Why is Philippines with "ph" but Filipino with an "f"?
Main topic: Culture and entertainment
Other topics: Philippines
Short answer:
- Filipino is with an F because it was called Las Islas Filipinas (from King Felipe) by the Spanish colonizers.
- Philippines is the English version (today, English is an official language).
It results from several factors, including these:
- In 1543, the islands were named Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip of Austria (later Philip II or Felipe II of Spain) by Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos. This was rendered into English as The Philippine Islands.
- The national language of the Philippines, Filipino[1] is based on Tagalog[2], and the Tagalog alphabet didn't historically include the letter f.[3]
- The word Filipino has been used to refer to both the language and to the people. At some point, the word Pilipino (with a p) came into use to refer to the language. The 1973 constitution[4] says that it "shall be officially promulgated in English and in Pilipino", "Until otherwise provided by law, English and Pilipino shall be the official languages" and "[steps shall be taken] towards the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino". The 1987 constitution[5] specifies, "The national language of the Philippines is Filipino".
References[edit]
- ↑ "Filipino language", Wikipedia, 2022-10-24, retrieved 2022-10-24
- ↑ "The evolution of the native Tagalog alphabet by Guillermo Gomez Rivera, Opinion, EMANILA NEWS". web.archive.org. 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
- ↑ Kilates, Marne. "Why the F in 'Filipino' and How Did It Get There?". Positively Filipino | Online Magazine for Filipinos in the Diaspora. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
- ↑ "1973 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines | GOVPH". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
- ↑ "The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines | GOVPH". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 2022-10-24.