卑彌呼

First attested in Records of the Three Kingdoms. vol. 30 (translation adapted from Tsunoda , 1951):

• 其國本亦以男子為王，住七八十年，倭國亂，相攻伐歷年，乃共立一女子為王，名曰卑彌呼，……。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]

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  其国本亦以男子为王，住七八十年，倭国乱，相攻伐历年，乃共立一女子为王，名曰卑弥呼，……。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

  From: Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, circa 3^rd century CE

  Qí guó běn yì yǐ nánzǐ wèi wáng, zhù qī bāshí nián, Wōguó luàn, xiàng gōngfá lìnián, nǎi gòng lì yī nǚzǐ wèi wáng, míng yuē Bēimíhū,....... [Pinyin]

  The country formerly had a man as ruler. For some seventy or eighty years after that there were disturbances and warfare. Thereupon the people agreed upon a woman for their ruler. Her name was Himiko. [...].

Possibly pronounced *pie mie hɑ in Eastern Han Chinese (in Schuessler (2009)'s reconstructions).

Tsunoda (1951) proposes that this is borrowed from Old Japanese 姬子 (Pi₁me₁ko₁, literally “princess child”).[1]

For other alternative proposals see relevant Wikipedia article.

卑彌呼

1. (historical) Himiko, a semi-legendary queen of Yamatai in ancient Japan