proper noun · femininefirst declension
Taivania
Taivania f sg (genitive Taivaniae)
Classical[ta.ɪˈwa.ni.a]Ecclesiastical[ta.iˈvaː.ni.a]
Meaning
- New Latinfemininesingularsynonym of Formosa, Taiwan (an island of East Asia)
- New LatinfemininesingularTaiwan (a partly-recognized country in East Asia consisting of a main island and 167 smaller islands)
- femininesingularTaiwan (an island between the Taiwan Strait and Philippine Sea in East Asia)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | Taivania | — |
| genitive | Taivaniae | — |
| dative | Taivaniae | — |
| accusative | Taivaniam | — |
| ablative | Taivaniā | — |
| vocative | Taivania | — |
| locative | Taivaniae | — |
Origins
From Mandarin 臺灣 /台湾 (Táiwān) + -ia (suffix forming place names), from Literary Chinese 臺灣, from Hokkien 大員 (Tāi-oân), 大圓, 臺員, 大灣, 臺灣, etc., a placename initially referring to a sandbank peninsula that later silted up now wholly part of the island in the area of modern-day Anping District, Tainan, and eventually became the name of the entire island. The original placename itself was likely originally a loanword transcription from possibly Siraya.