Amoy dialect
In the 16th century, before the term "mandarin" became widespread in the European languages, the word "Loutea" (with various spelling variations) was often used in Europeans' travel reports to refer to Chinese scholar-officials. It is frequently used, for example, in Galeote Pereira's account of his experiences in China in 1548–1553, which was published in Europe in 1565, or (as "Louthia") in Gaspar da Cruz' "Treatise of China" (1569). C. R. Boxer says the word comes from the Chinese 老爷 (Mandarin Pinyin: "lǎoye"; Amoy dialect: "ló-tia"; Quanzhou dialect: "lāu-tia"), which was commonly used by people in China to address officials. This is also the main term used to refer to the scholar-officials in Juan González de Mendoza's "History of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof" (1585), which heavily drew (directly or indirectly) on Pereira's report and Gaspar da Cruz' book, and which was the Europeans' standard reference on China in the late 16th century.