Names of Myanmar

In the Burmese language, Burma is officially known as Myanmar Pyi (), but also interchangeably used with Bamar Pyi (ဗမာပြည်). Burmese, like Javanese and other languages of Southeast Asia, has different linguistic registers, with sharp differences between literary and colloquial registers. Both names derive ultimately from the endonym of the country's largest ethnic group, the Burmans (also known as the Bamars), also known as Bama or Mranma in the spoken and literary registers, respectively. As such, some groups—particularly non-Burman minorities—consider these names to be exclusionary. "Mranma" The etymology of Mranma remains debated. However, some scholars dispute this etymology, believing the term to have an indigenous origin. and called themselves Mranma. The earliest discovered record of the word was in a Mon inscription dated 1083, inside which the name was spelled Mirma. From there on, the term became a fixed label in reference to Burmese kingdoms and peoples. Ma Thanegi records that the first use of the name 'Mranma' for the country is to be found on a high stone inscription, known as the 'Yadana Kon Htan Inscription,' dated 597 ME (Traditional Burmese calendar) or 1235 CE. The stone is from the reign of Kyaswa, (1234-1250) son of King Htilominlo (Nadaungmya), Bagan. It is written in early Burmese script. Although the middle of the front side of this stone is damaged, the first line of the better-protected reverse side clearly shows မြန်မာပြည် ("Mranma kingdom"). At present it is in Bagan recorded as stone number 43 in the Archaeological Department's collection. Today in Burmese the name is still spelled Mranma, but over time the "r" sound disappeared in most dialects of the Burmese language and was replaced by a "y" glide, so although the name is spelled "Mranma", it is actually pronounced Myanma today. In the decades preceding independence, independence parties were in search of a name for the new country to be born, which would be made up not only of Burmese-speaking people, but also of many minorities. In the 1920s, some favoured the name Mranma, which had been the name applied to the old Burmese kingdom conquered by the British Empire in the 19th century. In the 1930s, the left-wing independence parties favoured the name Bama, as they thought this name was more inclusive of minorities than Mranma. While both the names Bama and Mranma historically referred only to the Burmans and not other ethnic minorities, Burmese governments in the post-independence period have instituted a differentiation of meaning between Mranma and Bama in the official Burmese language usage. The name Myanma/Myanmar was expanded to include all citizens of the country while the name Bama was kept to its original meaning. In Burmese, Bama and Myanma are used interchangeably, to refer to the country, depending on the context. Ironically, because of the official renaming of the country, the dominant ethnic group is now known by its colloquial name, Bama, rather than by its literary name, Mranma in official Burmese usage. Although Bama may be a later transformation of the name Myanma, both names have been in use alongside each other for centuries. The term "Bama" gained traction in the 19th century, but "Myanma" continued to be officially used by colonial authorities in Burmese language contexts. Use of "Bamar" became prominent during the Japanese occupation of Burma. The Japanese adopted the Burmese term "State of Bama" (ဗမာနိုင်ငံတော်) during this period, in reference to the Burmese puppet state set up by the Japanese occupation forces during the Second World War. When the Japanese used their own syllabary, they transliterated the three consonants of the Dutch name "Birma" and ended up with the name Biruma (ビルマ). During the socialist era, the 1974 Constitution of Burma used "Bama" in reference to the nationality, and use of "Myanma" in reference to the country. In 1989, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the country's ruling military junta, issued an edict to designate "Bama" to reference the ethnicity, and "Myanma" to reference the nationality. ==English names==

History In English, the official name chosen for the country at the time of independence was "Burma". This was already the name that the British called their colony before 1948. This name most likely comes from Portuguese Birmânia and was adopted by English in the 18th century. The Portuguese name itself, a Latinate back-formation (cp. Germânia vs. Alemanha), came from the Indian name Barma which was borrowed by the Portuguese from any of the Indian languages in the 16th or 17th century. This Indian name Barma may derive from colloquial Burmese Bama, but it may also derive from the Indian name Brahma-desh. Early usage of the English term Burma varies: • Bermah (Earliest European maps as old as the 18th century spelled Burma with an 'e'.) • Birmah (Charles Thomson map of 1827) • Brama (Thomas Kitchin's map of 1787) • Burmah (Samuel Dunn's map 1787) • Burma (Keith Johnson's map 1803) • Burmah (Eugene William's map, 1883) • Burma (Common stable spelling used in The Times newspaper.) At the time of independence in 1948, the "Union of Burma" () was the name that was chosen for the new country, being further amended as the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" () in 1974, following a 1962 military coup. In 1989, the military regime of Burma set up a commission in charge of reviewing the place names of Burma in the English language. The aim of the commission was to correct the spelling of the place names of Burma in English, to discard spellings chosen by British colonial authorities in the 19th century, and adopt spellings closer to the actual Burmese pronunciation (compare with what happened in India with Calcutta/Kolkata and Calicut/Kozhikode). These renamings took the form of the "Adaptation of Expressions Law", passed on 18 June 1989. Thus, for instance, Rangoon () was changed to Yangon to reflect the fact that the "r" sound is no longer used in Standard Burmese and merged with a "y" glide. Finally, a lot of criticism also focused on the alleged lack of linguistic soundness of the reform. Only four language scholars sat in the 1989 commission, while the majority of the commission was made up of military officials and civil servants with no particular knowledge of linguistics. It was claimed that the new names lacked serious linguistic credibility or were questionable, and in particular there were objections to the fact that the commission had based its spelling on a non-rhotic dialect of English in using the final "r" at the end of the name Myanmar. Adoption Since the Burmese government's 1989 decision to use "Myanmar" rather than "Burma" when using English, adoption of the new name in the English-speaking world has been mixed. Use of "Burma", along with many other name changes within Myanmar has remained widespread, largely based on the question of whether the regime has the legitimacy to change the country's name, particularly without a referendum. However, the United States still refers to the country as "Burma". The United States government attributes its choice to support for the party deemed to have won the 1990 election but been denied power by the junta. That party opposes the new name. Following the 2011–2012 democratic reforms in Burma, politicians started using "Myanmar" more frequently. The British government also cites the elected party's preference in its statement on its choice of name. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canada said that his government's choice was "in support of the struggle for democracy". Germany, Australia, Canada and Russia recognize "Myanmar" as the official name. During the 2005 ASEAN summit in Thailand, the Foreign Minister Nyan Win complained about the US insistence of calling his country "Burma" instead of "Myanmar" as it was renamed more than a decade ago. Media usage is also mixed. In spite of the usage by the US government, American news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune and CNN, and US-based international news agencies the Associated Press and Reuters have adopted the name "Myanmar". Others have continued to use "Burma", citing increasing international acceptance of the new name. The BBC changed to using "Myanmar" in 2014. Some other sources, including NPR in the US use terms such as "Myanmar, also known as Burma". Another approach taken by some historians is to continue to use the name "Burma" for describing the history of the country prior to the 1988 military coup and "Myanmar" from there on. This also contravenes the intentions of the government, whose naming reform in 1989 was to apply to the entire history of the country. Those using this approach argue that it is the most politically neutral option. In April 2016, soon after taking office, Aung San Suu Kyi voiced the position that foreigners are free to use either name, "because there is nothing in the constitution of our country that says that you must use any term in particular." Adjectival forms and demonyms In Burmese, the word Myanma, when used as a noun, is pronounced in the low tone (long "a", Okell: Myañma/Myăma), whereas when used as an adjective, it is pronounced in the creaky tone (short "a") as if it were spelt "မြန်မာ့" (MLCTS: mranma., Okell: Myañmá/Myămá). To reflect this, in the 1989 government renaming the adjectival form of the country's name "Myanmar" is formed by dropping the final "r" to get "Myanma" (since the final "r" indicates lengthening in non-rhotic English). But currently, the government seems to favour the unchanged term "Myanmar" again, as in various texts issued lately, especially from the Ministry of Education, has stated "Myanmar" as the correct adjective of the country.{{Cite book Most people, even in Burma, are unaware of these subtleties, as it occurs only in spoken Burmese. Some English speakers have even coined the adjective "Myanmarese" or "Myanmese", to follow English rather than Burmese grammatical rules. These adjectives are not recommended as most natives of Myanmar preferred to be called either the old way of "Burmese", "Myanmar", or "Myanma" representing the many diverse races in the country. According to the replacement, the name of the dominant ethnicity of Burma, whose people speak the Burmese language, is "Bamar" (again, final "r" only added to denote a long "a" in Burmese). Thus, Myanmar is a country inhabited by the Bamars plus many minorities; and the Bamars and minorities are collectively known as Myanma people. While the use of the name "Myanmar" is widespread and rivals the use of "Burma", adoption of adjectival forms has been far more limited; in general, terms in use before 1989 have persisted. Citizens of Burma, regardless of their ethnicity, are known as "Burmese", while the dominant ethnicity is called "Burman". The language of the Burmans, however, is known as the Burmese language, not as the Burman language, although confusingly enough the "Burmese" language is considered one of the Tibeto-"Burman" languages. ==Other languages==

Southeast Asian languages "Myanmar" is known by various terms in languages spoken throughout the country, including Hemea (ဗၟာ, ) in Mon, and Man (မၢၼ်ႈ) in Shan. Other languages In Romance languages, Myanmar is known by a name derived from Burma as opposed to Myanmar in Spanish, Italian, Romanian – Birmania being the local version of Burma in both Italian and Spanish, Birmânia in Portuguese, and Birmanie in French. The same is true of the Greek language. As in the past, French-language media today consistently use Birmanie. ==See also==