Discussion on the name of Palaos
In French, the first form under which appears the name of the Palaos, is “Palaos islands”, because of the origin Spanish E of the name (as for the Galapagos Islands). The geographers (French like Jules Dumont d' Urville which in 1831 cutting the Oceania in four zones become traditional, like Louis Isidore Duperrey, but so Russian as Johann Adam von Krusenstern) confirm this initial form in their publications, just as later Elisee Reclus in its Nouvelle universal geography (1876 - 1894). The form “Pelew islands” appears in 1788 with the translation by George Keate ( Relation of the Pelew islands located in the Western part of the Pacifique< ocean! --- ; composed on the newspapers and the communications of the Captain Henry Wilson, and some of its officers, who, in August millet seven hundred eighty-three, there made shipwreck on l
When the islands become German (1899) then Japan eases (1914), the form without plural appears, with one - U final in place of - O because of the pronunciation in these two languages (although in German, the written form - to the returns in fact the pronunciation”, Diphtongue often described as being marked like /ao/ (Luciano Canepari) and that in Japanese, the attested form “パラオ” must be correctly transliterated Parao and not Palau). The Americans to which this archipelago falls after the Second world war (1944), then take again to this written form germano-Japanese woman, Palau, which replaces “Pelew” (still attested in 1907 by the Nuttall Encyclopædia of the Reverend James Wood). This form spreads in the anglophone world since these islands are only one of the archipelagoes of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (1947).
On its side, the Paluan, become gradually Official language with English at the time of the accession to autonomy (1979) or of independence (1994), causes the appearance of a form “Belau”, whose C-W communication (English) would correspond more to the local pronunciation () the Palau form. The French form “Palaos” becomes seldom used - this only because of the modesty of this archipelago, seldom quoted out of the specialized publications but because of the prevalence of the English form, although it remains that used by the French-speaking specialists in the Oceania and the Micronesia, would not be especially joined together in particular in the Société of Océanistes.
Among the official authorities, there is hesitation on the short form to use in French. Thus, the French-speaking Division of the GENUNG (Group of expert of the United Nations for the geographical names) and the DGLF (General delegation with the French language) prefer Belau with Palaos; on the other hand, the Commission of toponymy of the national geographical Institute and UNESCO prefer Palaos with Belau. Palaos is attested moreover long time (1827 ) and is more known - the archipelago of Palaos continues to use " exclusively; Palau" in its English publicities although the name of the State (in Paluan) is " Belau" (remaining English official name Palau). Only the form “Palau” appears on the official documents of the Palaos (postage stamps, sites of the government, passports, visas, etc). Many international institutions (FAO, OMC, EU, but also the the United Nations or the French ministry of the Foreign affairs, in spite of the DGLF) use, in French, the Palaos form.
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