Topic summary
Wa (name of Japan)
Wa is the oldest attested name of Japan and ethnonym of the Japanese people. From c. the 2nd century AD Chinese and Korean scribes used the Chinese character倭; 'submissive', 'distant', 'dwarf' to refer to the various inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago, although it might have been just used to transcribe the phonetic value of a Japonic ethnonym with a respectively differing semantic connotation. In the 8th century, the Japanese started using the character , wa, 'harmony', 'peace', 'balance' instead due to the offensive nature of the former. Although the etymological origins of Wa remain uncertain, proposals include a transcription of the Japanese first-person pronouns waga and ware.In modern times, 倭 is used in China and Korea as a derogatory term for Japan and the Japanese people.