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🌏 Region(s): Ryukyu (Okinawa)

うちなー【沖縄】

uchinaa

Pronunciation: [ʔut͡ɕinaː]

Definition

Noun

  1. Okinawa; Okinawa Prefecture; Okinawa Island

Etymology

Cognate to Amami (Yoroshima) おっきなわ okkinawa [okˀinawa]; Okinoerabu おきなわ okinawa; Okinawa (Kerama, Shuri) うちなー uchinaa; Okinawa (Aguni) and Yaeyama (Iriomote) うきなー ukinaa; Tarama うけィなー ukїnaa; Miyako うくスなー ukɿna; Yonaguni うんな unna; and standard Japanese おきなわ【沖縄】 Okinawa.

Historical attestations:

  • 唐大和上東征伝 Tōdaiwajō tōseiden (ca. 754), by 鑑真 Jianzhen (Ganjin), records the spelling "阿児奈波" (pronounced in Middle Chinese as *ʔɑ.ȵiᴇ.nɑiH.puɑ per Zhengzhang Shangfang's reconstruction).
  • 平家物語 Heike Monogatari "The Tale of the Heike" (ca. 1330) records the spelling おきなは okinaha (pronounced either [okinafa] or [okinawa]).
  • おもろさうし Omoro Saushi (1531-1623) records the spelling おきなわ okinawa (likely already pronounced [ukinawa] at this period).
  • Various historical Japanese and Chinese works use the spellings 浮縄 ukinawa, 悪鬼納 akinawa or wokinawa, 倭急拿 uchinaa, and 屋其惹 uchina for Okinawa. The spelling 沖縄 okinawa is said to have first been used in administrative documents of the Satsuma Domain in the 1600s.

Spelling

OrthographyForm
Kanji沖縄
Kanaうちなー
Romanizationuchinaa
Pronunciation (IPA)[ʔut͡ɕinaː]

意味:おきなわ【沖縄】、ウチナー、おきなわほんとう【沖縄本島】

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沖縄
Cite this entry: Read, Zachary. (2024, March 24). うちなー【沖縄】 : uchinaa | define meaning. JLect: Japonic Languages and Dialects Database. Retrieved 2024, December 3, from https://www.jlect.com/entry/346/uchinaa/.