Patrick Andries <Patrick dot Andries at xcential dot com> wrote: > Because according to the articles this was the original English > spelling before the occupying Japanese authorities changed the initial > C by a K so that Korea would follow Japan in alphabetical order.
This seems very misguided, if true. Alphabetical primacy can hardly be considered an effective measure of the relative power or importance of a nation. In English transcriptions at least, the first two countries alphabetically are Afghanistan and Albania. It is difficult to imagine how the status of these countries has been bolstered by being first in the alphabet. Remember that in the time frame in question, the late '30s and early '40s, three of the major world powers were the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union (ÐÐÑÐ ÐÐÐÐÑÑÐÐÑ ÐÐÑÐÐÐÐÑÑÐÑÐÑÐÐÑ ÐÐÑÐÑÐÐÐÐ). These countries, beginning with "U", "U", and "S" in their respective national languages, were unlikely to attach much significance to the relative alphabetical order of "Japan" and "Korea." Furthermore, Japan in the pre-WWII era was still relatively isolated and anti-Western. Did it really matter to the Imperial authorities how things were spelled in English (while simultaneously ignoring the French spellings)? Alternative English spellings of non-Latin-alphabet place names were common in the pre-WWII era. In addition to "Corea," you will also find "Tokio" and "Bagdad" in American literature of the day. -Doug Ewell Fullerton, California http://users.adelphia.net/~dewell/
