The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.

Derivation[link]

Look up Orient, orient, Oriental, or oriental in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The term "Orient" derives from the Latin word oriens meaning "east" (lit. "rising" < orior "rise"). The use of the word for "rising" to refer to the east (where the sun rises) has analogs from many languages: compare the terms "Levant" (< French levant "rising"), "Vostok" Russian: Восток (< Russian voskhod Russian: восход "sunrise"), "Anatolia" (< Greek anatole), "mizrahi" in Hebrew ("zriha" meaning sunrise), "sharq" Arabic: شرق‎ (< Arabic yashruq يشرق "rise", shurooq Arabic: شروق‎ "rising"), "shygys" Kazakh: шығыс (< Kazakh shygu Kazakh: шығу "come out"), Chinese: 東 (pinyin: dōng, a pictograph of the sun rising behind a tree^[1]) and "The Land of the Rising Sun" to refer to Japan. Also, many ancient temples, including pagan temples and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, were built with their main entrances facing the East. To situate them in such a manner was to "orient" them in the proper direction. When something was facing the correct direction, it was said to be in the proper "orientation".

The opposite term "Occident" is derived from the Latin word occidens meaning "west" (lit. "setting" < "occido" "fall/set"). This term was once used to mean the West (where the sun sets) but has fallen into disuse in English.

History of the term[link]

Harem Pool by the Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme c. 1876; naked females in harem or bathing settings are a staple of much Orientalist painting

In the later Roman Empire, the Praetorian prefecture of the East, the Praefectura Praetorio Orientis, included most of the Eastern Roman Empire from the eastern Balkans eastwards; its easternmost part was the Diocese of the East, the Dioecesis Orientis, corresponding roughly to Greater Syria. Over time, the common understanding of 'the Orient' has continually shifted eastwards, as Western explorers travelled farther into Asia. It finally reached the Pacific Ocean, in what Westerners came to call 'the Far East'. These shifts in time and identification sometimes confuse the scope (historical and geographic) of Oriental Studies. Yet there remain contexts where 'the Orient' and 'Oriental' have kept their older meanings, e.g. 'Oriental spices' typically are from the regions extending from the Middle East to sub-continental India to Indo-China. Travellers may again take the Orient Express train from Paris to its terminus in the European part of Istanbul, a route established in the early 20th century.

In European historiography the meaning of "the Orient" changed in scope several times. Originally the term referred to Egypt, the Levant, and adjoining areas.^[2] Later the term became synonymous with Islam and its scope expanded both eastward and westward to include all non-European areas of Eurasian civilization, including North Africa as far west as Morocco.^[2] During the 1800s India, and to a lesser extent China, began to displace the Levant as the primary subject of Orientalist research. By the mid-20th century Western scholars generally considered "the Orient" as just East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Central Asia.^[2] As recently as the early 20th century the term "Orient" continued to often used in ways that included North Africa and even parts of southeastern Europe. Today the term primarily evokes images of China, Korea, Japan, and peninsular Southeast Asia.^[2] Throughout the history of the changing sense of the term, "the Orient" was never equivalent to Asia as a whole. "The Orient" being largely a cultural term, large parts of Asia—Siberia most notably—were excluded from the scholarly notion of "the Orient".^[2]

Equally valid terms for the Orient still exist in the English language in such collocations as Oriental studies (now Asian Studies in some countries).

The adjectival term Oriental has been used by the West to mean cultures, peoples, countries, and goods from the Orient. "Oriental" means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation (especially when capitalized) for anything belonging to the Orient or "East" (for Asia), and especially of its Eastern culture. It indicated the eastern direction in historical astronomy, often abbreviated "Ori."^[3] In contemporary English, Oriental usually refers to things from the parts of East Asia traditionally occupied by East Asians and most Central Asians and Southeast Asians racially categorized as "Mongoloid". This excludes Indians, Arabs, most other West Asian peoples. Because of historical discrimination against Chinese and Japanese, in some parts of the United States, the term is considered derogatory; for example, Washington state prohibits use of the word "Oriental" in legislation and government documentation, preferring the word "Asian" instead.^[4]

In more local uses, "oriental" is also used for eastern parts of portions of the Mediterranean Sea, for example Morocco's Oriental Region. Oriental is also used as an adjective akin to "eastern," especially in the Spanish-speaking world. For example, the Philippine islands of Mindoro and Negros are each divided into two provinces whose titles include the words "oriental" and "occidental" respectively. The official name of Uruguay is the República Oriental del Uruguay or Oriental Republic of Uruguay because it is east of the Uruguay River.^[5]

Since the 19th century, "orientalist" has been the traditional term for a scholar of Oriental studies; however, the use in English of "Orientalism" to describe academic "Oriental studies" is rare: the Oxford English Dictionary cites only one such usage, by Lord Byron in 1812. Orientalism is more widely used to refer to the works of the many 19th century artists who specialized in "Oriental" subjects, often drawing on their travels to North Africa and Western Asia. Artists as well as scholars were already described as "Orientalists" in the 19th century. In 1978, Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said published his influential and controversial book, Orientalism; he used the term to describe a pervasive Western tradition, both academic and artistic, of prejudiced outsider interpretations of the Arab and Muslim worlds, shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[6]

Current usage[link]

American English[link]

While a small number of reference works used in the United States describe Oriental as pejorative, or antiquated but not necessarily offensive, the American Heritage Book of English Usage notes that:

It is worth remembering, though, that Oriental is not an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. It is most objectionable in contemporary contexts and when used as a noun, as in the appointment of an Oriental to head the commission. But in certain historical contexts, or when its exotic connotations are integral to the topic, Oriental remains a useful term.^[7]

Random House's Guide to Sensitive Language states that "Other words (e.g., Oriental, colored) are outdated or inaccurate." It suggests the use of "Asian or more specific designation such as Pacific Islander, Chinese American, [or] Korean".^[8] Merriam-Webster describes the term as "sometimes offensive."^[9]

British English[link]

In British English, the term Oriental is not considered pejorative or offensive, and refers to people from East and Southeast Asia. Asian is generally used only to mean people from South Asia.^[10] This usage reflects historic immigration into the UK, since more than 50% of the non-European population is from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Burma, (in British English terminology called British Asian), whereas East and Southeast Asians comprise only 5-6% of the non-European population. Of those, the majority are of Chinese descent.^[11]

Australian English[link]

In Australian English, the term "Asian" generally refers to people of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ethnicity. Australians generally refer to people of Korean, Japanese, or Chinese descent as Asian, and persons of Indian, Pakistani or Sri Lankan descent by their respective demonym but without explicit knowledge, are indeterminately inferred as Indian.

The word Oriental, in place of Asian, is seldom used in colloquial conversation in Australia and is understood, but considered anachronistic rather than offensive.

Canadian English[link]

In Canadian English, as with Australian English, "Asian" most often refers to people of eastern or southeastern Asian descent. It can be expanded, however, such as when referring to colonial times, to include south Asian countries such as India and Sri Lanka, as is common usage by South Asians themselves. In modern Canadian usage, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the term "Oriental" is considered offensive when applied to a person of East Asian ancestry.^[12]

German[link]

In German Orient is usually used synonymously with the Arab World and Persia. The term Asiaten means the people of East Asia and Southeast Asia. Another word for Orient in German is Morgenland (now poetic), which literally translates as "morning land".

See also[link]

• Asian
• Metonymy
• Levant
• Land of the Rising Sun
• Orient Express
• Orientalizing Period of Archaic Greek art
• Political correctness
• School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London

Notes[link]

References and further reading[link]

• [Ankerl, Guy] Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western, INUPRESS, Geneva, 2000. ISBN 2-88155-004-5
• The American Oriental Society
• The Oriental Instititute at University of Chicago
• On Asian and Oriental Model Minority posting by Alan Hu.
• Banned Words For comparative analysis: a list "banned" words (including Oriental) as documented by Diane Ravitch.
• The Critic in the Orient by George Hamlin Fitch
• German Orient Gate
• What's the Matter with Saying the Orient? by Christopher Hill for "About Japan: A Teacher's Resource"