Niphon

English

Etymology

From Japanese 日本 (formerly Niffon, now Nippon or Nihon) "Japan".

Proper noun

Niphon

1. (obsolete) Honshu, the largest island of Japan.
   • 1619, W. W. Gent, A Briefe Relation of the Persecution Lately Made Against the Catholike Crhstians, in the Kingdome of Iaponia, volume 1, page 20:

     The greateſt of theſe three, which is called Niphon, doth lye from Eaſt to Weſt, and is 700. miles in length and 180. in breadth, and it deuided into three & fifty little Kingdomes or Prouinces, and therein is the noble Citty of Meaco the chiefe and head of all Iapone.

   • 1853, “Japan”, in Putnam's Monthly, volume 1, number 3, page 242:

     Niphon, the chief island, is nine hundred miles long, and one hundred miles in average width.

Translations

Honshu — see Honshu

Anagrams

• nonhip