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A mandarin (Chinese: , ''guān''; Cantonese: ''gun''1; (ベトナム語:quan)) was a bureaucrat scholar in the government of imperial China. The term is generally applied to the officials appointed through the imperial examination system; it sometimes includes and sometimes excludes the eunuchs also involved in the governance of the two realms. ; ==History and use of the term== The English term comes from the Portuguese ''mandarim'' (early spelling, ''mandarin''). The Portuguese word is amply attested already in one of the earliest Portuguese reports about China: letters from the imprisoned survivors of the Tomé Pires' embassy, which were most likely written in 1524,〔. The letters were not published at the time, but apparently distributed in manuscript form; Ferguson published the copy found in a Paris library. While Ferguson accepted the 1534 and 1536 dates given in the Paris manuscripts, later researchers concluded that in reality the letters were sent in 1524 (). In the letters the word occurs numerous times in its plural form, both with a final n/m: ''mandarĩs'', ''manderĩs'', ''manderỹs'' and without it: ''mandaris'', ''manderys'', ''mandarys''. (Note that in the 16th-century Portuguese orthography, one would often put a tilde over a final vowel instead of writing an ''n'' or ''m'' after the vowel; thus ''ĩ'' or ''ỹ'' would be transcribed as ''in''/''im'' or ''yn''/''ym'' in most modern reprints.)〕 and in Castanheda's ''História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses''.〔Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, ''História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses'', Vol. VI, cap II, 26. Castanheda's spelling (in plural) is still ''mandarins''.〕 Its usage among the Portuguese is also attested by Matteo Ricci, who entered mainland China from Portuguese Macau in the late 16th century.〔Matteo Ricci, ''De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas''. Page 45 in the English translation, "China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matteo Ricci", Random House, New York, 1953. In the (original Latin ), vol. 1, p. 51: "Lusitani Magistratus illos, à mandando fortasse, ''Mandarinos'' vocant, quo nomine iam etiam apud Europæos Sinici Magistratus intelliguntur".〕 The Portuguese word was thought by many to be related to ''mandador'' ("one who commands") and ''mandar'' ("to command"), from Latin "mandare". Modern dictionaries, however, agree that it was in fact borrowed by Portuguese from the Malay , which ultimately came from the Sanskrit ''mantrin'' (''Devanagari: मंत्री'', meaning counselor or minister – etymologically linked to ''mantra'').〔(Mandarin ), Online Etymology Dictionary〕〔(Mandarin ) Merriam-Webster〕〔"mandarin", 〕 According to Malaysian Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz, the term had its origin when the Portuguese living in Malacca during the Malacca Sultanate wanted to meet with the higher officials in China, and used the term "menteri", but with an added "n" due to their poor grasp of the language, to refer to higher officials. In the 16th century, before the term ''mandarin'' became widespread in the European languages, the word ''Loutea'' (with various spelling variations) was often used in Europeans' travel reports to refer to Chinese scholar-officials. It is frequently used, for example, in Galeote Pereira's account of his experiences in China in 1548–1553, which was published in Europe in 1565, or (as ''Louthia'') in Gaspar da Cruz' ''Treatise of China'' (1569). As C.R. Boxer explains, the word comes from the Chinese 老爷 (Mandarin Pinyin: ''lǎoye''; Amoy dialect: ''ló-tia''; Quanzhou dialect: ''lāu-tia''), which was commonly used by people in China to address officials.〔. Minnan (Amoy and Quanzhou) pronunciation is given as per C.R. Boxer, whose source is Carstairs Douglas's ''Dictionary of the Amoy vernacular''.〕 This is also the main term used to refer to the scholar-officials in Juan González de Mendoza's ''History of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof'' (1585), which heavily drew (directly or indirectly) on Pereira's report and Gaspar da Cruz' book, and which was the Europeans' standard reference on China in the late 16th century.〔"LOUTEA, LOYTIA, &c" in: 〕 In the West, the term ''mandarin'' is associated with the concept of the scholar-official, who immersed himself in poetry, literature, and Confucian learning in addition to performing civil service duties. The speech standard of the Ming and Qing empires was called "Mandarin language" by European missionaries, translating the Chinese name ''Guanhua'' ("the language of the officials") for this speech standard, which was current already in the Ming Dynasty.〔''Guanhua'' is transcribed by Matteo Ricci and other early European writers as ''Quonhua'', in accordance with Ricci's transcription system that remained in use by Jesuits for a long time after his death. See pages 28–29 in the English translation, ''China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matteo Ricci'', Random House, New York, 1953. In the (original Latin ), ''De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu'' (1617), vol. 1, p. 31: "Præter hunc tamen cuique Provinciæ vernaculum sermonem, alius est universo regno communis, quem ipsi ''Quonhua'' vocant, quod curialem vel forensem sonat."〕 The term "Mandarin" is also used to refer to modern Standard Chinese, which evolved out of the earlier standard, and to the broader group of Mandarin dialects spoken across northern and southwestern China. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mandarin (bureaucrat)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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