Hoàng Sa

• Hoang Sa

Borrowed from Vietnamese Hoàng Sa.

Hoàng Sa

1. Paracel Islands (an archipelago in the South China Sea, Pacific Ocean).
2. An island district of Da Nang, Vietnam.

Sino-Vietnamese word from 黃砂.

This word most likely originated as a tên chữ used in adminstrative records, translated from the tên Nôm (bãi) Cát Vàng (“Yellow Sand (Bars)”). Since adminstrative records in pre-modern Vietnam were (mostly) written in Chinese, it was common to translate the Vietnamese tên Nôm into Chinese (alternatively, phonetic transcription was also common). This tên Nôm was attested first in a map from Toản tập Thiên Nam tứ chí lộ đồ thư (纂集天南四至路圖書) by Đỗ Bá (17th century), and was still attested in Dubois de Jancigny's work from 1850 titled L'Univers. Histoire et description de tous les peuples. Japon, Indo-Chine, Empire Birman (ou Ava), Siam, Annam (ou Cochinchine), Péninsule Malaise, etc., Ceylan, par M. Dubois de Jancigny, Aide de camp du roi d'Oude.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hwaːŋ˨˩ saː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [hwaːŋ˦˩ ʂaː˧˧] ~ [hwaːŋ˦˩ saː˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [waːŋ˨˩ ʂaː˧˧] ~ [waːŋ˨˩ saː˧˧]

Hoàng Sa

1. Paracel Islands (an archipelago in the South China Sea, Pacific Ocean)
2. Hoàng Sa (an island district of Da Nang, Vietnam)
3. Pattle Island (a coral island of the Crescent Group, Paracel Islands, South China Sea, Pacific Ocean)

• → English: Hoang Sa, Hoàng Sa