震旦

Chinese

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• 震旦

Etymology

First attested in the 3^rd–4^th centuries CE.

Borrowed from Sanskrit चीनस्थान (cīnasthāna), or a name etymologically related; compare Sogdian (cynstʾn /⁠*čīnastan⁠/), Persian چینستان, Armenian Չինաստան (Čʻinastan), Ancient Greek Τζίνιστα (Tzínista).

Folk etymology interprets the this word orthographically, as a compound of 震 (zhèn, “one of the Eight Trigrams; the East”) + 旦 (dàn, “dawn; the direction of sunrise”), in reference to China's eastward position relative to India. For example, the Buddhist reference work Collection of Meanings and Terms in Translation (翻譯名義集) has the following passage on the origin of this term:

東方屬震，是日出之方，故云震旦。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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东方属震，是日出之方，故云震旦。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

Dōngfāng shǔ zhèn, shì rìchū zhī fāng, gù yún Zhèndàn.

The direction of east belongs to the trigram of Zhèn, and is the direction of sunrise, thus (China) is called Zhèndàn.

More discussion on the etymology of Zhèndàn can be found in Notes on Marco Polo (Vol. 1).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

震旦

1. (archaic, religion) The name for China in ancient Indian records and some Chinese Buddhist texts.

Synonyms

Related terms

• 支那 (Zhīnà)

References

• Ding, Fubao (丁福保) (1922), “支那” in 佛學大辭典 .