Names From East Asia
The Chinese name is probably a phonetic approximation of the German proper adjective. The Vietnamese name is based on the Chinese name. The Japanese name is a phonetic approximation of the Dutch proper adjective. The Korean name is based on the Japanese name. This is explained in detail below:
The common Chinese name (simplified Chinese: 德国; traditional Chinese: 德國; pinyin: Déguó) is a combination of the short form of Chinese: 德意志; pinyin: déyìzhì, which approximates the German pronunciation of Deutsch ‘German’, plus 國 guó ‘country’.
The Vietnamese name Đức is the Vietnamese pronunciation (đức ) of the character 德 that appears in the Chinese name.
Japanese language ドイツ (doitsu) is an approximation of the Dutch word duits meaning ‘German’.
It was earlier written with the Sino-Japanese character compound 獨逸 (whose 獨 has since been simplified to 独), but has been largely superseded by the above-mentioned katakana ドイツ. The character 独 is sometimes used in compounds, for example 独文 (dokubun) meaning ‘German literature’, or as an abbreviation, such as in 独日関係 (dokunichi kankei, German-Japanese relations?).
The (South) Korean name Dogil (독일) is the Korean pronunciation of the former Japanese name (see previous section). The compound coined by the Japanese was adapted into Korean, so its characters 獨逸 are not pronounced do+itsu as in Japanese, but dok+il = Dogil. Until 1980s, South Korean primary textbooks adopted Doichillanteu (도이칠란트) which approximates the German pronunciation of Deutschland.
The official North Korean name toich'willandŭ (도이췰란드) approximates the German pronunciation of Deutschland. Traditionally Dogil (독일) had been used in North Korea until 1990s.
Use of the Chinese name (in its Korean pronunciation deokguk, 덕국) is attested for the early 20th century. It is now uncommon.
Read more about this topic: Names Of Germany
Famous quotes containing the words names, east and/or asia:
“To you, more than to any others, the privilege is given, to assure that happiness [of saving the Union], and swell that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The East knew and to the present day knows only that One is Free; the Greek and the Roman world, that some are free; the German World knows that All are free. The first political form therefore which we observe in History, is Despotism, the second Democracy and Aristocracy, the third, Monarchy.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“[N]o combination of dictator countries of Europe and Asia will halt us in the path we see ahead for ourselves and for democracy.... The people of the United States ... reject the doctrine of appeasement.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)