敦煌

Dūn huáng

Meanings

CC-CEDICT

Dūn huáng

1.see 敦煌市[Dūn huáng Shì]

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Wiktionary

1.Dunhuang (a county-level city of Jiuquan, Gansu, China)
2.(～郡) Dunhuang (an ancient commandery in modern Gansu, China)
3.(～國) short for 西漢敦煌國 /西汉敦煌国 (Xī Hàn Dūnhuángguó), Dunhuang (a former kingdom in Gansu, China, during the early 10th century)
4.(historical) Dunhuang (a county of Jiuquan, Gansu, China)

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Etymology

First attested in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji); some scholars suggest that 敦薨 (OC *dˤon/tˤuj/tˤun/tˤunh/dˤun m̥ˤəŋ/ẘˤəŋ) in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing) also refers to 敦煌 (OC *dˤon/tˤuj/tˤun/tˤunh/dˤun wˤaŋ). The name likely derives from a historical Iranian language, and is cognate to the later Sogdian 𐼌𐼘𐼇𐼀𐼀𐼏 (δrwʾʾn /⁠*θurwān, θruwān⁠/)—the Sogdian name for Dunhuang attested in the "Sogdian Ancient Letters" [early 4th century] (Gharib, 1995). It is also possibly related to Θροάνα (Throána) in Greek (Ptolemy, Geographia, Book VI, chap. 16) and Bactrian sources (Pulleyblank, 1962, 1966; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). c. 150 CE, Claudius Ptolemy, “Book VI, chapter 16”, in Geographia: Πόλεις δὲ ὀνομάζονται τῆς Σηρικῆς αἵδε· [...] Θροάνα [var. Θαράννα] ροδ° γο′ μζ° γο′ Póleis dè onomázontai tês Sērikês haíde; [...] Throána [var. Tharánna] rod° go′ mz° go′ The following cities of Serike are named: … Throana [var. Tharanna] [Long.] 174°40′, [Lat.] 47°40′

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