It originates from the Latin "Napaj" which translated means "whale".

No one wants to take a shot at this???

I'll give answer in a couple of hrs.  :jumping2:

I looked up the answer so I no longer qualify to guess.  :smile:

And the answer is???????

Close--- acc to Taviani(bio Columbus), when Polo returned to Italy he described his trip to the mapmaker Conti. For whatever reason his map retired the prev name the Chinese used--- Cipongo(u)

The reason is not given but his map used the Italian term Gioponne.   :scratchchin:

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In Japan their name for their island country is "Nippon," which, when spelled backwards is "Noppin."  

You might think it's not important how it would be spelled backwards, but think about this fact:  The capitol city in Japan is Tokyo which is on the east side of the nation's central island, Honshu, where the sunrise over the Great Ocean can be seen in the morning, thus the name, "Land of the Rising Sun," which is also their flag's design.  But there is another city, on the west coast of the same island, Honshu, and it's name is Kyoto:



So there is Tokyo on the east and Kyoto on the west.  

This brings us to the origins of the island itself.  According to ancient lore, it rose out of the sea at the time when Atlantis sank into the sea on the other side of the earth.  It only remains to be seen what "Nippon" in the east has to do with "Atlantis" in the west.  But that's going to have to wait for a future installment.


Happy New Year!  


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