Kiang

English

Etymology 1

A romanization of various Mandarin words rendered jiāng, jiáng, jiǎng, or jiàng in pinyin and particularly used for Chinese 江 (Jiāng, “The River”), frequently used in Chinese in specific reference to the Yangtze.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kjɑŋ/, /kjæŋ/, /kiˈɑŋ/, /kiˈæŋ/

Proper noun

Kiang

1. Obsolete form of Jiang.
2. (obsolete) Synonym of Yangtze, the chief river of central China.
   • 1669 [1665], John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China‎^[1], London: John Macock, translation of original in Dutch, →OCLC, page 6:

     All China was formerly divided by the Chineſe Emperour Xunus into 12 Provinces; afterwards the Emperour Yua, who took upon him the Government after the death of Xunus, about 260 years before the Incarnation of our Saviour, reduced all China into Nine Provinces, which only at that time comprehended the Northern Parts of China, and had for their Confines the River Kiang. But after that they had Conquered the Southern parts by degrees, and had ſomewhat civilized the Inhabitants, the whole Kingdom of China was divided into 15 Provinces : Amongſt theſe alſo they reckon the Province of Leaotung, which is ſituated on the Weſt of Peking, where the great Wall begins, and the Hanging Iſland of Corea; both which pay Tribute to the Emperour.

   • 1888, J. F. C. Hecker, “Causes.-Spread.”, in B. G. Babington, transl., The Black Death and the Dancing Mania‎^[2], →OCLC, page 24:

     The series of these great events began in the year 1333, fifteen years before the plague broke out in Europe: they first appeared in China. Here a parching drought, accompanied by famine, commenced in the tract of country watered by the rivers Kiang and Hoai.

   • 1973, Edward H. Schafer, “The Medieval Cult of the Great Water Goddesses”, in The Divine Woman: Dragon Ladies and Rain Maidens in T’ang Literature‎^[3], University of California Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 58:

     The cult center of this vast playground for water spirits and connoisseurs of water was on the mainland in a region on the east shore of the lake that came to be known as Pa-ling. Its official name in T’ang times was sometimes Yüeh-yang and sometimes Yüeh-chou. This is where the waters of the lake merged with those of the Hsiang and the Kiang—but then their shores were certainly contoured differently than now. This worshipful place was at the northern limit of the goddess's domain; still it remained the most ancient and venerable heart of that domain. It had been a sacred center in the distant past, belonging to the marshes of Yün-meng "Cloud Dream," extending north and south on both sides of the Kiang,⁴¹ in the kingdom of Ch’u:

Etymology 2

Variant of Jiang.

Proper noun

Kiang (plural Kiangs)

1. A surname from Chinese.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Kiang is the 41799^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 520 individuals. Kiang is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (86.54%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Kiang”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 299.