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Wikipedia suggests that "Macau" is from Chinese:

Mage (妈阁 "Pavilion of [the goddess] Mazu").

Etymonline seems to suggest it is from the Chinese:

Ma'ao (妈澳 "Bay of [the goddess] Mazu").

Another possibility would be:

Magang (妈港 "Harbor of [the goddess] Mazu").

with the nasal -ng being rendered as a nasal vowel -ao.

Any Portuguese sources on which is correct? Would "-ao" be likely added a Portuguese suffix to a Chinese root?

Colin
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2 Answers2

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Sounds just as a Portuguese assimilation of a foreign word, ie "Ma'ao".

The Portuguese suffix "ao" requires the special character "ã": "ão" (a superlative). I would bet the origin of the name Macau isn't related to a superlative at all.

Besides Mage, Mazu, Ma'ao, also A. Ma and A-ma-kas are names involved in the history of Macau.

A2018
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  • Oi Ana! Bem vinda! Lembro que as respostas preferencialmente devem ser fundamentadas, preferencialmente com referências e etc. – Peixoto Sep 01 '17 at 13:55
  • Ok, serei cuidadosa. Obrigada! – A2018 Sep 01 '17 at 16:39
  • Does the au in Macau have a nasal pronunciation in Portuguese? – Colin Sep 04 '17 at 05:34
  • @ColinZwanziger I'm not a grammar expert, but in Portuguese, the pronunciation of au in "Macau" is very similar to ow in English's "cow" and "power" (not sure if it's exactly the same, though). –  Sep 05 '17 at 18:17
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"The Evolution of Spellings of Macau" by Wu and Jin has an extensive discussion justifying the claim:

'Amacão' corresponds to `Ya/A Ma Gang' ('亞／阿 媽／馬 港') in Chinese, which serves as the origin of all kinds of geographical names in Portuguese that end with the nasal coda. (pg. 4)

So 'Macau' corresponds to Chinese Magang (妈港, "Mazu Harbor").

Colin
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