Burma Wiki - Country Name
The name of the country
The name “Myanmar” is derived from the local short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw, the name used by the regime currently in power in the country. While the etymology of the name is unclear, it has been used since the 13th Century, primarily as a reference to the Myanma ethnic group. Until the mid-19th century, rulers in the region identified themselves with the areas that they ruled. For example, the 18th Century king, Alaungpaya alternately referred to himself as the ruler of Tampradipa and Thunaparanta, Ramanadesa, and Kamboza (all alternate names of places in the Irrawaddy Valley) in correspondence with the East India Company. The Court of Ava was the first to use this name to refer to its kingdom in the mid-19th Century, when its power was declining and at a time when the Myanma ethnic identity first began to develop a political identity. In older English documents the usage was Bermah, and later Burmah, possibly from the Portuguese Birmania which is thought to be a corruption of the Indian word for Burma, Bama.[citation needed] Burma is known as Birmanie in French, Birmania in both Italian and Spanish, and Birmânia in Portuguese.
Confusion among English speakers on how to pronounce ‘Myanmar’ gives rise to pronunciations such as IPA: /?mj?n?m?r/, /?mj??nm?r/, /?ma??n?m?r/, /?mi??nm?r/ and /mi???nm?r/.[6][7][8])
On 18 June 1989, the Burmese military junta passed the “Adaptation of Expressions Law” that officially changed the English version of the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar, and changed the English versions of many place names in the country along with it, such as its former capital city from Rangoon to Yangon (which represents its pronunciation more accurately in Burmese though not in Arakanese). This prompted one scholar to coin the term “Myanmarification” to refer to the top-down programme of political and cultural reform in the context of which the renaming was done. The action was strictly an executive act, not based on any statutory authority, and the government did not hold a national referendum to have the Burmese electorate ratify the name change. Within the Burmese language, Myanma is the written, literary name of the country, while Bama or Bamar (from which “Burma” derives) is the oral, colloquial name. In spoken Burmese, the distinction is less clear than the English transliteration suggests.
The renaming proved to be politically controversial on several grounds. Opposition groups continue to use the name “Burma”, since they do not recognize the legitimacy of the ruling military government nor its authority to rename the country in English. Various non-Bamar ethnic groups choose to not recognize the name because the term Myanmah has historically been used as a label for the majority ethnic group rather than for the country.
Various world entities have chosen to accept or reject the name change. The United Nations accepts the name Myanmar, since the UN allows its members states to be known by any name they choose. However it has not been recognized by many Western governments such as the United States, Australia, Canada or the United Kingdom, which continue to use “Burma”, while the European Union uses “Burma/Myanmar” as an alternative. China has not agreed to change its translations and continues to use ???Japan uses the name Myanmar (?????) but calls the people Burmese (????), France continues to use Birmanie, and most other countries continue to use their traditional translations.
Use of “Burma” and its adjective, “Burmese”, remains common in the United States and Britain. Many news organizations, such as the BBC, The Financial Times, The Times, Voice of America, The Washington Post, USA Today, ITN, Sky News, Bangkok Post and others still use these forms. MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS,The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and others use “Myanmar” as the country name and “Burmese” as the adjective. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation also refers to both names in their news articles.
“Myanmar.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 May 2008, 21:36 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 May 2008 .
