Why is Turkey now 'Türkiye' and what does it matter? This linguistics expert sheds insight.
’s recent spelling change about being more authentically Turkish? Or is there more to the story?
The change is less like Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe in 1980 and more akin to what would happen if the country known in English as Germany asked that the world refer to it as Deutschland, which is the way the Germans say it. From 1824 to 1948, Burma was ruled by Britain, which set up colonies in the interior of the country to control the production of timber, oil and minerals. Later settlements along the fertile Irrawaddy Delta coastline controlled the even more profitable production of rice.
Things only worsened when the British abruptly pulled out of Burma in 1948, leaving a power vacuum that the Burmans quickly filled. The move showed that Burman elites in positions of power and authority, who are more likely to use the formal literary style, were calling the shots.For hundreds of years, the country currently known in English aswas referred to as Siam, a word likely of Chinese origin that Portuguese colonists started using in the 16th century.
It’s unclear what motivated Erdogan’s request - the government claims Türkiye avoids confusion with the bird among English speakers. Oddly enough, Türkiye the country does have a connection to the bird. In the 16th century, English speakers noticed similarities between turkeys, which the Aztecs had domesticated, and guinea fowl, a bird imported from Africa to Europe via Türkiye.
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