this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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We didn’t. 中國likely became the most common name with 中華民國（present day commonly known as Taiwan). What you now know as China is 中華人民共和國, so 中國 carries on. During dynasty periods that was not the common name.
China comes from sina/sino. I don’t remember where this comes from. Sanskrit?
Odds are that both were independently borrowed from Sanskrit चीन / Cīna:
Note: dunno in English but at least in Latin "Sina" (often Sinae, the plural) refers specifically to southern China. The north is typically called Serica (roughly "of the silk").
In Arabic it's "Seen" (صين) with a Saad (ص) [sˤ]. It came from Persian "چین" (Cheen). Which came from Sanskrit.
My bad, and thanks for the info! I'll correct my comment, I kind of rushed checking the etymologies.
Uh... 中国(Zhongguo) was first used in the Western Zhou period, over 3000 years ago. Other words like 诸夏(Zhuxia), 诸华 (Zhuhua), 天下 (Tianxia), 华夏 (Huaxia), 神州 (Shenzhou), 九州 (Jiuzhou), and assorted combinations or variations of these were used off and on over the time as well. (None of which sound like "China" naturally.) 大清国 (Daqing Guo) was used the Qing before they were overthrown and the Republic, and later the People's Republic, took the country over again.
It wasn’t common though. Like everyone calls it 中國 now. Not so back then. China has fragmented and reunited many times
It was pretty common in the Zhou Dynastic period, being the official name and all that. That's 789 years. I think we can consider it firmly established usage from that, no?
I can concede that