Evening star., 1926-05-27
NATIONS NAMES
SEEMS A WORLDWIDE HABIT
As Example, Present Use of ''United State, of
America Is One of Most Barefaced Conquests
on Record in Realm of Nomenclature.

fixed style. On a bank note il might
be Z and on a stamp it might be s..
Essays, articles and books were writ
ten on the subject by persons with
leisure to investigate and conjecture.
The name comes from one OF the first
products found in Brazil one now
ignored, a dyewood which produced
fine red. In Portuguese there is a
word 'brasa' meaning 'live-coal.' Since
the description fitted the product and
the product the country, Brazil 1t
came to be. American practice still
uses the q.
Chinese Name for Japan.
In the japanese name for their
island kingdom, Nippon, a geographic
absurdty has been corrected by
modern geographic decision. Nj
means sun and pom rising. Japan
is the country of the rising sun. To
whom could il be the country over
which the sun rose? Not to japanese
certainly! Obviously 1t is a Chinese
name because the island lay where
the Chinese saw the sun rise. But
within the last century the interna-
tional date line was marked down the
center of the Pacific Ocean. 1t estab-
fishes where day begins according to
earthly agreement. Therefore Japan
is the first ma jor territory touched
by the rising sun of a new day.
The confused welter of names
would seem to require some agreement
by all the nations. The use of French
as the language of diplomacy would
seem to offer common denomnator
for fractiouS nomenclature. But fol-
lowing the Versailles negotiations al
the close of the World War there was
revolt against this practice. Eng
lSh speaking nations wanted English
and Spanish speaking nations Spanish.
AS matter of fact French is still
largely the language of diplomacy
with exceptions. When the Brazilian
Government addresses Italy it is in
French and the reply is in French.
But when it addresses the United
States, the note is in Portuguese and
the reply in English
Americans" Appropriate "America."
Consider our nations name the
United States of America Americans
proudly proclaim that this title does
not stand for a nation which is an
empire gathering vast territories to it.
self by conquest. Yet the present use
of the United States of America is
one OF the most remarkable and bare
faced conquests on record in the world
of nomenclature. An American is
recognized everywhere now as a ma.
tive Of the United States, but there are
75.000,000 people in Canada, Central
America. Mexico and South America,
who have just as much right to the
name as the 125,000,000 citizens of the
United States. We speak of the
United States as if there could be
only one federation by that title.
There are two other the United
States Venezuela and Brazil
The United States has been empiri-
cal even in the pronunciation of the
name America. The French call us
'Amerique' and the Italians America, f,
with the am one syllable as in am
bulance-' This is probably the style
of the Florentine accountant, Amerigo
Vespucci, who donated his Christian
name to label two continents. But
English speaking Americans have
changed all that. We use the "A as
springboard and take. running dive
into 'merica.'
THE American version of the ma.
tions enumerated earlier in this bull
letin are:
Egypt. Esthonia. Finland, Tunisia.
Persia, Austria, Morocco, Lithua mia
and Palestine.