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bǎihé‐huā

 

 

bǎihé+ (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā+ (flower 花) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 ➕ icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and ➕ Reveal + Symbols re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

Rather than dismissively thinking to ourselves that the songs produced by the organization are “just songs”, we should remember that the slave class takes seriously its responsibility to provide spiritual food to God’s people, and so it is going to make sure that the lyrics in its songs are spiritually correct, while also being emotionally moving.—Ezekiel 33:32; Matthew 24:45.

“A Hundred (Things) Joined”

“bǎihé‐huā” _Pīnyīn_+ info, Song 163 (music+_Pīnyīn_), on iPhone 13 mini (landscape orientation)

This week’s MEotW in the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ resource “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus / Pīnyīn+, Web)

This week’s MEotW, “bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā (flower 花)”, comes from the second verse of song 163, this year’s convention song, which is entitled “Happy Are These Eyes” in English and “Wǒ de ((Wǒ Me 我) (de ’s 的) → [My]) Yǎnjing (Yǎn·jing Eyes’ · Eyeballs → [Eyes] 眼睛) Duōme (Duō·me {(How) Much} · [suf] → [How] 多么 多麼) Yǒufú (Yǒu·fú Have · Blessings → [Are Happy] 有福)” in Mandarin:

English:

As the lilies grow in the field,
How the love God shows is revealed!
If he cares for them, I know he’ll care for me.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ 🔗):

📖 📄 ➕ Bǎihé+ (Bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā+ (flowers 花) shèngkāi (shèng·kāi flourish · open → [bloom] 盛开 盛開) zài (in 在) yědì (yě·dì {open country → [wild]} · ground → [countryside] 野地),
Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝) ràng (makes 让 讓) tāmen (tā·men it · [pl] → [them] 它们 它/牠們) duō ({(how) much} 多) měilì ({to be beautiful} 美丽 美麗),
Tā (he 他) àihù (ài·hù loves · protects → [takes good care of] 爱护 愛護) huāduǒ (huā·duǒ flowers · [mw for flowers, clouds, etc.] 花朵), yídìng (yí·dìng {(with) one} · {setting fixedly} → [definitely] 一定) huì (will 会 會) gèng ({more so} 更) ài (love 爱 愛) wǒ (me 我).

In the above example, “bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā (flowers 花)” is used to correspond to “lilies”. According to my mother, who used to be a teacher in China, the morphemes in “bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)” refer to “a hundred (things, likely flower petals)” “joined”. (Considering how beautiful lilies can be, and considering some of the other possible meanings of the morphemes involved, one may also speculate that another possible meaning could be “hundred agreeablenesses”, that is, “wholly agreeable”.) The last morpheme “huā (flower; blossom [→ [spend; expend | pattern; design]] | {[is] flowery} 花)” is a well-known expression that means “flower”.

In additin to “bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā (flower 花)”, many other Mandarin expressions also use “bǎi (hundred [→ [numerous; all [kinds of]]] 百)”, which literally means “hundred”, to effectively mean “numerous; all”. Here are a few examples:

  • bǎikē‐quánshū+ ((bǎi·kē {hundred → [numerous]} · {branches of study} → [encyclopedic] 百科)‐(quán·shū complete · book 全书 全書) → [encyclopedia/encyclopædia])
  • bǎiwù+ (bǎi·wù {hundred → [all]} · things 百物)
  • bǎixìng+ (bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓)
  • Zhūzǐ‐Bǎijiā+ ((Zhū·zǐ Various · Masters 诸子 諸子)‐(Bǎi·jiā {Hundred → [Numerous]} · {Families → [Schools of Thought]} 百家) → [The Hundred Schools of Thought]) (Wikipedia article about these ancient Chinese philosophies and schools of thought)

Attempted Hijacking

The Wikipedia page for lilies lists several items regarding symbolisms relating to lilies. One worldly symbolism that it may be good for us in the Mandarin field to be aware of is described there as follows:

White lilies have been used since the Romantic era of Japanese literature to symbolize beauty and purity in women, and are a de facto symbol of the yuri genre (yuri (百合) translates literally to “lily”),[source] which describes the portrayal of intimate love, sex, or emotional connections between women. The term Yurizoku (百合族; lit. “lily tribe”) was coined in 1976 by Ito Bungaku, editor of the gay men’s magazine Barazoku (see above), to refer to his female readers.[source][source] While not all those women were lesbians, and it is unclear whether this was the first instance of the term yuri in this context, an association of yuri with lesbianism subsequently developed.[source] In Korea and China, “lily” is used as a semantic loan from the Japanese usage to describe female-female romance media, where each use the direct translation of the term – baekhap (백합) in Korea[source] and bǎihé (百合) in China.[source]

Yes, this seems to be an unfortunate hijacking or appropriation by Satan’s world of something beautiful that Jehovah made, to instead represent something ugly and perverse in his eyes. Another example of this is the hijacking or appropriation in the world of the rainbow to be “a symbol of LGBTQ pride”, when Jehovah God himself said that actually, the rainbow is “the sign of the covenant” that “never again will all flesh be destroyed by the waters of a flood”, which happened in the first place in large part because of the kinds of things that the world is misusing the rainbow to represent today. (Genesis 9:8–17) So, when mentioning “bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā (flower 花)” in the Mandarin field, we should make clear what we mean, and stick to references like the mention of lilies in Matthew 6:28, 29, which seems to be the inspiration for the above-quoted snippet from song 163:

Also, why are you anxious about clothing? Take a lesson from the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil, nor do they spin; but I tell you that not even Solʹo·mon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.

Not only is the above use of “bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā (flower 花)” in harmony with Jehovah’s standards, it obviously also long predates the worldly symbolism mentioned earlier. And of course, since Jehovah not only inspired the above-quoted scripture, but also created bǎihé (bǎi·hé {hundred (things)} · {closed → [joined]} → [lily] 百合)‐huā (flowers 花) in the first place, he certainly gets the final say regarding what they should mean to us!

Musical Notation 🎼 and the Mandarin Field

In this post about a Mandarin expression found in our songbook, another subject that I want to touch on is: Is musical notation 🎼 too hard to be worth the trouble of producing it and using it? Are fewer and fewer people able to read it? I was fortunate enough to have been taught how to read musical notation in school. I have never thought of musical notation as being particularly difficult to use (it’s much easier to learn than characters, which many unquestioningly try to learn), and I find that it helps me to sing Kingdom songs more correctly (according to the intended melody, message, etc.) and more confidently more of the time. However, I am aware that not everyone in the Mandarin field has the same experience with musical notation. For example, a while ago, an older brother told me that he didn’t know how to read musical notation. Also, some people in the Mandarin field may have been affected by how education systems in this old world have been facing significant challenges relating to providing music education for younger ones.

Regardless of how the world may be failing in many cases to equitably provide good music education, Jehovah’s organization has pointed out that music is important in Jehovah’s worship. For example, not long ago, a Meeting Workbook said:

Music can have a powerful influence on the mind and body. Singing is an important part of our worship of Jehovah.

In accordance with the importance of music in Jehovah’s worship, Mandarin field language learners used to have available to them official material from the organization containing musical notation with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in the lyrics. However, perhaps at least partially because of the technical difficulty and costliness of producing material with musical notation and both Chinese characters and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in the lyrics, as of this writing, there is no official material currently available from the organization that shows Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and musical notation on the same page or screen.

Screenshot of Sis. Margarita Königer and others using official _Pīnyīn_ _Sing to Jehovah_ songbooks with musical notation

A screenshot from an official video, of Sis. Margarita Königer and others using official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Sing to Jehovah songbooks with musical notation

The organization continues to publish official songbook material for different languages in general that contains musical notation, so it evidently still considers musical notation to generally be worthwhile to produce. It continues to produce official material for the current songbook that uses musical notation along with lyrics rendered only in Chinese characters, without Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and it has even produced official material that uses jiǎnpǔ+ (jiǎn·pǔ simple · {register or record for reference → [musical notation]} → [numbered musical notation] 简谱 簡譜) (a kind of musical notation also known as numbered musical notation) and Chinese characters.

For Jehovah’s official organization, continuing to produce musical notation with lyrics rendered in Chinese characters but discontinuing production of musical notation that includes Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) lyrics when it becomes necessary to conserve time and effort makes sense, when we consider that the primary focus of Jehovah’s official organization is to provide spiritual instruction, not language instruction, even though language instruction can provide significant practical help to people seeking to learn or teach sprititual truths. (Another reminder of this primary focus is the recent discontinuation of the JW Language app.) The way the world is, with its deeply embedded traditions and prejudices, people whose mother tongue is Mandarin—and who thus learn spiritual truths best in Mandarin—mainly still use Chinese characters as their “mother writing system”, even as the game-changing practical benefits of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) are obvious to unprejudiced Mandarin language learners.

For those who find it helpful in their Mandarin field activities to put musical notation together with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ resource “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus / Pīnyīn+, Web) exists and is continuing to be improved. As shown in the screenshot near the beginning of this post, this resource aids Mandarin field language learners by breaking with tradition and featuring lyrics in the musical notation that are only in relatively large-print Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) by default—characters are relegated to Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ “flashcards” that are added as time allows.

Unlike the traditionally-used but unnecessarily extraordinarily complex characters that need to be accompanied by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) before many are able to read them, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) itself is a simple, elegant alphabetical full writing system for Mandarin that is easy to learn and remember. Also, it is no harder to typeset than other alphabetical writing systems with diacritics, such as the writing systems now used for French, Czech, Vietnamese, etc.*

In its Tips: section at the bottom of its home page, the “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus / Pīnyīn+, Web) resource contains these links that some may find helpful:

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ resource for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web material based on the Mandarin “Sing Out Joyfully” book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web resource as time allows.

 

* Thanks to ongoing advancements in personal computing hardware and software, producing material that contains things like musical notation and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text at reasonable cost is quicker and easier than ever. At this time, production of the musical notation in the “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus / Pīnyīn+, Web) resource begins in free open source software called MuseScore Studio, running on a Mac. Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text for the lyrics in the musical notation is entered using macOS’s ABC – Extended input source (keyboard layout). (Just using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text only here simplifies things so much compared to having to somehow input characters with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) ruby text!) When it’s ready, the musical notation for a song is exported from MuseScore Studio into SVG format, which is a plain text format that allows for the inclusion of links that activate Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ flashcards on webpages. (These SVG links are a bit more involved to produce than “regular” web Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ material, but at least the procedure for doing so is consistent and dependable, unlike Chinese characters, which have no consistent, dependable system regarding how they are designed compared to how they are pronounced.) The coding for the SVG links is currently done using the text editor BBEdit, in which editing large text files is quite performant. For Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web material production in general, my current favourite tool is Nova, but such web material can be produced in any application suitable for web development, such as Visual Studio Code, etc. ^

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Technology Theocratic

hùdòng‐shì

hùdòng+ (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì+ (type 式) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[This post was adapted from the February 21, 2022 post on “hùdòng+ (hù·dòng mutually; {[(with)] each other} · moving → [interacting; interaction; interactive] 互动 互動).]

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 ➕ icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and ➕ Reveal + Symbols re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

At the time of this writing, jw.org is featuring the free Bible course that we are offering. To do so, it is using the following text:

English:

Try our interactive Bible course Enjoy Life Forever!

Mandarin:

📖 📄 ➕ Lái (come 来 來) tǐyàn+ (tǐ·yàn {bodily → [personally]} · test → [personally experience] 体验 體驗) yíxià (yí·xià one · {going down → [time]} → [a bit] 一下) xīn (newly 新) tuīchū (tuī·chū {pushed → [recommended]} · out → [introduced] 推出) de (’s 的) hùdòng+ (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì+ (type 式) Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經) kèchéng (kè·chéng lessons · {journey → [procedure]} → [course] 课程 課程) Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng ((Yǒng·yuǎn Eternally · {Far (in Time)} 永远 永遠) (Xiǎng·shòu Enjoy · Receive 享受) (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) (de ’s 的) (Shēngmìng Life 生命) → [Enjoy Life Forever!]).

Of course, besides being used above, this week’s MEotW “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” also appears in Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng—Hùdòng‐Shì Shèngjīng Kèchéng ((Yǒng·yuǎn Eternally · {Far (in Time)} 永远 永遠) (Xiǎng·shòu Enjoy · Receive 享受) (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) (de ’s 的) (Shēngmìng Life 生命)—(Hù·dòng {Each Other} · Moving → [Interactive] 互动 互動)‐(Shì (Type 式) (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經) (Kè·chéng Lessons · Procedure → [Course] 课程 課程) → [Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course (lff)]), the title of the Mandarin version of the book used in the above-mentioned course. Looking at this Mandarin title, you may have wondered: What does “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” mean?

“hùdòng shì” on _Enjoy Life Forever!_ bk. title page (jw.org CHS+Pinyin)

(The above screenshot from jw.org shows light-coloured text on a dark background because I have set jw.org’s Appearance Settings to do so. As the related JW News article says, “some users prefer this setting because the screen is less bright. This may help reduce eyestrain, especially at night or in other low-light environments.” Most Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web resources (short link: tiandi.info/pyp) can also be set to dark mode.)

You may surmise that “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” corresponds with the “Interactive” in Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course, and you would be right. Now, let’s take a closer look at the morphemes in “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” to see how they work in a way that makes “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” correspond as well as it does with the English word “interactive”, which means “acting upon or influencing each other”.

Morphemic Breakdown

As the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ information for “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” shows us, its first morpheme “hù- (mutually; {[(with)] each other} 互)” means “mutually; [(with)] each other”. It’s the “hù- (mutually; {[(with)] each other} 互)” in “hùxiāng ({each other} 互相) gǔlì (gǔ·lì {drum → [rouse]} · encourage → [encourage] 鼓励 鼓勵)”, which means “encourage one another”.

The next morpheme “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” basically means “move”. In some contexts, it means to move physically, as it does in “dòngwù (dòng·wù moving · thing → [animal] 动物 動物)”, which literally means “moving thing”, and is used to mean “animal”. (Interestingly, the English word “animal” is related to the word “animate”, which can mean “bring into action or movement”.) In other contexts, “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” means to move emotionally, as it does in “gǎndòng+ (gǎn·dòng feeling · moved | {make to feel} · move 感动 感動)”. In yet other contexts, “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” is used to effectively mean “change; alter”.

Breaking down “hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì (type 式)” into its morphemes helps us to see that “hù- (mutually; {[(with)] each other} 互)” corresponds with the “inter-” part of “interactive”, and that “dòng (move [→ [stir | arouse | change; alter]] 动 動)” corresponds with the “active” (“acting [up]on”) part. As for “shì (type; style; pattern; form; formula; mode 式)”, here it means “type” or “style”.

Interactive Indeed

The English word “interactive” has a particular meaning in the world of computing, which is “responds to user activity”.

Interestingly, the Enjoy Life Forever! book even has some interactivity in its paper form, with its “Lesson completed on:” and “Goal” sections allowing room for a user to write in them with a pencil or pen. This is in addition to the limited interactivity that any paper publication offers a user, such as being able to write notes in the margins or to highlight or underline text.

The Enjoy Life Forever! book in the PDF file format—a computer file format that is conceptually rooted in the world of paper—adds the ability for a user to tap/click on links to do things like load the web pages (or the JW Library app) where the videos mentioned in the book can be played. As we move on to more computer-native formats, we find that in the Enjoy Life Forever! book material on the jw.org website and in the JW Library app, where of course links are available for playing the videos, a user can tap/click on text fields in the “Lesson completed on:” and “Goal” sections and type text into them that will be “remembered”. Also, a user can tap/click on the checkboxes in the “Goal” section, and those checkboxes will “remember” and show whether they are checked or unchecked.

As discussed in the JW Broadcasting—January 2021 program, when it comes to the more general meaning of the English word “interactive”, “acting upon or influencing each other”, the Enjoy Life Forever! book in every format is designed to engage and involve people more than past Bible study textbooks did. It indeed qualifies as “interactive”, or as we say in Mandarin, “hùdòng+ (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動)‐shì+ (type 式)”.

(By the way, just as is possible on this blog, in the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ material for the Enjoy Life Forever! book, users can interactively tap/click on Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expressions to show/hide, as desired, flashcards showing English meanings, Simplified character(s), Traditional character(s) (if they’re different), etc. for these expressions.)

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web material based on the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web resource as time allows.

Categories
Culture Experiences History Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

Lísú‐rén

 

 

Lísú‐rén+ ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s]]) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 ➕ icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and ➕ Reveal + Symbols re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

A few years back, I wrote up a brief web page listing reasons for producing Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), etc. material for the Imitate (ia) book. Some, especially some who grew up in the West, may have felt that this book is made up of “just stories”, and ones that they were already quite familiar with, at that. However, we must remember that Chinese Bible students may often have a different perspective regarding the Bible accounts that are made to come to life in the Imitate book. As that web page said:

  • Many Chinese people in the world have not been exposed to Bible accounts the way many Westerners have.
  • Also, I have heard that some, perhaps many, Chinese Bible students tend to approach their Bible studies like intellectual exercises for accumulating chōuxiàng (abstract) head knowledge as if for a school exam, rather than as training for their hearts for their own real lives.

Later, the web page touches on how some of the real-world benefits of good storytelling like that found in the Imitate book involve empathy:

  • …
    • The actress Natalie Portman once said, “I love acting. I think it’s the most amazing thing to be able to do. Your job is practicing empathy. You walk down the street imagining every person’s life.”
  • The Imitate book helps build Bible students’ empathy towards Bible characters, which in turn helps Bible students realize that others would feel empathy towards them as well if they imitated these Bible characters—not everyone will just think they’re crazy, like many worldly friends or family members might think.

While even fictional stories can have the benefits described in the links and the quote above, true stories from the Bible can have even greater benefits, including spiritual ones.

Besides the Imitate book, another book from Jehovah’s organization that relates Bible accounts is the Learn From the Bible (lfb) book. The letter from the Governing Body in this book says that, similarly to the Imitate book, the Learn From the Bible book also “brings the Bible accounts to life and captures the feelings of those depicted”, while, unlike the Imitate book, it “tells the story of the human family from creation onward”. While the Learn From the Bible book is especially suitable for children, the letter from the Governing Body in this book says that “it can also be used to help adults who desire to learn more about the Bible”. So, it would be good to consider on this blog some of the expressions used in the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book.

Apart from the Vulgar World

This week’s MEotW, “Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s]])”, appears in the first paragraph of Lesson 38 of the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book, which is entitled “Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華) Shǐ (Made 使) Cānsūn (Samson 参孙 參孫) Lì (Strength 力) Dà ({to Be Big} → [to Be Great] 大) Wúqióng+ (Wú·qióng {Not to Have} · {Being Impoverished} → [to Be Boundless] 无穷 無窮)” (“Jehovah Made Samson Strong”):

English:

He will be a Nazirite.’ Do you know who the Nazirites were? They were special servants of Jehovah.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) + 🔗):

📖 📄 ➕ Tā (he 他) yào (will 要) zuò (be 做) Lísú‐rén+ ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén person 人) → [Nazʹi·rite]).” Nǐ (you 你) zhīdào (zhī·dào {do know} · {(the) way (of)} → [do know] 知道) shénme (shén·me what · [suf] 什么 什/甚麼) shì (were 是) Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people 人) → [Nazʹi·rites]) ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people 人) → [Nazʹi·rites]) shì (were 是) Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華) de (’s 的) tèbié púrén,

The Mandarin Learn From the Bible book here uses “Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s]])” to correspond with the English expression “Nazirite”. The Glossary in the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY contains the following entry for this expression:

A word taken from the Hebrew for “One Singled Out,” “Dedicated One,” “Separated One.” There were two classes of Nazirites: those who volunteered and those who were appointed as such by God. A man or a woman could take a special vow to Jehovah to live as a Nazirite for a period of time. Those voluntarily taking the vow had three principal restrictions: they were to drink no alcohol nor eat any product of the grapevine, they were not to cut their hair, and they were not to touch a dead body. Those appointed by God as Nazirites remained such for life, and Jehovah specified the requirements for them.—Nu 6:2-7; Jg 13:5.

The morphemes in “Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s]])” mean “Apart from” “Vulgar (Secular) (World)” “person”. (Another expression that uses that noteworthy middle morpheme is past MEotW “shìsú+ (shì·sú {generation’s → [world’s]} · customs | {(of the) generation → [world]} · {vulgar → [secular]} | {generation → [world]} · {vulgar → [secular] (world)} 世俗)”.) Comparing those meanings with the above description of “Nazirite”, we can see that “Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s]])” is one of the rare Bible names that is translated into Mandarin based on its meaning, rather than based on its sound. (In fact, it’s the only one that I can think of at this time that is translated that way.) Interestingly, the footnote for Numbers 6:2 in the Mandarin NWT Study Bible tells us that “Lísú‐rén ((Lí·sú {Apart from} · {Vulgar → [Secular] (World)} 离俗 離俗)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s]])” can also be translated based on its sound, as “Náxì’ěr‐rén ((Náxì’ěr Na·zirʹ 拿细耳 拿細耳)‐(rén people | person[s] | man/men 人) → [Nazʹi·rite[s] (Nu. 6:2 ftn.: alternate translation, now usually “Lísú‐rén”)])”:

Screenshot of “Náxì’ěr‐rén” in Num. 6:2 (nwtsty, CHS+_Pīnyīn_ WOL)

(Dark mode for the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY (WOL) website, as shown in the above image, can be enabled in the Safari web browser by using the Noir Safari extension. Other web browsers may also have extensions with similar functionality.)

This is, as the English saying goes, an exception that proves the rule—generally, Mandarin versions of names that originated in other languages are designed based on the sound of the original language name, in accord with the basic linguistic principle that when it comes to human languages, speech is primary, not writing, regardless of how those who repeat the Ideographic Myth erroneously claim that Chinese characters are awesome because they supposedly represent meaning visually without relying on speech sounds.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ resource for the Learn From the Bible book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Learn From the Bible book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus / Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)+ web resource as time allows.