topic Re: A trivia question..... in Community Chat

A trivia question.....

sophiamarie — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:33:04 GMT

So, my husband just came in here to ask me - "since when did "Vietnam" become "Viet Nam"????? He has always known it as one word "Vietnam". Now, in different news outlets, etc., it is written as two words.

Does anyone know the "real" answer to this - OR is there no real answer....

I hope this doesn't offend anyone who is or might be Vietnamese or Viet Namese........

Re: A trivia question.....

minkbunny — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:35:02 GMT

It is one word , Vietnam.

That is my final answer, Alex.

Re: A trivia question.....

Cakers1 — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:36:39 GMT

It was always Viet Nam as far as I remember back through history.

I think ""Vietnam"" is the English version of combining the two syllables.

Re: A trivia question.....

dooBdoo — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:39:08 GMT

I looked it up, and these appears to be good answers, sophiamarie:

"The country was called Viet Nam or Nam Viet along with some other names that have not influenced the two most common English spellings, of which some are no longer in any use.

Viet refers to a region that covers Viet Nam (particularly the north) and a region in southern China where the Viet or Kinh people come from. Nam means "south", hence Viet Nam means the south part of that region. Historically this wouldn't cover the very south of modern Viet Nam, but then considering that the etymology of Dutch means "Germanic", it's not like names and borders remain neatly aligned throughout all of history.

In Anglicising, some people merge the two words into a single word, as it is after all almost always used as a single name in English, and we are not familiar with the words Viet or Nam. Comparably, one could imagine a language transliterating "North America" as a single word, if they weren't familiar with "North" or "America", and so on. Some also favour the single-word form because the official translation of "Cong hòa Xã hoi ch? nghia Viet Nam" (the offical name of the current country) is "Socialist Republic of Vietnam" which uses the one-word form.

At the same time, some people do not remove the space, as it is closer to the original Vietnamese form, and because Vi?t does appear without Nam in the names of some Vietnamese organisations, etc. that have also been relatively well known among English-speakers outside of Viet Nam, particularly the Viet Minh and Viet Cong."

from: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/138558/is-viet-nam-a-mistake-a-typo-an-archaic-spelling-a-regional-spelling-or-an

and

". . .This legend symbolizes the importance of uniting the two main geographic and cultural areas of Viet Nam -- the mountains (representing the north) and lowlands (representing the south) in forming one united country. It is a theme that gets played out repeatedly in Viet Nam's history and is also symbolized by the spelling of "Viet Nam" as two words, rather than one. In fact, spelling Viet Nam using two words has a long tradition and is in keeping with the country's pre-colonized history. It wasn't until Viet Nam was colonized by France that its name was shortened to one word. . ."

from: http://www.asian-nation.org/vietnam-history.shtml

Re: A trivia question.....

Cakers1 — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:40:40 GMT

As I said.

Re: A trivia question.....

minkbunny — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:41:47 GMT

<h2 class="b_entityTitle">Vietnam</h2>

en.wikipedia.org

Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.0 million inhabitants as of 2013, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "Southern Viet"; it was first officially adopted in 1802 by Emperor Gia Long, and was adopted again in 1945 with the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China …

Re: A trivia question.....

dooBdoo — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:43:20 GMT

On 11/16/2014 Cakers1 said:
As I said.

Hi, Cakers! Took me longer to post my novelette, so I didn't know your post was there. You said in a few words what the articles said in a gazillion!

Re: A trivia question.....

Cakers1 — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:48:35 GMT

On 11/16/2014 dooBdoo said:
On 11/16/2014 Cakers1 said:
As I said.

Hi, Cakers! Took me longer to post my novelette, so I didn't know your post was there. You said in a few words what the articles said in a gazillion!

Re: A trivia question.....

dooBdoo — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:50:08 GMT

On 11/16/2014 Cakers1 said:
On 11/16/2014 dooBdoo said:
On 11/16/2014 Cakers1 said:
As I said.

Hi, Cakers! Took me longer to post my novelette, so I didn't know your post was there. You said in a few words what the articles said in a gazillion!

I know, you're right, right? I should've checked to see if there were any new posts before submitting mine. My bad.

(edited because it sounded snarky, unintended)

Re: A trivia question.....

Sushismom — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:50:29 GMT

"Vietnam" is the romanized version of the country's name. If using diacritic marks, then it would be separated as "Viet Nam". Unfortunately, my computer lacks the ability to add the proper diacritic.

Re: A trivia question.....

dooBdoo — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:52:23 GMT

On 11/16/2014 Sushismom said:
"Vietnam" is the romanized version of the country's name. If using diacritic marks, then it would be separated as "Viet Nam". Unfortunately, my computer lacks the ability to add the proper diacritic.

I know. I had to edit out all the diacritic marks showing up as weird question marks in my loooooooong post, too, before submitting it, one by one. They won't post here.

(here's the live link if anyone wants to see them: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/138558/is-viet-nam-a-mistake-a-typo-an-archaic-spelling-a-regional-spelling-or-an)

Re: A trivia question.....

chickenbutt — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:52:51 GMT

I always thought it was 'Vietnam' in OUR language, but I don't know how it's called in their language.

Re: A trivia question.....

minkbunny — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:54:49 GMT

So, to answer the OP's husband's question, Vietnam did not become Viet Nam, it is the reverse. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is spelled with one word so that would be the accepted use when commemorating that period of time, I suppose.

There is a very fascinating webpage devoted to Vietnam, called rightly so Vietnam.com.

My daughter is considering accepting a position there, it is an amazing part of the world.