Tag: ABC Chinese-English Dictionary

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Current Events

yùgào

yùgào (yù·gào fore·told | {in advance} · {had told} 预/豫告 預/豫告) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

On February 24, 2022, Russia sent significant military forces into Ukraine, resulting in the largest scale open warfare in Europe since World War II. Knowing certain Mandarin expressions will help us in the Mandarin field as we hear about and talk about Ukraine in the time ahead.

An article about this situation that has been featured on jw.org is “Russia Invades Ukraine”. In the Mandarin version of this article, “yùgào (yù·gào fore·told | {in advance} · {had told} 预/豫告 預/豫告)”, this week’s MEotW, is used to correspond with the English word “foretold”.

Note that the morpheme “yù (fore-; {in advance} 预/豫 預/豫)” that’s in “yùgào (yù·gào fore·told | {in advance} · {had told} 预/豫告 預/豫告)” is a bound form that also appears in past MEotW “yùyán (yù·yán {in advance} · say[ing] → [prophecy | prophesy] 预言 預言)”, “yùjiàn (yù·jiàn fore·seeing | {in advance} · seeing 预见 預/豫見)”, “yùliào (yù·liào {in advance} · {to expect; anticipate; foresee; infer} 预料 預料)”, etc.

Bound Forms

The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, edited by John DeFrancis and Victor H. Mair, among others, tells us the following about the entries in it that are marked as bound forms:

B.F. (Bound Form, Niánzhuó Císù 粘着词素).

Morphemes which do not function as free words in a sentence and cannot be handled using one of the other bound category labels, such as prefix, suffix, measure word, or particle. A given character may represent a free word in one or more of its meanings but a bound morpheme in other meanings. E.g. qiǎng 抢 is a bound form meaning ‘take emergency measures’ in qiǎngshòu 抢收 but a free form as a verb meaning ‘pillage’.)

In addition to these meaningful bound forms, which we define and illustrate with one or more examples, there are many characters which have no meaning of their own but simply represent a syllabic sound. E.g. 8pú 葡 and 6táo 萄 in pútao 葡萄 ‘grapes’. For these entries we provide neither entry label nor definition but simply note words in which the character occurs.

“Foretold” Examples

Here are some examples of how “yùgào (yù·gào fore·told | {in advance} · {had told} 预/豫告 預/豫告)” is used in the above-mentioned article on jw.org:

English:

What significance do events like this have according to the Bible?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zhèyàng (Zhè·yàng this · kind 这样 這樣) de (’s 的) dàshì (dà·shì {big → [major]} · events 大事), gēn (with 跟) Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) yùgào (yù·gào fore·told 预/豫告 預/豫告) de (’s 的) shì (things 事) yǒuguān (yǒu·guān have · {closing → [connection]} 有关 有關) ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)?

English:

Jesus Christ foretold a time when “nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” (Matthew 24:7) …the Bible shows that wars today fulfill Jesus’ prophecy.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Yēsū (Jesus 耶稣 耶穌) yùgào (yù·gào fore·told 预/豫告 預/豫告): “Mínzú (Mín·zú {(of) people} · nationality → [nation] 民族) yào (must → [will] 要) gōngdǎ (gōng·dǎ attack · strike 攻打) mínzú (mín·zú {(of) people} · nationality → [nation] 民族), guójiā (guó·jiā nation · family → [nation] 国家 國家) yào (must → [will] 要) gōngdǎ (gōng·dǎ attack · strike 攻打) guójiā (guó·jiā nation · family → [nation] 国家 國家).” (Mǎtài (Matthew 马太 馬太) Fúyīn (Fú·yīn Blessings · News 福音) 24:7) Jīntiān (Jīn·tiān present · {sky → [day]} → [today] 今天) shìshang (shì·shang {generation → [world]} · upon 世上) fāshēng (fā·shēng {issuing forth} · {coming to life} → [happening] 发生 發生) de (’s 的) shì (things 事) gēn (with 跟) Yēsū (Jesus 耶稣 耶穌) yùgào (yù·gào fore·told 预/豫告 預/豫告) de ({’s (things)} 的) yízhì (yí·zhì {(are of) one} · sending → [are consistent] 一致).

Categories
Culture Current Events

rùqīn

rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

On February 24, 2022, Russia sent significant military forces into Ukraine, resulting in the largest scale open warfare in Europe since World War II. Knowing certain Mandarin expressions will help us in the Mandarin field as we hear about and talk about Ukraine in the time ahead.

The article “Russia Invades Ukraine” has been featured on jw.org since not long after the crisis began, and the Mandarin translation of that article’s title is “Éluósī (Russia 俄罗斯 俄羅斯) Rùqīn (Rù·qīn Enters · Invades → [Invades] 入侵) Wūkèlán (Ukraine 乌克兰 烏克蘭) 🔗”. So, we can see that this week’s MEotW, “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)”, corresponds with the English word “invades”.

To Be Resultative…

Another way to say “invade” in Mandarin is “qīnrù (qīn·rù invade; {intrude into} · {enter | [go] into} → [invade; intrude into] 侵入)”, which has the same morphemes as “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)”, but in reversed order. There may be a difference between these two words, since the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary refers to “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)” as a verb, while it refers to “qīnrù (qīn·rù invade; {intrude into} · {enter | [go] into} → [invade; intrude into] 侵入)” as a resultative verb, in which “rù (enter; {go into}; join 入)” is taken to mean “into”, as opposed to the verb “enter”.

Or Not to Be Resultative?

On the other hand, the dictionaries I have checked re “rù (enter; {go into}; join 入)” itself, including the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, emphasize its meaning as being the verb “enter”, and not so much as being the preposition “into” (although I think it can be used that way). If we indeed take both their morphemes to be verbs, then it would seem that the case of “rùqīn (rù·qīn enter; {go into} · invade; {intrude into} → [invade; intrude into] 入侵)”/“qīnrù (qīn·rù invade; {intrude into} · {enter | [go] into} → [invade; intrude into] 侵入)” is similar to the case of “fǎlǜ (law 法律)”/“lǜfǎ (law 律法)”.

Regarding “fǎlǜ (law 法律)”/“lǜfǎ (law 律法)”, the MEotW post for “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” had this to say:

But, Why?

If “lǜfǎ (law 律法)” and “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” both mean basically the same thing, why did the world’s Mandarin-speaking population bother to switch the order of “lǜ (law; statute; rule; regulation 律)” and “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” in popular usage? Who knows? Appendix A2 of the Mandarin NWT Bible, probably wisely, does not get into the why of it, just mentioning that “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” is now the more common usage. Even if it turns out that there was a reason, it may not be what most would consider a good reason. Sometimes people are just weird, and, speaking as a Chinese person myself, that includes Chinese people—just look at some of the arbitrary ways in which Chinese characters have been designed, that have turned trying to figure out the pronunciations and meanings of unfamiliar Chinese characters into a guessing game.

Speaking of what’s commonplace or popular and why, I am reminded of this quote from William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for The Princess Bride as well as the screenplays for several other successful, well-known movies:

Nobody knows anything…Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess

Speaking of The Princess Bride, that movie is a treasure trove of quotable quotes, including this one that serves as a precautionary admonition to us Mandarin language-learners:

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Categories
Culture Theocratic

wēnhé

wēnhé (wēn·hé {[is] warm} · {[is] gentle}; {[is] mild}; {[is] moderate} [→ [mildness]] 温和 溫和) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The eighth part of the fruitage of the spirit listed is mildness.— Jiālātàishū (Jiālātài·shū Galatia · Book → [Galatians] 加拉太书 加拉太書) 5:22, 23.

Galatians 5:22, 23 (WOL nwtsty-CHS+Pinyin)

The English word “mildness” is translated into Mandarin in the above scripture as “wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和)”, this week’s MEotW.

Note that the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information for “wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和)” (← tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”), as used in the above context, shows that in the above context it literally means “being warm, being mild”, which in turn effectively means “mildness”. The Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information renders the literal meaning this way because in this case “wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和)” is a stative verb.

Stative Verbs

The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, edited by John DeFrancis and Victor H. Mair, among others, tells us the following about the entries in it that are marked as stative verbs:

S.V. (Stative Verb, Xíngróngcí 形容词).

These entries are frequently translated into English as adjectives, even though they actually behave in Chinese as verbs. That is, the sense of ‘to be’ is already incorporated into these verbs, e.g. Zhèige hěn hǎo ‘This is quite good.’ In fact, it is simply ungrammatical to place the verb shì, ‘to be’, directly in front of a stative verb.

Because stative verbs are actually verbs, they are directly negated by bù, e.g. bù hǎo ‘not good’, and can be further modified by adverbs of degree such as hěn ‘quite’, fēicháng ‘extremely’ and shífēn ‘very; utterly’. One common function of stative verbs is that they may serve as adverbs to other actions, e.g. mànmàn in mànmàn chī ‘Take your time (eating)’ and rènzhēn in rènzhēn de xiě ‘write carefully’.

Sometimes a Verbal Noun

One might wonder, though, why “wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和)” is used in the above scripture to translate “mildness”, a noun, if “wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和)” is a stative verb there. This seems to be a case of “wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和)” acting as a verbal noun, or gerundial noun. Verbal/gerundial nouns were discussed in the MEotW post on “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”:

One interesting thing to note about “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)” (and about “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)”, for that matter) is that their component morphemes seem to basically be verbs. In certain contexts, however, they are used as nouns. An example of this being done in English is that “teach” and “teaching” are verbs (e.g. “Jesus was teaching the crowd.”), but in certain contexts, “teaching” is used as a noun (e.g. “The crowd was amazed at the teaching Jesus shared with them.”). When a word is used this way, it’s called a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun. Verbal nouns are quite common in Mandarin.

Multifaceted

“Wēnhé (Wēn·hé {[is] warm} · {[is] gentle}; {[is] mild}; {[is] moderate} [→ [mildness]] 温和 溫和)”, then, like many Mandarin words, is multifaceted. Sometimes it acts as an adjective, sometimes it’s a stative verb that seems like an adjective, and other times it functions as a noun. Here are examples of it being used in these different ways:

Used as an adjective:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) shì (is 是) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) hěn (very 很) wēnhé (wēn·hé warm · mild → [mild] 温和 溫和) de (’s 的) rén (person 人).

Used as a stative verb that seems like an adjective:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) hěn ({very much} 很) wēnhé (wēn·hé {is warm} · {is mild} → [is mild] 温和 溫和).

Used as a verbal noun:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) hěn ({very much} 很) yǒu (has 有) wēnhé (wēn·hé {being warm} · {being mild} → [mildness] 温和 溫和).