ELI5: How do they come up with names for countries in foreign languages? Submitted by bentobam t3_10ohrv7 on January 29, 2023 at 8:33 PM in explainlikeimfive 88 comments 145
ghostdeinithegreat t1_j6gii9m wrote on January 30, 2023 at 3:48 AM Japan in japanese is Nihon. The origin of why we call it Japan comes from Marco Polo who heard the chinese call it 日本 (Riben), pronounced as Zu-Pang, which translate losely to « the sun’s origin », as Japan is west of China and Japan is where the sun rise first. Permalink 1
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