Hu'nan

Hu'nan

See also: hunan, hūn'àn, and Hunan

English

Proper noun

Hu'nan

1. Misspelling of Hunan.
   • 2001, “The Legend of Mt Lanke”, in Y N Han (韩玉), transl.; Li Xiaoxiang (李小香), editor, Origins of Chinese Culture (中华文化的故事)‎, Asiapac Books, published 2005, →ISBN, OCLC 952180098, OL 28206678M, page :

     Li Xiaoxiang 李小香 was born in 1946. After graduating from Hu’nan^{[sic – meaning Hunan]} Normal University in 1969, she taught Chinese language and literature in a high school.

   • 2004, Elvin, Mark, Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China‎, Yale University Press, →ISBN, LCCN 2003017378, OCLC 901054251, OL 9695726M, page 56:

     Here is what seems an illustration of this from 1851. It comes from Tongdao,⁵⁶ which is in the south of Hu'nan^{[sic – meaning Hunan]} province.

   • 2006, Hang Jian (杭间); Guo Qiuhui (郭秋惠), Zhu Youruo (朱攸若); Song Peiming (宋佩铭), transl., Chinese Arts & Crafts (Cultural China Series)‎, Beijing: China Intercontinental Press (五洲传播出版社), published 2008, →ISBN, OCLC 754334539, OL 20577751M, page 20:

     The textiles of the Western Han unearthed at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hu’nan^{[sic – meaning Hunan]}, have many different varieties and the workmanship is of great exquisiteness, representing the high standard of the textile technology of that time.

   • 2021, Zhang Hui-juan (张惠娟); Wang Yi-ming (王奕茗); Liao Wei-cheng (廖伟程); Chen Xi-wen (陈希雯); Qin Da-bao (覃大保); Huang Da-yuan (黄大元), “Somatotype characteristics of Dong nationality adults in Hu’nan^{[sic – meaning Hunan]} Province (湖南侗族成人的Heath-Carter体型特征)”, in Acta Anatomica Sinica (解剖学报)‎, volume 52, number 3, DOI:10.16098/j.issn.0529-1356.2021.03.021, ISSN 0529-1356, OCLC 230073229:

     Adults of Dong in Hu’nan^{[sic – meaning Hunan]} have thick subcutaneous fat, underdeveloped skeletal and muscular systems, and medium linearity. The somatotype of Dong adults in Hu’nan^{[sic – meaning Hunan]} is close to that of Jiangsu Han, Fujian Han and Liaoning Han.

Usage notes

The misspelling Hu'nan attempts to make clear that 湖南 (Húnán) is made up of the two Mandarin syllables hu and nan instead of hun and an.[1] However, in theory, this clarification is not needed because the syllable-dividing mark (隔音符號／隔音符号 (géyīn fúhào)) should only be added before a non-initial syllable beginning with a, o, or e. Hence, Hunan could only ever refer to a word made up of hu and nan since a word made up of hun and an would be spelled as Hun'an. In practice, syllable-dividing marks are often added or omitted at will.

References

1. Elvin, Mark (2004) Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China‎, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page xxviii:

   The plain inverted comma is used when the break between two transcribed vowels or syllables is not unambiguous. ‘Xian’ (one syllable) means ‘a county’, but ‘Xi'an’ (two syllables) is the city. The province names ‘Hu'nan’ and ‘He'nan’ are therefore properly written with the inverted comma, as ‘hun'an’ and ‘hen'an’ are both permissible pinyin readings.

Further reading

• “Hu'nan” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2023.