# The Great Wall (of China)



## Tjahzi

I'm curious of the name of this "structure". My curiosity has arisen from the fact that, maybe due to the fact that *Swedish* lacks an adjective with the joint meaning of _big_ and _good_ (that is, _great_), we refer to it as _kinesiska muren_ - _Chinese wall_, with both the adjective and the noun declined for definiteness. This sparks a contrast to English, in which it seems to be most commonly referred to as _the great wall_. Hence, my question to you is, which of its traits is more prevalent in your language, the _chineseness, the greatness, _or both?


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## apmoy70

So do we. In Greek we call it «το Σινικό τείχος» (to Sini'ko* 'Tixos)-->_the Chinese Wall_

*From the Medieval/Byzantine name for China, «Σῖνα» (Sina, _feminine noun_) and the Chinese people, «Σῖναι» ('Sinæ, _pl._ _masculine_) 

[x] is a voiceless velar fricative, known as the hard ch


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## sakvaka

The same thing occurs in *Finnish*.

_Kiinan muuri_ - lit. "China's wall"

Usually pronounced as [ˈki: nαmˌmu: ri]


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## Selyd

In Ukrainian:
Вел*и*кий кит*а*йський мур /Velykyi kytays'ky mur/
Вел*и*ка кит*а*йська стін*а* /Velyka kytays'ka stina/
мур, стін*а* - _Wall_
Вел*и*кий, Вел*и*ка - _Great_


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## rocioteag

In spanish (from México)

La muralla china - The chinesse wall (without great or big is the most common way to call it).

la gran muralla cnina - the great chinesse wall


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## jazyk

Portuguese Wikipedia offers three possibilities: A *Muralha da China*, *Grande Muralha da China* ou simplesmente *Grande Muralha* é uma impressionante estrutura de arquitetura militar construída durante a China Imperial.

I think the one I hear most often is Grande Muralha da China (Great Wall of China).


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## MPA

In portuguese:
A muralha da China (The China's wall)
A grande muralha da China (The great China's wall)
A grande muralha (The great wall)

The first form is more commum.

EDIT:
Jazyk


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## DearPrudence

French, quite the same as Portuguese:
*"La Grande Muraille de Chine*" (we don't use the word "wall" (= mur)). "muraille" = big, high wall)


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## Orlin

Selyd said:


> In Ukrainian:
> Вел*и*кий кит*а*йський мур /Velykyi kytays'ky mur/
> Вел*и*ка кит*а*йська стін*а* /Velyka kytays'ka stina/
> мур, стін*а* - _Wall_
> Вел*и*кий, Вел*и*ка - _Great_


Bulgarian: Великата китайска стена.


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## Flaminius

Chinese:
traditional: (萬里)長城; Simplified: (万里)长城
Wànlǐ Chángchéng
Literally, ten-thousand-_li_s of long fortification; where _li_ is a unit of distance

Japanese:
万里の長城
banri-no chōjō
almost identical to the above, only _-no_ is added to make sense as a Japanese word


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## rusita preciosa

Russian
Великая китайская стена /velikaya kitayskaya stena/ (Great Chinese wall)


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## ThomasK

Dutch/ Nederlands : 
- de Chinese Muur
- de Lange Muur (long)
- de Grote Muur


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## Black4blue

Turkish:
*Çin Seddi*


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## Montesacro

In Italian:

_la grande muraglia (cinese)_


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## ThomasK

Black4blue said:


> Turkish:
> *Çin Seddi*


Could you explain the precise meaning ?


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## Black4blue

ThomasK said:


> Could you explain the precise meaning ?


 
*Set* means _barrier, thick wall_ (from Arabic _sedd_); so it is _Çin Seddi_ (_China barrier_, _wall_, etc.)


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## Tjahzi

With the accusative used to indicated definiteness.


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## ger4

Tjahzi said:


> I'm curious of the name of this "structure". My curiosity has arisen from the fact that, maybe due to the fact that *Swedish* lacks an adjective with the joint meaning of _big_ and _good_ (that is, _great_), we refer to it as _kinesiska muren_ - _Chinese wall_, with both the adjective and the noun declined for definiteness. This sparks a contrast to English, in which it seems to be most commonly referred to as _the great wall_. Hence, my question to you is, which of its traits is more prevalent in your language, the _chineseness, the greatness, _or both?


In German, no adjective (neither 'great', 'big', nor 'long') is used: 
_
Die Chinesische Mauer
_- _die_ - definite article
- _Chinesische_ - 'Chinese' 
- _Mauer_ - 'wall'


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## Radioh

Flaminius said:


> Chinese:
> traditional: (萬里)長城; Simplified: (万里)长城
> Wànlǐ Chángchéng
> Literally, ten-thousand-_li_s of long fortification; where _li_ is a unit of distance
> 
> Japanese:
> 万里の長城
> banri-no chōjō
> almost identical to the above, only _-no_ is added to make sense as a Japanese word



We call it 'Vạn Lý Trường Thành'(lit. thousand-"lý" long fortification). 
Note: 1 lý = 0,0425 cm


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## Luxiaofeng

Hi Radioh,

1 里 = 444,4 m if I remember correctly. And yes we call it "Vạn lý trường/tường thành" in Vietnamese.

Cheers,
LXF.


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## ilocas2

Czech:

*Velká čínská zeď* - Big Chinese wall

_velká zeď, čínská zeď_ or _zeď_ can be used too, depending on context


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## ger4

Holger2014 said:


> In German, no adjective (neither 'great', 'big', nor 'long') is used:
> _
> Die Chinesische Mauer
> _- _die_ - definite article
> - _Chinesische_ - 'Chinese'
> - _Mauer_ - 'wall'


Just for the sake of accuracy I'd better add that even though the adjective _groß_ ('big', 'large', 'great') isn't necessary here and normally omitted, it _can_ be used.


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## francisgranada

Hungarian:

*Kínai nagy fal*

(lit.: Chinese big wall)


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