A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.
The English term comes from the Portuguese mandarim, borrowed from Malay məntəri, and ultimately coming from Sanskrit mantrin (Devanagari: मंत्री) (meaning councilor or minister). This usage and etymology among the Portuguese are attested already by Matteo ...
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A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.
The English term comes from the Portuguese mandarim, borrowed from Malay məntəri, and ultimately coming from Sanskrit mantrin (Devanagari: मंत्री) (meaning councilor or minister). This usage and etymology among the Portuguese are attested already by Matteo Ricci, who entered the mainland China from the Portuguese Macau in the late 16th century. 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.
The term "Mandarin" is also used to refer to the standard northern spoken variety of Chinese because it was the language used among...
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