Name of the Philippines

For description, see Philippines.

The Coat of arms of the Philippines showing the official name of the state in Filipino, one of its two official languages.

The name of the Philippines (Filipino/Tagalog: Pilipinas [pɪlɪˈpinɐs]), which is truncated form of Philippine Islands, was derived from King Philip II of Spain in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas (The Philippine Islands) in honour of the Prince of Asturias (Spain) during his expedition to the Philippines, originally referring to the islands of Leyte and Samar.^[1] The name itself is Greek, and can be traced to the name of the father of Alexander the Great, Philipp II of Macedon, Greek: Φίλιππος — φίλος philos (meaning beloved, loving); ίππος hippos (meaning horse).^[2] Despite the presence of other names, the name Filipinas (Philippines) was eventually adopted as the name of the entire archipelago.

The official name of the Philippines, however, changed throughout the course of Philippine history. During the Philippine Revolution, the Philippines was officially called República Filipina or Philippine Republic. From the period of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, until the Commonwealth period, United States colonial authorities referred to the Philippines as the Philippine Islands, a translation of the original Spanish name. It was during in the American period that the name Philippines began to appear, a name that was adopted as its current official name.^[3]

Historical names

Philippines was named after Philip, Prince of Asturias (1527-1598), later became Philip II of Spain and other territories (1556-1598).

• Ma-i. According to the Chao Ju-kua's Zhufan Zhi (諸蕃志, or Chu-fan-chi, literally "Description of the Barbarous Peoples") written around 1225 AD during the Song Dynasty, there was a group of islands found in southern China called Ma-i or Ma-yi, known to locals as Mait. The island group was identified by the Spanish to be the island of Mindoro.^[4] This was further proved by Ferdinand Blumentritt in his 1882 book, Versuch einer Ethnographie der Philippinen (An Attempt to the Study of Ethnography of the Philippines) that Mait, which means "country of the Blacks" was the local name of present-day Mindoro.^[5] On the other hand, later historians claimed that Ma-i was not an island, but Manila itself,^[6] which was known to be in contact with the Chinese as early as the 9th century CE.^[7]

• Ma-i consists of the San-sü ("Three islands") group of islands: Kia-ma-yen (Calamian), Pa-lau-yu (Palawan) and Pa-ki-nung (Busuanga).^[8]

• Aside from San-sü, Ma-i also consists of the islands of Pai-p'u-yen (Babuyan), P'u-li-lu (Polillo), Li-kin-tung (Lingayen), Liu-sung (Luzon) and Li-ban (Lubang).^[9] It was said that these islands had contacts with Chinese traders from Canton (Guangdong) as early as 982 AD.^[5][6]

• Liu-sung was the name given by the Chinese to the present-day island of Luzon, originated from the Tagalog word lusong, a wooden mortar that is used to pound rice. When the Spanish produced maps of the Philippines during early 17th century, they called the island Luçonia which was later respelled as Luzonia, then Luzon.^[10]

• Las islas de San Lázaro (St. Lazarus' Islands). Named by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 when he reached the islands of Homonhon in the island of Samar (now present-day Eastern Samar) at the feast day of St. Lazarus of Bethany.^[4]
• Las islas de Poniente (Islands to the West). Another name from Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 when he learned that the Las islas de San Lázaro also included Cebu and Leyte islands.^[11] However, various sources claimed that Magellan was not the one who renamed the area, but his chroniclers instead. The name came from the fact that the islands were reached from Spain en route approaching the left part of the globe.^[4] Conversely, the Portuguese called the archipelago Ilhas do oriente (Islands to the East) because they approached the islands from the east of Portugal in late 1540s.^[12]

• The Portuguese referred the whole island of Luzon as ilhas Luções, or Luzones Islands.^[12]
• Mindanao was formerly called as ilhas de Liquíos Celebes because of the existence of Celebes Sea south of Mindanao.^[12]

• Las islas Felipenas (Philippine Islands/Islands belonging to Philip). Named by Ruy López de Villalobos in 1543 to Samar and Leyte, honoring the Prince of Asturias, the then Philip II of Spain.^[13][14]

• Caesarea Caroli was the name given by Villalobos to the island of Mindanao when he reached the sea near it. This was named after the Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (and I of Spain).^[15][16][17]
• The island of Sarangani was renamed by Villalobos as Antonia, in honor of Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, the Viceroy of New Spain who commissioned Villalobos expedition to the Philippines.^[14]

• Las islas Filipinas, or simply Filipinas (Philippines). Vernacular piracy of Las islas Felipenas, irrevocably became the archipelago's name.^[4]
• Pearl of the Orient/Pearl of the Orient Seas (Spanish: Perla de oriente/Perla del mar de oriente) is the sobriquet of the Philippines. The term originated from the idea of Spanish Jesuit missionary Fr. Juan J. Delgado in 1751.^[18] In his last poem Mi último adiós, Dr. José Rizal referred the country with this name.^[19] In the 1960 revision of the Philippine national anthem "Lupang Hinirang", the Tagalog version of this phrase was included as the translation from the original Spanish.^[20]

Mi último adiós, original Spanish (1896, first stanza)[19]	English translation[21]
Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida, Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestro perdido Eden! A darte voy alegre la triste mustia vida, Y fuera más brillante más fresca, más florida, Tambien por tí la diera, la diera por tu bien.	Farewell, my adored Land, region of the sun caressed, Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost, With gladness I give you my Life, sad and repressed; And were it more brilliant, more fresh and at its best, I would still give it to you for your welfare at most.

"Lupang Hinirang", official Filipino lyrics (1958, rev. 1960s, first stanza)[20]	Original Spanish lyrics[22]
Bayang magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan Alab ng puso, Sa Dibdib mo'y buhay.	Tierra adorada, hija del sol de Oriente, su fuego ardiente en ti latiendo está.

• The Philippine Islands. Even though the name was very similar to the old Spanish name Las islas Filipinas, this was the anglicized version of the Spanish, used during American colonial period and under the Commonwealth of the Philippines.^[23]

Proposed renaming

• Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation). Andres Bonifacio's given official name for the Filipino nation, intended to be governed by the 1896-1897 Republika ng Katagalugan (Tagalog Republic). This was later used by Macario Sakay for his 1902-1906 government that had the same name.^[24][25]
• Kapatiran (Brotherhood), or its semi-equivalent Katipunan (Assembly of brothers).^[26]
• Luzviminda. Combination of first syllables of the country's major island groups: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
• Maharlika. In the pre-Hispanic Philippines, maharlika was the "noble warrior" class whose members were the same as the common man, but had a duty to serve their ruler in battle. The word maharlika came to mean nobility due to its Spanish translation. On 1978, former President Ferdinand Marcos supported a house bill mandating to change the country name to Maharlika.^[26]
• Rizalia. Coined after national hero José Rizal, comparing Bolivia that was named from its hero (Simón Bolivar).^[26]

• While in exile in Japan, former revolutionary general Artemio Ricarte proposed a name called as Rizaline Republic (República Rizalina) and had already drafted a constitution for this attempted revolutionary government.^[27]

Disputed names

• Maniolas. According to Fr. Francisco Colin in 1663, a Jesuit friar and one of early historians of the Philippines, Maniolas was the name used by Claudius Ptolemy to refer to the group of islands south of China.^[23][28] Colin quoted Ptolemy's writings speaking about the Maniolas islands, which is probably Manila. This theory was further supported by José Rizal and Pedro A. Paterno. Rizal also said that the country was recorded to Ptolemy's maps when a sailor named Hippalus told him the existence of "beautiful islands" in southeastern Far East.^[12][29] However, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera rejected this notion on his 1910 book, Notas para una cartografia de Filipinas (Notes for the Philippine Cartography).^[30]
• Ophir (Hebrew: אוֹפִיר) is a region of islands mentioned in the Bible, most famous for its wealth. It has been accounted that King Solomon receives riches of the region every three years. During the early 17th century at the emergence of the hydrography of Spanish colonies in Asia, Dominican Gregorio García wrote that Ophir was indeed located in Moluccas and the Philippines.^[31] In 1609, Juan de Pineda wrote a diverse collection of literature relating Biblical accounts of Solomon, Ophir and the islands.^[31] Prime Minister Pedro A. Paterno said in his one of his works about conjectural anthropology that Ophir is Philippines because the scented wood Solomon got in Ophir also exists in the islands.^[32] However, this idea was later dismissed by modern historians by alluding and comparing Philippines' position to the Spanish economy: sudden discovery and colonization of the island brought wealth and prosperity to Spain, which is similar to Ophir's function to Solomon's kingdom.^[33]

Provincial name

Main article: List of Philippine provincial name etymologies

Name in other languages

Though the name Philippines is the official name that is used by the country's government for international and domestic businesses, numerous major languages of the world still use their own translation or transliteration of the name Philippines to refer to it.

Language	Name (Philippines)	Transliteration	Official Name (Republic of the Philippines)	Transliteration
Afrikaans	Filippyne		Republiek van die Filippyne
Albanian	Filipinet		Republika e Filipineve
Arabic	الفلبين	Āl-filibiyīn	جمهورية الفلبين	Jāmhwayr āl-filibiyīn
Azerbaijani	Filippin		Filippin Respublikası
Basque	Filipinetan		Filipinetako Errepublikako
Bengali	ফিলিপাইন	Filipain	ফিলিপাইন প্রজাতন্ত্র	Filipain Projatôntro
Bulgarian	Филипини	Filipini	Република Филипини	Republika Filipini
Catalan	Filipines		República de Filipines
Chinese	菲律賓	Fēilǜbīn	菲律賓共和國	Fēilǜbīn Gònghéguó
Croatian	Filipini		Republika Filipini
Czech	Filipíny		Filipínská Republika
Danish	Filippinerne		Republikken Filippinerne
Dutch	Filipijnen		Republiek van de Filipijnen
English	Philippines		Republic of the Philippines
Estonian	Filipiinid		Filipiini Vabariik
Finnish	Filippiinit		Filippiinien Tasavallan
French	Philippines		République des Philippines
German	Philippinen		Republik der Philippinen
Greek	Φιλιππίνες	Filippínes	Δημοκρατία των Φιλιππίνων	Di̱mokratía to̱n Filippíno̱n
Hebrew	פיליפינים	Filipinim	הרפובליקה של הפיליפינים
Hindi	फिलिपीन्स	Philipīns	फिलीपींस गणराज्य	Philīpīnsa Gaṇarājya
Hungarian	Fülöp-szigetek		Fülöp-szigeteki Köztársaság
Icelandic	Filippseyjar		Lýðveldið Filippseyjar
Indonesian	Negeri Pilipina		Republik Filipina
Irish	Na hOileáin Fhilipíneacha		Phoblacht na hOileáin Fhilipíneacha
Italian	Filippine		Repubblica delle Filippine
Japanese	フィリピン	Firipin	フィリピン共和国	Firipin no kyōwa-koku
Korean	필리핀	Pillipin	필리핀 공화국	Pillipin Gonghwaguk
Latin	Philippinae		Respvblica Philippinae
Latvian	Filipīnas		Filipīnu Republikas
Lithuanian	Filipinai		Respublikos Filipinai
Malay	Filipina		Republik Filipina
Maltese	Filippini		Repubblika tal-Filippini
Marathi	फिलिपिन्स		'फिलिपिन्साचे प्रजासत्ताक
Norwegian	Filippinene		Republikken Filippinene
Polish	Filipiny		Republika Filipin
Portuguese	Filipinas		República das Filipinas
Romanian	Filipine		Republica Filipine
Russian	Филиппины	Filipinɨ	Республика Филиппины	Respublika Filipinɨ
Spanish	Filipinas		República de Filipinas
Swedish	Filippinerna		Republiken Filippinerna
Thai	ฟิลิปปินส์	Filippin	สาธารณรัฐฟิลิปปินส์	Sāthānrat Filippin
Turkish	Filipinler		Filipinler Cumhuriyeti
Ukrainian	Філіпіни	Filippiny	Республіка Філіппіни	Respublika Filippiny
Vietnamese	Philippin		Cộng hoà Philippin
Welsh	Philipinau		Gweriniaeth Ynysoedd y Philipinau

See also

• Juan de la Cruz
• Filipino
• Indio

References

1. ^ Scott 1994, p. 6
2. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Philip&searchmode=none. Retrieved 2009-01-02. 
3. ^ World Factbook — Philippines. CIA. ISBN 978-1-4220-0227-8. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html. Retrieved 2009-03-12. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} The Islands to the West: How are Philippine towns named? at the Wayback Machine (archived March 18, 2008)
5. ^ ^{a b} Hirth 1911, p. 160, Footnote 1
6. ^ ^{a b} "National identity". http://www.quezon.ph/2006/06/23/national-identity/. Retrieved 2009-07-27. 
7. ^ Scott 1984, p. 150
8. ^ Hirth 1911, p. 162, Footnote 1
9. ^ Hirth 1911, p. 160, Footnote 3
10. ^ Keat 2004, p. 798
11. ^ "Navegación: Exploraciones: Filipinas" (in Spanish). http://mgar.net/var/filipina.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-27. 
12. ^ ^{a b c d} "Names of the Philippines at different times in history". http://marsantos.tripod.com/history.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
13. ^ "History of the Philippines". http://www.philippinecountry.com/philippine_history/spanish_colonization.html. Retrieved 2009-07-27. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Halili 2008, p. 22
15. ^ Duka 2004, p. 55
16. ^ Cooley 1830, p. 244
17. ^ Spate 1979, p. 98
18. ^ Tope 2002, p. 7
19. ^ ^{a b} "Mi Ultimo Adiós by Dr José Rizal". http://www.fabulousphilippines.com/mi-ultimo-adios-jose-rizal.html. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 
20. ^ ^{a b} "Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines". The LawPhil Project. http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1998/ra_8491_1998.html. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 
21. ^ "The Last Poem of Rizal". Jose Rizal University. http://www.joserizal.ph/pm03.html. Retrieved 17 November 2010. 
22. ^ Palma, José (1912). Melancólicas : coleccion de poesías. Manila, Philippines: Liberería Manila Filatélica.  (Digital copy found online at HathiTrust Digital Library on 2010-03-31)
23. ^ ^{a b} "Origin of the Name "Philippines"". http://www.shvoong.com/humanities/1833713-origin-philippines/. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
24. ^ Guerrero 1996, pp. 3–12
25. ^ Guerrero 1998, p. 95
26. ^ ^{a b c} "Maharlika: AsianWeek". 2008-09-02. http://www.asianweek.com/2008/08/26/name-change-for-the-philippines/. Retrieved 2009-07-27. 
27. ^ Rodis, Rodel (2 September 2008). "‘Maharlika’ Reconsidered". Philippine Daily Inquirer. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080902-158208/Maharlika-Reconsidered. Retrieved 24 July 2011. 
28. ^ Carunungan, Celso Al (December 23, 1987). "What's in a Name?". Manila Standard Today. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1370&dat=19871223&id=q2cVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=agsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6688,3529476. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
29. ^ de Morga 2004, p. 298
30. ^ Mojares 2006, pp. 174–175
31. ^ ^{a b} Sheehan 2008, p. 398
32. ^ Mojares 2006, p. 85
33. ^ Truxillo 2001, p. 82

Printed sources

• Cooley, William Desborough (1830), The History of Maritime and Inland Discovery, 2, Longman, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=zEMSAAAAYAAJ 
• de Morga, Antonio (2004), History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4191-2427-3, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=iILVWGikouAC  ISBN 978-1-4191-2427-3. Originally published by Antonio de Morga as Sucesos de las islas Filipinas in 1609, reprinted by Kessinger Publishing in 2004.
• Duka, C. (2004), Philippine History, Rex Bookstore, ISBN 978-971-23-3934-9, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=gUt5v8ET4QYC  ISBN 978-971-23-3934-9
• Guerrero, Milagros; Encarnacion, Emmanuel; Villegas, Ramon (1996), "Andres Bonifacio and the 1896 Revolution", Sulyap Kultura (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) 1 (2), http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?i=5&subcat=1 
• Guerrero, Milagros; Schumacher, S.J., John (1998), Reform and Revolution, Kasaysayan: The History of the Filipino People, 5, Asia Publishing Company Limited, ISBN 978-962-258-228-6 
• Halili, M. C. (2008), Struggle for Freedom, Rex Bookstore, ISBN 978-971-23-5045-0, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=4wk8yqCEmJUC  ISBN 978-971-23-5045-0
• Hirth, Friedrich; W. W. Rockhill (1911), Chau Ju-Kua: His Work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries entitled Chu-fan-chi, Imperial Academy of Sciences, http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023289345 
• Keat, Gin Ooi (2004), Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-1-57607-770-2, http://books.google.com/?id=QKgraWbb7yoC  ISBN 978-1-57607-770-2
• Mojares, Resil B. (2006), Brains of the Nation: Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Isabelo de los Reyes, and the Production of Modern Knowledge, Ateneo de Manila University Press, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=es3ks3gibHoC 
• Scott, William Henry (1994), Barangay: Sixteenth-century Philippine Culture and Society, p. 6, ISBN 978-971-550-135-4, http://books.google.com/books?id=15KZU-yMuisC  ISBN 978-971-550-135-4, ISBN 978-971-550-135-4
• Scott, William Henry (1984), Prehispanic Source Materials For The Study of Philippine History (Revised ed.), ISBN 9711002272 
• Sheehan, Kevin Joseph (2008), Iberian Asia: The strategies of Spanish and Portuguese empire building, 1540--1700, ProQuest, ISBN 978-1-109-09710-8, http://books.google.com/books?id=1RF6pkAem1QC  ISBN 978-1-109-09710-8
• Spate, O. H. Khristian (1979), The Spanish Lake, Taylor & Francis, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=0d4OAAAAQAAJ 
• Lily Rose R. Tope; Detch P. Nonan-Mercado (2002-10). Philippines. Marshall Cavendish Reference Books. ISBN 978-0-7614-1475-9. http://books.google.com/?id=6-BWFruOcDQC. 
• Truxillo, Charles (2001), By the Sword and the Cross: The Historical Evolution of the Catholic World Monarchy in Spain and the New World, 1492-1825, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-313-31676-0, http://books.google.com/books?id=vAIUk2xHTRcC  ISBN 978-0-313-31676-0