History
The first Wu nation was established in late Zhou Dynasty. Once considered as a foreign kingdom to Kingdom Zhou, it emerged to be a power overlord at the end of Spring and Autumn Period.
The most influential Wu nation was the Kingdom of Wu during the period of Three Kingdoms.
The city of Suzhou (also called Wu) has traditionally been the capital of the Wu nations. The dialect spoken in Suzhou is usually regarded as the standard Wu language.
Go-on (呉音), which is one of the sources of Japanese pronunciation for kanji (the others being kan-on, tō-on and kan'yō-on), is sometimes said to have originated from this region. The Go- component in the name Go-on is cognate to the Chinese word Wu (Wu is the pronunciation for the Chinese character 吳 in Mandarin. However, in Wu language 呉 is usually pronounced as Ho, Oh, Ng, or Nguu).
Read more about this topic: Wu (region)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)
“A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)