Iwo Jima
See also: Iwojima
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From the early modern Japanese misreading Iwōjima for 硫黄島 (Iwōtō, “Sulfur Island”), a calque of English Sulphur Island in accounts of James Cook's voyages, possibly originally from early modern Spanish Isla Sufre although the island was left unnamed by its first known discoverer Bernardo de la Torre.
Proper noun edit
Iwo Jima
- A volcanic island in the Volcano Islands, in the North Pacific, now administered as part of Tokyo's Ogasawara Subprefecture and most famous for a major battle in World War II.
- 1955, Harry S Truman, Memoirs of Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions[1], volume I, Signet Books, published 1965, →OCLC, →OL, page 82:
- Not many weeks before, during the battle for Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer, had taken his inspired photograph of the American flag being raised on Mount Suribachi.
- A volcanic island in the Satsunan Islands, in the Philippine Sea, administered as part of Kagoshima.
Usage notes edit
The official Japanese name of the island changed to Iōtō (written identically in kanji but differently in transcription) in 2007, so that use of Iwo Jima may be proscribed in some contexts.
Synonyms edit
- Ioto, Ioshima, Sulfur Island, Sulphur Island
- (Kagoshima island): Satsuma Iwo Jima, Satsuma Iojima, Satsuma Iōjima, Tokara Iwo Jima, Tokara Iojima, Tokara Iōjima