean English in the Chinese word for the English Channel 英吉利海峡 Yīng jí lì hǎi xiá. The noun word was written as 英格兰 Ying ge lan for the noun England, also 苏格兰 Su ge lan for Scotland, 爱尔兰 Ai er lan for Ireland and 威尔士 Wei er shi for Wales. Also in history books Great Britain is written 大不列颠 da bu lie dian, from 大 (Great) and the sounds of the words 不列颠 similar to the sound interpretation. The word 英吉利 was given the reading igirisu in Japanese, and the same abbreviation was adopted, 英国 eikoku, taking the first character and using the more usual 'Chinese' reading. These days, the word is usually written using katakana script as イギリス Igirisu, although 英国 Eikoku is still common. The first character is also used in the word for the English language, 英語 eigo. Additionally, Vietnamese đảo Anh (literally, "English island") means the island of Great Britain.