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.
ANSWER:
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.
