Tibet
Meanings
- A geographic region in Central Asia (mostly in China), the homeland of the Tibetan people, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau.
- A former country in East Asia that existed from 1912 until its annexation by China in 1951.
- An autonomous region of China. Official name: Tibet Autonomous Region. Capital: Lhasa.
- A woolen fabric generally printed in colours; a heavy fabric used for the same purposes as furs, made of goat hair, black and finely curled.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Of unclear origin, but probably from Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰯𐰇𐱅 (Töpüt) ('hilly, mountainous place') via Classical Persian تبت (tabbat, tubbat). In one proposed etymology the ultimate origin is Tibetan བོད (Bod), used in the compound name Tibetan སྟོད་བོད (stod bod, “Upper Tibet”), pronounced Tö-pöt, from སྟོད (stod, “upper, higher”) + བོད (bod, “Tibet”). In another proposal, the name comes via Classical Mongolian [script needed] (Töpüt) from an alteration of Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰯𐰇 (töpü, “height, summit”). Bialek instead derives the name from Old Tibetan དཔོན (dpon, “leader, ruler”) + Old Turkic -𐱅 (-t²) plural suffix and a epenthetic vowel to break up the non-Turkic initial consonant cluster [tp]; according to her, Middle Chinese 吐蕃 (thu^X bjon) comes from the same source.