I usually say Sino-Vietnamese is similar to Chinese out of convenience but technically that’s inaccurate.

Ancient Việt people are a part of the Bách Việt or “100 Yue” peoples, who mostly lived south of the Yangtze down to present-day northern Vietnam.

Yue peoples were ethnically and linguistically different from northern Han people.

Việt Nam literally means Southern Yue, or Nányuè, which was an ancient kingdom from 204 BC-111 BC that included Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian & northern Vietnam.

Technically speaking, northern Việt people can trace their lineages to two Yue tribes:

1. The Âu Việt or Ouyue (甌越). They lived in today the mountainous regions of northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and northern Guangxi, China since at least the 3rd century BC.

2. The Lạc Việt or Luoyue (駱越) who lived in today Guangxi and the lowland plains of north Vietnam, especially the Red River Delta, or Sông Hồng, Hồng Hà, Sông Cái, which literally means Female River or Mother River.

Lạc Việt culture or Đông Sơn culture lasted during the Bronze Age from 1000 BC to 1st century AD.

A notable artifact is the Đông Sơn drum which showcases their metalwork skills.

Lạc Việt people are said to be direct ancestors of northern Vietnamese people.

Lạc Việt, or Luòyuè, people are so named bc according to Viet mythology, the giant Lạc bird appeared to guide them in their journey. This bird is depicted on the Đồng Sơn drum. The Lạc people called themselves the Lạc Việt after the bird in its honor.

The Âu Việt and Lạc Việt tribes united and merged into Âu Lạc to resist invasion, with the capital Cổ Loa, located in present-day Đông Anh, just a little bit north of Hanoi.

Âu Lạc was separate from Nanyue for a time when Âu Lạc acknowledged Nanyue's suzerainty, while resisting Han conquests. However, when relations between the Han and Nanyue improved, Nányuè annexed Âu Lạc in 179 or 180 BC.

This is all just northern Việt Nam history, btw. Present-day VN also includes the Cham kingdom and a part of the Khmer kingdom.

Back to language. Nanyue peoples spoke Ancient Yue, which is now extinct.

Lạc Việt spoke an Austroasiatic, or Mon-Khmer language — this is a large family language of mainland Southeast Asia and parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China.

Of 168 identified Austroasiatic languages, only Vietnamese & Khmer have official status as modern national languages. Mon is a recognised indigenous language in Myanmar and Thailand. Only these 3 have long-established recorded history.

Back to Nányuè, Old Chinese in Nányuè was influenced by Yue languages & vice versa.

Example: The early Chinese name for the Yangtze was later extended to mean "river" in south China. Cantonese: “kong,” Vietnamese: “sông” from *krong and Mon kruŋ meaning “river.”

I’ve mentioned reasons why Việt language and Old Chinese influenced each other.

Another reason why Việt vocab is influenced by Chinese is bc of Chinese domination or what we call Bắc thuộc (北屬) which means to “belonging to the north.” This happened in four periods.

111 BC–40 AD: Han-Nanyue War (111 BC) established Han dynasty rule in Nanyue and by extension (present-day northern) Việt Nam.

Han rule was briefly interrupted by the revolt of Hai Bà Trưng or The Trưng Sisters (40–43 AD).

(Life’s been full on but I WILL continue this thread!)

(Picking up this thread now cuz I'm getting encouragement and new fwennnnds. Hi @llwy_jmoon! Hi @miririri_nyaa!)

First I wanna clarify that present-day Viet Nam is NOT ancient Nányuè, which fell to Han conquest in 111 BC. Nányuè (yellow on this map) literally means Southern Yue, or Nam Việt, which covered Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian & northern Vietnam.

During this war, Lü Jia, or Lữ Gia was the last prime minister of Nanyue, said to come from Hải Dương. There's an altar for him in Thầy Temple in Hanoi. There are lots of streets in VN named Lữ Gia. I lived in a neighborhood called Lữ Gia.

Once again here is a map of Nanyue

Lữ Gia was from Lạc Việt/Luoyue, a tribe belonging to a conglomeration of Yue tribes, called Baiyue/ Bách Việt, meaning Hundred Yue.

Baiyue (百越) refers to many non-Han ethnic groups, characterized by tattoos, naval expertise, metalworking, and... naming boats & swords.

(That's right, mdzs/cql characters naming their swords probably came from this distinct Baiyue practice.)

Nányuè along with others like Yūyuè, Yángyuè, Mǐnyuè, etc. made up the state of Yue/Yuyue during the Warring States period (475–221 BC), when states declared independence from the Zhou Dynasty.

In 334 BC, Chu conquered Yue.

Then it all ended with Qin's conquest in 221 BC.

The Qin Dynasty marked the transition between ancient China & Imperial China after conquering the states of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi.

But it would take until 241 BC to defeat the Baiyue peoples... until the Qin Dynasty fell, then the Yue regained independence again.

(The Qin Dynasty was *very* interested in Nanyue for the fertile land, rice cultivation, stuff like elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, kingfisher feathers (!), ivory, pearls, jade, & maritime trade routes with Southeast Asia, India, and the Mediterranean.)

BACK TO LANGUAGES. (Lol do you even rmb what began this thread.) After the Yues were subjugated & annexed into the Qin empire, emperor Qin Shi Huang began eliminating indigenous Yue cultures & sinicizing the population by imposing Han Chinese as the new language & writing system.