Because this is a word originally from the Portuguese missionaries and businessmen that first got in touch with China (Ming Dynasty).
It was derived from the Portuguese word “mandarim/mandarin” which specifically meant Chinese imperial officials. It was also used to refer to the more or less “standardized” dialect that these officials need to speak in order to smoothly work in the government.
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 [ˈməntəri], which ultimately came from the Sanskrit mantri (Devanagari: मंत्री, meaning counselor or minister – etymologically linked to mantra).
The Chinese counterpart of the word kept the essence of the term: 官话, which literally means “officials’ dialect/language”.
Today, the official spoken dialect/language in China is called PuTongHua (“common dialect/language”), and the wide use of the term “Mandarin” is simply an old habit that dies hard (and really does not really have to die anyways).
The English word "mandarin" (meaning "minister or counsellor") originally meant an official of the Ming and Qing empires. Since their native varieties were often mutually unintelligible, these officials communicated using a language based on various northern dialects. When Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it "Mandarin", from its Chinese name Guānhuà (官话/官話), or "language of the officials".
In everyday English, "Mandarin" refers to Standard Chinese, which is often called simply "Chinese". Standard Chinese is based on the particular Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing, with some lexical and syntactic influence from other Mandarin dialects. It is the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the official language of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of the four official languages of the Republic of Singapore. It also functions as the language of instruction in Mainland China and in Taiwan. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, under the name "Chinese". Chinese speakers refer to the modern standard language as one of the following:
- Pǔtōnghuà (普通话/普通話, literally "common speech") in Mainland China
- Guóyǔ (國語, literally "national language") in Taiwan
- Huáyǔ (华语/華語) in Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines
Linguists use the term "Mandarin" to refer to the diverse group of dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China, which Chinese linguists call Guānhuà. The alternative term Běifānghuà (北方话/北方話), or "Northern dialects", is used less and less among Chinese linguists. By extension, the term "Old Mandarin" or "Early Mandarin" is used by linguists to refer to the northern dialects recorded in materials from the Yuan dynasty.
There’s plenty more to learn about Chinese language and dialects. Learn about the dialects here.
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