Talk:米國

Wasei kango?
Hi, may I ask when was the earliest attestation of 米国 in Japanese? Because 米國 is attested in Chinese as early as 1846. RcAlex36 (talk) 15:17, 22 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Well, that was a fine rabbit hole. 😄.
 * Looks like the term itself is attested in Japanese since at least 1603, but the "America" sense doesn't appear until the mid-1800s, with the first explicit cite of the spelling in 1869 -- although the 米 ↔ "US" association appears from at least 1854, possibly earlier.
 * If the 1846 Chinese attestation is in reference specifically to the US, I suspect that that is the ultimate source. Can you describe at all how the Chinese term was used originally?  ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 00:10, 23 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Looks like it's from an edited version of a 1846 book called 海國四說. I'm not certain about the publication date of that version. 米國 may thus be wasei kango. RcAlex36 (talk) 05:09, 24 December 2022 (UTC)