臺灣 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: 台湾 and 台灣

| | phonetic | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- | | trad. (臺灣/台灣) | 臺/台 | 灣 | | simp. (台湾) | 台 | 湾 |

Appears to be first attested in a memorial to the imperial government by official He Kai (何楷) in 1635:

今欲靖寇氛，非墟其窟不可。其窟維何？臺灣是也。臺灣在彭湖島外，距漳、泉止兩日夜程，地廣而腴。 [Classical Chinese, _trad._]

今欲靖寇氛，非墟其窟不可。其窟维何？台湾是也。台湾在彭湖岛外，距漳、泉止两日夜程，地广而腴。 [Classical Chinese, _simp._]

From: 17th-18th century, History of Ming

Jīn yù jìng kòufēn, fēi xū qí kū bùkě. Qí kū wéi hé? Táiwān shì yě. Táiwān zài Pénghú dǎo wài, jù Zhāng, Quán zhǐ liǎng rì yè chéng, dì guǎng ér yú. [Pinyin]

If we are to subdue the bandits, we must destroy their hideout. Where is their hideout, then? It's Taiwan. Taiwan is further from Penghu, with a distance of two days away from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and the land is large and fertile.

Officially, no later than 1684 with the creation of Taiwan Prefecture (臺灣府). A phonetic transliteration of an ethnonym of a tribe (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) in the southwest part of the island in the area of Anping, Tainan, southwest Taiwan, variously recorded in Dutch records as Tayouan or Tayowan or Taiouwang. A Dutch missionary referred to this group as Taiouwang no later than 1636. Other phonetic transliterations in Chinese characters included 大員 [1603], 大圓 [1617], 臺員, and 大灣 [circa 1624], as placenames initially referring to a sandbank peninsula that later silted up now wholly part of the island in the area of modern-day Anping District, Tainan that eventually became the name of the entire island.

Possibly derived from Siraya. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

By surface analysis, 臺 / 台 (tái, “terraced”) +‎ 灣 / 湾 (wān, “bay”).

Note:

臺灣

  1. (～島) Taiwan (island)
    臺灣原住民族／台湾原住民族 ― Táiwān yuánzhùmínzú ― Taiwanese aboriginal people
    臺灣文學專題／台湾文学专题 ― Táiwān wénxué zhuāntí ― special topics on Taiwanese literature
  2. (～省) Taiwan Province (administrative division in both the Republic of China and People's Republic of China)
  3. (～地區) Taiwan Area (Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and some minor islands, which are de facto governed by the Republic of China)

Others:

  1. ^ Shih Hsiu-chuan (2010 December 14) “Premier respects ‘choice’ on spelling”, in Taipei Times‎[1], retrieved 8 January 2015
Kanji in this term
臺 灣
たいHyōgai わんHyōgai
on'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 臺灣 – see the following entry.
(This term, 臺灣, is the kyūjitai of the above term.)
Hanja in this term
臺 灣

臺灣 • (Daeman) (hangeul 대만)

  1. hanja form? of 대만 (“Taiwan”)
chữ Hán Nôm in this term
臺 灣

臺灣

  1. chữ Hán form of Đài Loan (“Taiwan”).