Asian = Oriental, etc.

[Mark Odegard]

The *scholarly* usage of 'oriental' has not been mentioned. Oriental studies
and oriental languages refer to the Middle East, as with the Oriental
Institute of Chicago. Ancient Near East[ern], Semitic Studies, Sumerology,
etc, are the more modern terms, but 'oriental' is still sometimes used this
way.

I discover that 'East Asia[n]', along with NE Asia, SE Asia, North Asia and
Central Asia are enormously useful as general terms. NW Asia is Siberia. SW
Asia is the Caucusus. All these terms can be used for geographic, ethnic,
linguistic or cultural descriptions.




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