うちなー【沖縄】 : uchinaa | define meaning

Cognate to Amami (Yoroshima) おっきなわ okkinawa [okˀinawa]; Okinoerabu おきなわ okinawa; Okinawa (Kerama, Shuri) うちなー uchinaa; Okinawa (Aguni) and Yaeyama (Iriomote) うきなー ukinaa; Tarama うけィなー ukїnaa; Miyako うくｽなー ukɿna; Yonaguni うんな unna; and standard Japanese おきなわ【沖縄】 Okinawa.

Historical attestations:

• 唐大和上東征伝 Tōdaiwajō tōseiden (ca. 754), by 鑑真 Jianzhen (Ganjin), records the spelling "阿児奈波" (pronounced in Middle Chinese as *ʔɑ.ȵiᴇ.nɑiH.puɑ per Zhengzhang Shangfang's reconstruction).
• 平家物語 Heike Monogatari "The Tale of the Heike" (ca. 1330) records the spelling おきなは okinaha (pronounced either [okinafa] or [okinawa]).
• おもろさうし Omoro Saushi (1531-1623) records the spelling おきなわ okinawa (likely already pronounced [ukinawa] at this period).
• Various historical Japanese and Chinese works use the spellings 浮縄 ukinawa, 悪鬼納 akinawa or wokinawa, 倭急拿 uchinaa, and 屋其惹 uchina for Okinawa. The spelling 沖縄 okinawa is said to have first been used in administrative documents of the Satsuma Domain in the 1600s.