The term "British Isles" can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty, when the China authorities began to understand this old capitalist country under the influence of the British colonial invasion and the Opium War. With the cry of "open your eyes to see the world", many people with lofty ideals have written books to introduce the local customs of Britain.

It is said that a scholar once wrote an article on British geography, in which three British islands were mentioned, so it was literally translated into Chinese as "British Islands". Chinese is so magical and profound, the connotation of words has been infinitely expanded, and the British Isles have become synonymous with the whole British Isles.

In fact, surrogacy is very common in Chinese, and the connotation and extension of Chinese words are often inaccurate, which has its fuzziness and evolution. The meanings of many words are just conventions, and there is no special reason.

It is also very unrealistic and inaccurate to guess the meaning by looking at the literal meaning of words. For example, "yellow hair" refers to old people and children. If you look at the literal meaning, it can only be understood as the color and hairstyle of hair. Similarly, the "British Isles" cannot be simply understood as the British Isles.

In fact, in Britain, the word "British Isles" has no specific root in English. England is on one island with Scotland and Wales, not three. That part of Northern Ireland is on other islands, England, Scotland and Wales, and Northern Ireland is distributed on two islands. It is far-fetched to say that Britain is made up of three islands.

Extended data

Several interpretations of "British Isles"

In fact, generally speaking, "British Isles" is a kind of special address for "Britain" or "Great Britain" by China people. This word only exists in Chinese. This name is not formal or rigorous academic, but a title with literary color. Then how did this title come from? British historical experts are controversial. To sum up, there are generally the following statements:

First of all, the British Isles refer to three parts of Great Britain. Great Britain consists of three parts: England, Scotland and Wales. In ancient China, Tao was a huge administrative unit. At first, the three parts of Great Britain were called "Britain's Three Roads", but later they were misinformed as "the British Isles". Most people agree with this statement at present.

Another way of saying it is that "the British Isles" refers to all the territories of the British Isles, meaning that the small islands such as Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man merged into one island, and Ireland finally became independent after the word appeared.

There is also a saying that "British Isles" refers to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. All three English names end in land. Many people think that Wales is a part of England, so they don't count it. Instead, they regard Great Britain as two connected islands.

The last argument has a sense of history, that is, the "British Isles" refers to the respective territories of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, which was later called Britain, but now the Isle of Man is a semi-autonomous region of the Commonwealth.

Baidu Encyclopedia-British Islands