lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
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At the time of this writing, with the 2024 United States presidential election looming, jw.org was featuring the article “Which Leader Will You Choose?—What Does the Bible Say?”. The Mandarin version of this article uses this week’s MEotW, “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)”, to translate the English word “leader”. For example:
The Bible explains that God has appointed a most capable and trustworthy leader: Jesus Christ.
📖 📄 📘 Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) shuō (says 说 說/説) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝) yǐjing (yǐ·jing already · {has gone through} 已经 已經) wěirèn (wěi·rèn designating · {giving free reign to → [appointing]} 委任) Yēsū (Jesus 耶稣 耶穌) Jīdū (Christ 基督) zuò ({to be} 做) Lǐngxiù (Lǐng·xiù {Neck → [Collar]} · Sleeves → [Leader] 领袖 領袖), tā (he 他) shì (is 是) zuì (most 最 最/㝡) xiánmíng (xián·míng capable · {bright → [understanding]} → [wise and capable] 贤明 賢明) de (’s 的) tǒngzhìzhě (tǒng·zhì·zhě {gathering together → [commanding]} · ruling · person → [ruler] 统治者 統治者), zhíde (zhí·de worth · getting → [deserving of] 值得) xìnrèn (xìn·rèn {being believed} · {being given free reign → [being trusted]} 信任).
Analyzing Mandarin words at the morpheme level often reveals useful and interesting information, but the morphemes in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” seem…odd, considering what they are taken to mean when put together. “Lǐng (neck [→ [collar] → [lead; usher | have jurisdiction over; be in possession of]] | receive; draw; get; take; accept | understand; comprehend; grasp 领 領)” has an original literal meaning of “neck”, from which an effective meaning of “collar” understandably emerged. Somehow, though, another effective meaning that emerged for this morpheme is “to lead; to usher (as in “usher guests into the room”)”. The other morpheme “xiù (sleeve | {tuck inside the sleeve} 袖/褎)” literally means “sleeve”, and does not have an effective meaning on its own that’s obviously related to leadership. How then, did the combination of these two morphemes end up effectively meaning “leader”?
“Clothes Make the Man”?
My mother was a schoolteacher in China, and when I asked her about this seemingly strange combination of morphemes, she said that she wasn’t totally sure about the why or how of it, but that a teacher of hers had explained that to the ancient Chinese, the collar and sleeves of a piece of clothing were the most important indicators of how fit for purpose that piece of clothing was. Thus (if that teacher was not just expressing a baseless personal opinion on the matter), it may be that “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” effectively meaning “leader” is connected to the idea behind the English saying “clothes make the man”, that is, that one’s clothes send a message about what kind of person one is. Sometimes, for example, people are even nicknamed because of what they wear, like the redcoats and brownshirts of history, or the redshirts and browncoats of fiction. A possibly related factor is that on military uniforms especially, symbols of rank or status are often placed on the collar or sleeves or both. So, in old China, perhaps leaders were seen as those wearing clothing with certain kinds of collars or sleeves, resulting in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” (“collar sleeves”) becoming a Mandarin synecdoche referring to “leader”. (For comparison, a common English synecdoche is “suits”, which is used to refer to “businessmen”.)
Another possible explanation is that perhaps the piece of clothing in question in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” is a metaphor for the people as a whole, and that the collar and sleeves, being the parts of a piece of clothing that the Chinese were said to believe set the tone for it, thus represent the leader or leaders of the people. If any of you have any other information or ideas about why or how the morphemes in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” came to combine to mean “leader”, please share in the comments.
“The Emperors Have No Clothes”
Regardless of how the combination of “lǐng (neck [→ [collar] → [lead; usher | have jurisdiction over; be in possession of]] | receive; draw; get; take; accept | understand; comprehend; grasp 领 領)” and “xiù (sleeve | {tuck inside the sleeve} 袖/褎)” came to effectively mean “leader”, “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” does indeed mean that to today’s Mandarin-speakers—to them, however they do so, “collar” and “sleeves” do indeed combine to make “leader”. Unfortunately—to allude to another well-known English saying—the human Emperors of this world “have no clothes”—there is no real basis for the claims that they are worthy to be mankind’s leaders.
In contrast, Jehovah God has chosen Jesus as his King, and Jesus has shown himself to have real qualifications, far beyond those involving mere apparel and status symbols. While the world is embroiled in various struggles—from violent wars to comparatively nonviolent elections—over who will gain power to rule, it is our privilege to tell people in the Mandarin field about the good news about God’s Kingdom, and about God’s King, Jesus Christ himself. Being no mere figurehead, he and his Kingdom will “crush and put an end to” the human governments of Satan’s world and cause the whole earth to actually become the peaceful, secure paradise that God wants it be.—Daniel 2:44; 1 John 5:19; Matthew 6:10.