Etymology

Lop Nur

Today it means: A largely dried up salt lake, known for being used as a nuclear testing site, located in southeastern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Full definition →

Uyghur لوپنۇر ← Written Oirat ᠯᠣ᠊ᠫ ᠨᡇᡇᠷ
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The story

  1. Written Oirat · derived fromᠯᠣ᠊ᠫ ᠨᡇᡇᠷ
  2. Uyghur · borrowed fromلوپنۇر
  3. English todayLop Nur

From Uyghur لوپنۇر (lopnur), from Written Oirat ᠯᠣ᠊ᠫ ᠨᡇᡇᠷ (Lob nuur), from ᠯᠣ᠊ᠫ (Lob) + ᠨᡇᡇᠷ (nuur, “lake”), where the former is itself of unknown origin from older times, possibly Old Uyghur. Compare Mandarin 羅布淖爾 /罗布淖尔 (Luóbùnào'ěr), 羅布泊 /罗布泊 (Luóbù pō, “Lop Lake”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.