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| History ofVietnam (bynames of Vietnam) |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Throughout its history,Vietnam has been referred to by many names, either for the whole country or parts of it.
Throughout thehistory of Vietnam, official and unofficial names have been used in reference to the territory of Vietnam. Its early northern polity was calledVăn Lang during theHồng Bàng dynasty,Âu Lạc underThục dynasty,Nam Việt during the Triệu dynasty,Vạn Xuân during theEarly Lý dynasty,Đại Cồ Việt during theĐinh dynasty andEarly Lê dynasty. Starting in 1054, the country was calledĐại Việt (Great Việt).[1] During theHồ dynasty, Vietnam was called Đại Ngu.[2]
Việt Nam (listenⓘ inVietnamese) is a variation ofNam Việt (SouthernViệt), a name that can be traced back to theTriệu dynasty (2nd century BC, also known as Nanyue Kingdom).[3] The wordViệt originated as a shortened form ofBách Việt, a word used to refer to a people who lived in what is now southern China in ancient times. The nameViệt Nam, with the syllables in the modern order, first appears in the 16th century in a poem attributed toNguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm.Vietnam was mentioned inJosiah Conder's 1834Dictionary of Geography, Ancient and Modern as the other name to refer to Annam.
Annam, which originated as a Chinese name in the seventh century, remained the common name for the country until and during the French colonial period. Nationalist writerPhan Bội Châu revived the nameVietnam in the early 20th century. From 1945, when rival communist and anti-communist governments were established, both adopted this as the country's official name. In English, the two syllables are usually combined into one word,Vietnam. However,Viet Nam is still recognized as the standard name by theUnited Nations, byISO and by theVietnamese government, with the government even recently endorses using "Viet Nam" over "Vietnam". In the past, thehyphenated spelling "Viet-Nam" was the standardized spelling for the country being recognized by all three Vietnamese governments (Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam,Republic of Viet-Nam andRepublic of South Viet-Nam), however this spelling has become obsoleted in modern context.[4][5]
The term "Việt" (Yue) (Chinese:越; pinyin:Yuè; Cantonese Yale:Yuht; Wade–Giles:Yüeh4; Vietnamese:Việt) inEarly Middle Chinese was first written using thelogograph "戉" for an axe (a homophone), inoracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the lateShang dynasty (c. 1200 BC), and later as "越".[6] At that time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang.[7][8] In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middleYangtze were called theYangyue, a term later used for peoples further south.[7] Between the 7th and 4th centuries BC Yue/Việt referred to theState of Yue in the lower Yangtze basin and its people.[6][7]
From the 3rd century BC the term was used for the non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular states or groups calledMinyue, Ouyue (Vietnamese:Âu Việt), Luoyue (Vietnamese:Lạc Việt), etc., collectively called theBaiyue (Bách Việt,Chinese:百越; pinyin:Bǎiyuè; Cantonese Yale:Baak Yuet; Vietnamese:Bách Việt; lit. 'Hundred Yue/Viet'; ).[6][7] The term Baiyue/Bách Việt first appeared in the bookLüshi Chunqiu compiled around 239 BC.[9]
According to Ye Wenxian (1990), apud Wan (2013), the ethnonym of the Yuefang in northwestern China is not associated with that of the Baiyue in southeastern China.[10]
In 207 BC, formerQin dynasty generalZhao Tuo/Triệu Đà founded the kingdom ofNanyue/Nam Việt (Chinese:南越; lit. 'Southern Yue/Việt') with its capital at Panyu (modernGuangzhou). This kingdom was "southern" in the sense that it was located south of other Baiyue kingdoms such asMinyue and Ouyue, located in modernFujian andZhejiang. Several later Vietnamese dynasties followed this nomenclature even after these more northern peoples were absorbed into China.
In 968, the Vietnamese leaderĐinh Bộ Lĩnh established the independent kingdom ofĐại Cồ Việt (大瞿越) (possibly meaning "GreatGautama's Viet", as Gautama'sChữ Hán transcription瞿曇 is pronouncedCồ Đàm inSino-Vietnamese);[11][12] over the former Jinghai state.[13] In 1054, EmperorLý Thánh Tông shortened the country's name toĐại Việt ("Great Viet").[14] However, the namesGiao Chỉ andAn Nam were still the widely known names that foreigners used to refer the state of Đại Việt during medieval and early modern periods,. For examples,Caugigu (Italian);Kafjih-Guh (Arabic: كوة ك);Koci (Malay);[15]Cauchy (Portuguese);Cochinchina (English);Annam (Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and French). In 1787, US politicianThomas Jefferson referred to Vietnam asCochinchina for the purpose of trading for rice.[16]
"Sấm Trạng Trình" (The Prophecies of Principal Graduate Trình), which are attributed to Vietnamese official and poet Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (1491–1585), reversed the traditional order of the syllables and put the name in its modern form "Việt Nam" as inViệt Nam khởi tổ xây nền "Vietnam's founding ancestor lays its basis"[17] orViệt Nam khởi tổ gây nên "Vietnam's founding ancestor builds it up".[18] At this time, the country was divided between theTrịnh lords ofĐông Kinh and theNguyễn lords ofThừa Thiên. By combining several existing names, Nam Việt, Annam (Pacified South),Đại Việt (Great Việt), and "Nam quốc" (southern nation), the oracles' author[s] created a new name that referred to an aspirational unified state. The word "Nam" no longer implies Southern Việt, but rather that Vietnam is "the South" in contrast to China, "the North".[19] This sentiment had already been in the poem "Nam quốc sơn hà" (1077)'s first line: 南國山河南帝居Nam quốc sơn hà Nam đế cư "The Southern country's mountains and rivers the Southern Emperor inhabits".[20] Researcher Nguyễn Phúc Giác Hải found the word 越南 "Việt Nam" on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bảo Lâm Pagoda, Haiphong (1558).[19] LordNguyễn Phúc Chu (1675–1725), when describingHải Vân Pass (then calledẢi Lĩnh, lit. "Mountain-Pass'sSaddle-Point"), apparently used "Việt Nam" as a national name in his poem's first lineViệt Nam ải hiểm thử sơn điên,[b] which was translated asNúi này ải hiểm đất Việt Nam "This mountain's pass is the most dangerous in Vietnam".[21] Việt Nam was used as an official national name by EmperorGia Long in 1804–1813.[22] The Vietnamese asked permission from the Qing dynasty to change the name of their country. Originally, Gia Long had wanted the name Nam Việt and asked for his country to be recognized as such, but theJiaqing Emperor refused since the ancient state of the same name had ruled territory that was part of theQing dynasty.[23] TheJiaqing Emperor refused Gia Long's request to change his country's name to Nam Việt, and changed the name instead to Việt Nam in 1804.[24][25] Gia Long'sĐại Nam thực lục contains the diplomatic correspondence over the naming.[26]
In his account about the meeting with Vietnamese officials in Hue on January 17, 1832,Edmund Roberts, American embassy in Vietnam, wrote :
"...The country, they said, is not now called Annam, as formerly, but Wietnam (Vietnam), and it is ruled, not by a king, but by an emperor,..."[27]
— Edmund Roberts
"Trung Quốc" 中國, (literally "Middle Country" or "Central Country"), was also used as a name for Vietnam by Gia Long in 1805.[24]Minh Mang used the name "Trung Quốc" 中國 to call Vietnam.[28] Vietnamese Nguyen EmperorMinh Mạng sinicized ethnic minorities such as Cambodians, claimed the legacy of Confucianism and China's Han dynasty for Vietnam, and used the term Han people 漢人 to refer to the Vietnamese.[29] Minh Mang declared that "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han [Sino-Vietnamese] customs."[30] This policies were directed at the Khmer and hill tribes.[31] The Nguyen lord Nguyen Phuc Chu had referred to Vietnamese as "Han people" in 1712 when differentiating between Vietnamese and Chams;[32] meanwhile, ethnic Chinese were referred to asThanh nhân 清人 orĐường nhân 唐人.[33]
The use of "Vietnam" was revived in modern times by nationalists includingPhan Bội Châu, whose bookViệt Nam vong quốc sử (History of the Loss of Vietnam) was published in 1906. Chau also founded theViệt Nam Quang Phục Hội (Vietnam Restoration League) in 1912. However, the general public continued to use Annam and the name "Vietnam" remained virtually unknown until theYên Bái mutiny of 1930, organized by theViệt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (Vietnamese Nationalist Party).[34] By the early 1940s, the use of "Việt Nam" was widespread. It appeared in the name ofHo Chi Minh's Việt Nam Độc lập Đồng minh Hội (Viet Minh), founded 1941, and was even used by the governor ofFrench Indochina in 1942.[35] The name "Vietnam" has been official since 1945. It was adopted in June byBảo Đại's imperial government in Huế, and in September by Ho's rival communist government in Hanoi.[36]
Official names pre-1945
| Time | Name | Polity |
|---|---|---|
| 2879 – 2524 BC | Xích Quỷ 赤鬼 | Hồng Bàng dynasty –Kinh Dương Vương |
| 7th century – 258 BC | Văn Lang 文郎, | Hồng Bàng dynasty –Hùng king |
| 257 – 207 BC | Âu Lạc 甌駱,甌貉 | Thục dynasty –An Dương Vương |
| 204 BC – 111 BC | Nam Việt [quốc] 南越 | Triệu dynasty |
| 111 BC - 40[c] 43[c] - 203 1407 - 1427 | Giao Chỉ [quận] 交址,交阯,交趾 | Chinese domination |
| 203 – 544 602 – 679 | Giao châu 交州 | Chinese domination |
| 544–602 | Vạn Xuân [quốc] 萬春 | Anterior Lý dynasty |
| 679 – 757 766 – 866 | Annam [phủ] 安南 | Chinese domination |
| 757–766 | Trấn Nam [phủ] 鎮南 | Chinese domination |
| 866–968 | Tĩnh Hải [quân] 靜海 | Chinese domination Ngô dynasty Anarchy of the 12 Warlords |
| 968–1054 | Đại Cồ-việt [quốc] 大瞿越 | Đinh dynasty Early Lê dynasty Lý dynasty |
| 1054 – 1400 1428 – 1804 | Đại Việt [quốc] 大越 | Lý dynasty Trần dynasty Hồ dynasty Lê dynasty Mạc dynasty Tây Sơn dynasty Nguyễn dynasty |
| 1400–1407 | Đại Ngu [quốc] 大虞 | Hồ dynasty |
| 1804–1839 | Việt Nam [quốc] 越南 | Nguyễn dynasty |
| 1839–1945 | Đại Nam [quốc] 大南[37] | Nguyễn dynasty |
Official names since 1945: "Việt Nam"
Non-official names
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In English, the spellingsVietnam,Viet-Nam,Viet Nam andViệt Nam have all been used.Josiah Conder in his 1824 descriptive gazetteerThe Modern Traveller: Birmah, Siam, and Anam (Burma, Siam, and Annam) spellsViet-nam with a hyphen placed between Viet and Nam. The 1954 edition ofWebster's New Collegiate Dictionary gave both the unspaced and hyphenated forms; in response to a letter from a reader, the editors indicated that the spaced form Viet Nam was also acceptable, though they stated that because Anglophones did not know the meaning of the two words making up the name Vietnam, "it is not surprising" that there was a tendency to drop the space.[51] In 1966, the U.S. government was known to use all three renderings, with theState Department preferring the hyphenated version.[52] By 1981, the hyphenated form was regarded as "dated", according to Scottish writerGilbert Adair, and he titled his book about depictions of the country in film using the unhyphenated and unspaced form "Vietnam".[53] Nowadays, thefederal government of the United States and its affiliated entities mainly use "Vietnam" as the primary designation for the country.[54][55]
Currently "Vietnam" is most commonly used as the official name in English, leading to the adjectiveVietnamese (instead ofViet,Vietic orViet Namese) and 3-letter code VIE inIOC andFIFA (instead ofVNM). In all other languages mainly written inLatin script, the name of Vietnam is also commonly written without a space.[56] The spelling that separated by a space as "Viet Nam" is formally recognized by theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO), theUnited Nations (UN) and theVietnamese Government itself as the official, standardized and "accurate" country name, resulting in the systematic prioritization in the usage of this spelling by the Vietnamese state-powered agencies and official documents such as the nationwide-issuedidentity cards and thepassports.[57][58][59]
Both Japanese and Korean formerly referred to Vietnam by their respectiveSino-Xenic pronunciations of the Chinese characters for its names, but later switched to using direct phonetic transcriptions. In Japanese, following theindependence of Vietnam, the namesAnnan (安南) andEtsunan (越南) were largely replaced by the phonetic transcriptionBetonamu (ベトナム), written inkatakana script; however, the old form is still seen in compound words (e.g.訪越, "a visit to Vietnam").[60][61]Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs sometimes used an alternative spellingVietonamu (ヴィエトナム).[61] Similarly, in the Korean language, in line with the trend towards decreasing usage ofHanja, theSino-Korean-derived nameWollam (월남, the Korean reading of越南) has been replaced byBeteunam (베트남) in South Korea andWennam (윁남) in North Korea.[62][63]
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