QUESTION:
Chinese refer to their country as Zhong Guo
- which roughly translates as the Middle Kingdom.
The Chinese have always seen China as being
the center of the arts, the sciences and indeed
all things cultural, so it's not hard to understand
why the name Middle Kingdom.
Of course, China, the English name for the
Middle Kingdom, is not a Chinese word at all.
Where does the word 'China' come from:
A. From Sanskrit writings from about two
thousand years ago;
B. From Marco Polo's travel writings from
1555;
C. From Richard Nixon who coined the name
after his visit in February 1972.
D. None of the above.
ANSWERS:
A is the answer you were looking (or
guessing) for. The Oxford English Dictionary
says that the word China is found in Sanskrit
writings from about two thousand years ago,
and appears in various forms in several Asian
languages.
If you said B, you are at least on the right
road. The earliest European usage is by Marco
Polo, and the earliest cited English usage
dates from 1555.
The American Heritage Dictionary gives the
origin as being a corruption of the name of
the Qin dynasty, which ruled China in the
third century BC.
