Where does “大洋州” come from?

大洋州 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 大, from Old Japanese 大, from Proto-Japonic əpə — big, large; many.

Ancestry of “大洋州”, step by step

大洋州 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 大

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese大big, large; the large part of; arch-
2Old Japanese大big, large; large
3Proto-Japonicəpəbig, large; many

via Japanese 州

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese州state; province of Canada; canton of Switzerland
2Middle Chinese洲—

via Japanese 洋

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese洋an ocean; the East or "especially" the West;...
2Middle Chinese洋—
Every word from Proto-Japonic əpə →Every word from Old Japanese 大 →Every word from Japanese 大 →