There seems to be some confusion about the source
of the name "China" in Western usage. The question has to be divided into two
parts:
1. Where does the name China
originate?
2. How did it become adopted in Western usage as
the standard name for the country, since the Chinese themselves have used many
other names to identify themselves, their country, their language,
etc?
The first question is easily answered. The name
ultimately derives from the Qin (pronounced Chin). Qin was one of the early
"states" of pre-Imperial China, and was the first to conquer all the others and
unify China into a single state in the 3rd c BCE, which was then superceded by
the Han Dynasty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty
The terracotta army was built to guard the tomb of
the Qin emperor.
During the Later Qin, many Buddhist texts were
translated. For instance, the first text in the Taisho edition of the Buddhist
canon is the Dīrghāgama, tr. in 413 CE, which was during the Later Qin Dynasty
後秦 (houqin). In its preface, one finds terms like:
秦 Qin (referring to China),
大秦 Daqin =
Great Qin (referring to China, and the source of the Sanskrit Mahācīna)
秦國
Qinguo = Country of Qin.
The term Qin occurs nearly 12,000 times in the
Chinese Buddhist canon (though sometimes referring to something other than China
or Chinese, e.g., 拘樓秦 Julouqin = Krakucchanda, one of the Seven Buddhas of the
past.). The self-reference by Chinese to their own country and culture and
rulers, etc. as Qin, Daqin, etc. continued through many other periods, not just
these dynasties. Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang), e.g., in the 7th century, refers to
China as Daqin.
The second question is murkier. Secondary sources
complicate the problem. Some seem unaware that for many centuries the Chinese
referred to themselves as Qin and Daqin (among many other designations), since
that is not a modern name in present usage, and writers familiar with
current usage seem unaware of the name's history. Some cite Persian as the route
by which the term entered western usage, sometimes attributing its introduction
to the West through Marco Polo. Some additionally speculate that the term came
into Persian from the Sanskrit.
It is worth noting, however, that the Hebrew term
for China -- already in the Bible -- is Sin (סין), and the same goes for Arabic
(al-Sin, الصين). The Persian Chin (چین) could just as easily have come from
Semitic sources as from Indian sources.
Dan Lusthaus
----- Original Message -----
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Origin of
Mahācīna
Dear list members,
A Sinologist colleague of mine has raised
the following question to me. Any thoughts would be appreciated:
Conventional wisdom among certain
Sinologists is that the Western name "China" derives from
the Sanskrit Mahācīna, etc. Sinologists do not seem to know, or at least
do not cite, sources for this
attribution. How old is the name, and how trustworthy are the
texts?
Thank you,
Deven