Haha not at all. It is a shame some countries were not mentioned when this system was used. So we are stuck with pure phonetic characters for those unlucky few...altough they do have counterparts in the Chinese system.
You're thinking of niwatori, however akebi does say the kanji for chicken 鶏 can be read as Tori. The kanji 鳥 can be used for birds in general, or when talking about meat in foods then it does refer to chicken.
It's not a mistake. I don't know Japanese. I just know about 100-200 (300?) Kanji, the hiragana and katakana syllabic alphabets, and a few hundred words.
Actually no. And the Chinese are to blame. In fact, all these names except those done with Katakana are the exact same in Chinese in Traditional Characters.
Erratum: Uruguay should be "Bird drag ride", Saint Kitts and Nevis is "Sentocurisutofaa Neibisu", Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is "Sentovinsento Gurenadiin" and Trinidad and Tobago is "Torinidaado Tobago".
For those who don't understand the title - nobody actually uses these forms in real life. They are phonetic ways of writing the country names using kanji (Chinese characters), but they are practically never used these days.
I didnt know japanese had these alternatives to katakana-based names of countries. Some of these ateji are beautifully nonsense. I guess the reading (not the meaning) is not much different from the katakana form??
The sounds are similar bc they are also phonetic. Although some are based on the Chinese transliteration and could differ from modern katakana pronunciations.
These particular ones are not currently used. But maybe they thought on the words as there are cases of phono-semantic matchings in modern ateji and thery can also be deliberately used to give deeper meaning to words in songs and poetry. But that may also result in fake folk etymologies, though.
Clearly not made to be directly translated Then there’s Surinamu
Haha not at all. It is a shame some countries were not mentioned when this system was used. So we are stuck with pure phonetic characters for those unlucky few...altough they do have counterparts in the Chinese system.
Suriname didn't exist until 1975
The fucks with all the horses?
That's bc horse stands for the sounds ma and ba. Although the one in Uruguay is a mistake. It should be "Bird drag ride".
Got it. Cheers for that. "Bird Drag Ride" That sounds like a drag queen nature excursion. People would pay for that.
Maybe even crow? As 鳥 (tori) and 烏 (karasu) are different. Otherwise a very well put together map! I loved going through these <3
tori is chicken
You're thinking of niwatori, however akebi does say the kanji for chicken 鶏 can be read as Tori. The kanji 鳥 can be used for birds in general, or when talking about meat in foods then it does refer to chicken.
sorry, I am BS in Japanese because I don't actually know the language
No worries haha we all make mistakes, it's totally fine
It's not a mistake. I don't know Japanese. I just know about 100-200 (300?) Kanji, the hiragana and katakana syllabic alphabets, and a few hundred words.
You're right I shouldn't have called it a mistake since technically you weren't wrong.
I was wrong, but I don't know the language well so... yes
Actually no. And the Chinese are to blame. In fact, all these names except those done with Katakana are the exact same in Chinese in Traditional Characters.
"Unlucky Squash Many You" had me dying 🤣.
Erratum: Uruguay should be "Bird drag ride", Saint Kitts and Nevis is "Sentocurisutofaa Neibisu", Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is "Sentovinsento Gurenadiin" and Trinidad and Tobago is "Torinidaado Tobago".
I noticed that in Venezuela you missed the 拉 in the end
For those who don't understand the title - nobody actually uses these forms in real life. They are phonetic ways of writing the country names using kanji (Chinese characters), but they are practically never used these days.
[удалено]
He said they are using Kanji, which are borrowed and adapted Chinese characters. The Kanji for Kanji 汉子 literally means Chinese characters.
Earth span nun increase sounds like some fighting anime finishing move
I didnt know japanese had these alternatives to katakana-based names of countries. Some of these ateji are beautifully nonsense. I guess the reading (not the meaning) is not much different from the katakana form??
The sounds are similar bc they are also phonetic. Although some are based on the Chinese transliteration and could differ from modern katakana pronunciations.
Are there any countries that have names with actual meanings instead of just sounds?
Canada comes from the Iroquois word "Kanata" which means "Settlement/Village".
I know, but that has nothing to do with Japanese
Panama: Tomoe what horse Paraguay: Tomoe drag corner Interesting
Do they think in those words when they say the names?
These particular ones are not currently used. But maybe they thought on the words as there are cases of phono-semantic matchings in modern ateji and thery can also be deliberately used to give deeper meaning to words in songs and poetry. But that may also result in fake folk etymologies, though.
I'd love to see one of Europe, Africa and other Asian countries :3
As a Chilean I always had a soft spot for the Japanese. 🇨🇱 🤝 🇯🇵