this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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We didn’t. 中國likely became the most common name with 中華民國(present day commonly known as Taiwan). What you now know as China is 中華人民共和國, so 中國 carries on. During dynasty periods that was not the common name.
China comes from sina/sino. I don’t remember where this comes from. Sanskrit?
Odds are that both were independently borrowed from Sanskrit चीन / Cīna:
Note: dunno in English but at least in Latin "Sina" (often Sinae, the plural) refers specifically to southern China. The north is typically called Serica (roughly "of the silk").
In Arabic it's "Seen" (صين) with a Saad (ص) [sˤ]. It came from Persian "چین" (Cheen). Which came from Sanskrit.
My bad, and thanks for the info! I'll correct my comment, I kind of rushed checking the etymologies.
It wasn’t common though. Like everyone calls it 中國 now. Not so back then. China has fragmented and reunited many times
I can concede that
Wikipedia says from Portuguese, through Persian, back to Sanskrit, being the grand daddy of English, calling it "cina", and/or it has to do with Qin Dynasty that unified China.
Probably better than whatever bullshit they would have gotten from Zhongguo if "Peking" was as good as they could do with "Beijing"
Sanskrit is more like English's uncle than granddaddy: English is from Proto-Germanic, and both Proto-Germanic and Sanskrit are from Proto-Indo-European.
Or that soy beans are actually named after the sauce, since English didn't have a word for the bean yet.