Tag: War

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Current Events History Theocratic

jūn

jūn ({armed forces}; army; troops [→ [military]] 军 軍) ← 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 None 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 was featuring the article “World Military Spending Surpasses $2 Trillion—What Does the Bible Say?”. Interestingly, the Mandarin version of this article uses a few different expressions to translate the sense of “military spending”:

  • jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) zhīchū (zhī·chū supporting · out → [spending] 支出)
  • jūnfèi (jūn·fèi {armed forces → [military]} · {expending → [expenditures]} 军费 軍費) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支)
  • jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支)
  • jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) huāfèi (huā·fèi {flowering of → [spending of]} · {expendings → [expenditures]} → [spending] 花费 花費)
  • jūnfèi (jūn·fèi {armed forces → [military]} · {expending → [expenditures]} 军费 軍費) zhīchū (zhī·chū supporting · out → [spending] 支出)

These all have in common the morpheme “jūn ({armed forces}; army; troops [→ [military]] 军 軍)”, which is this week’s MEotW.

Usage Examples

Here are a couple of examples of how the above expressions are used in the above-mentioned article:

English:

World military spending reached a record high of 2.24 trillion dollars (U.S.) in 2022, largely in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 2022 nián (year 年 年/秊) quánqiú (quán·qiú whole · globe → [worldwide] 全球) jūnfèi (jūn·fèi {armed forces → [military]} · {expending → [expenditures]} 军费 軍費) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支) yǐ (already 已) chuàng ({achieved (for the first time)} 创 創/刱/剏/剙) 2.24 wàn ({ten thousand} 万 萬/万) yì ({hundred million} 亿 億) (2.24 zhào ({trillion (traditional/Taiwan)} 兆)) Měiyuán (Měi·yuán American · {yuan’s (monetary unit of China) → [dollars’]} 美国 美國) xīn (new 新) gāo (high 高); zuì (most 最 最/㝡) zhíjiē (zhí·jiē {being straight} · connecting → [direct] 直接) de (’s 的) yuányīn (yuán·yīn origin · reason 原因) shì (was 是) Éluósī (Russia 俄罗斯 俄羅斯) rùqīn (rù·qīn entering · invading → [invading] 入侵) Wūkèlán (Ukraine 乌克兰 烏克蘭).

English:

“The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world”

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 “Jìnnián (Jìn·nián {close → [recent]} · years 近年) lái ({coming from} → [since] (them) 来 來), quánqiú (quán·qiú whole · globe → [worldwide] 全球) jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支) chíxù (chí·xù {has held} · {has continued} 持续 持續) zēngzhǎng (zēng·zhǎng increasing · growing 增长 增長), biǎomíng (biǎo·míng showing · {to be clear} 表明) wǒmen (wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) shēnghuó ({are living} 生活) zài (in 在) yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) yuè‐lái‐yuè ((yuè {jumping over} 越) (lái coming 来 來) (yuè {jumping over} 越)) → [more and more]) bù (not 不) ānquán (ān·quán safe · whole → [secure] 安全) de (’s 的) shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent → [world] 世界) zhōng (within 中).”

Jehovah of Armies

In the Bible, Jehovah God is sometimes called “tiānjūn (tiān·jūn heaven’s · armies 天军 天軍) de (’ 的) Tǒngshuài (Tǒng·shuài {Gathered Together (Things) → [Whole System]} · Commander-in-Chief 统帅 統帥) Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華)” (“Jehovah of armies”), which incorporates the “jūn ({armed forces}; army; troops [→ [military]] 军 軍)” used in the expressions listed above. For example, when he faced Goliath, David used this expression to show that he trusted in Jehovah God, not in human weapons.—1 Samuel 17:45 (English, Mandarin).

“tiānjūn de Tǒngshuài Yēhéhuá” in 1 Samuel 17:45 (NWT (nwtsty), WOL CHS+Pinyin)

Jehovah causes himself to become what he needs to be, and when he needs to lead his armies of angels into battle, he is invincible. In fact, the Bible records that one time, just one of Jehovah’s angels wiped out 185,000 enemy soldiers in one night. (2 Kings 19:35) When the time comes for “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”, all the prodigious military spending of all the human nations will not prevent them from being destroyed to clear the way for God’s Kingdom to make the earth into a peaceful paradise.—Revelation 16:14.

Categories
Culture Current Events History

zhōunián

zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

February 24, 2023, a few days before the date of this post, was the one year anniversary of Russia’s sending of significant military forces into Ukraine, resulting in the largest scale open warfare in Europe since World War II. So, as of this writing jw.org is featuring the article “Ukraine War Enters Second Year—What Hope Does the Bible Offer?”, and this week’s MEotW is “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)”, the Mandarin word used in the Mandarin version of that article to translate the sense of “anniversary”.

Circles

“Zhōunián (Zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)” literally means “circle (or whole; cycle) of a year”, and can be thought of as a year having gone full circle. Another use of the “zhōu (circumference; circle; ring; periphery [→ [whole; cycle] [→ [week]]] | {to circle; to make a circuit} 周 周/週)” in “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)”, that also involves circles/cycles and time, is to mean “week”. Extending from that, “Zhōu’èr (Zhōu’·èr {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week(day)]} · Two → [Tuesday] 周二 周/週二)” means “Week(day) Two”, or “Tuesday”.

Note, though, that in this pattern, “Sunday” is not “Zhōuqī (Zhōu·qī {Circle → [Week(day)]} · Seven → [not used to mean “Sunday”] 周七 周/週七)”, but rather, “Zhōurì (Zhōu·rì {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week]} · {Sun → [Day]} → [Sunday] 周日 周/週日)”. Note also that regarding “Zhōurì (Zhōu·rì {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week]} · {Sun → [Day]} → [Sunday | weekday] 周日 周/週日)”, the excellent resource Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE) says:

weekday; Sunday; Apparently 周日 can mean either “weekday” or “Sunday”; it was used in w07 7/1 p.17 to mean “Sunday” (周六和周日 “Saturday and Sunday”; the Traditional version of wtl07 uses the variant 週 for 周) but in w95 7/15 p.29 and w93 11/1 p.31 it was used to translate “weekday” (i.e. non-Sabbath day in Israel), and g02 4/8 p.7 (5/8 in zh) uses 在周日 to translate “during the workweek”.

In addition to “Zhōurì (Zhōu·rì {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week]} · {Sun → [Day]} → [Sunday] 周日 周/週日)”, Mandarin dictionaries also list several other ways to say “Sunday”, some of which originated from Catholicism.

Not Regular Joes

The “zhōu (circumference; circle; ring; periphery [→ [whole; cycle] [→ [week]]] | {to circle; to make a circuit} 周 周/週)” in “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)” is also used as a surname. For example, for hundreds of years, China was ruled by the Zhōu ({Circumference; Circle (surname)} 周 周/週) dynasty.

A famous Zhōu ({Circumference; Circle (surname)} 周 周/週) of more recent times was Zhōu Ēnlái ((Zhōu {Circumference; Circle (surname)} 周 周/週) (Ēn·lái Kindness · Comes 恩来 恩來) (the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China)) (Wikipedia article), the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China, who served from October 1, 1949 until his death on January 8, 1976. An English translation of an interesting speech he gave in 1958 regarding some of the tasks that the PRC government faced relating to reforming the written language—such as simplification of the characters, popularization of pǔtōnghuà (pǔ·tōng·huà common; universal · {through(out) → [common]} · speech → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)] 普通话 普通話), and the creation and implementation of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)—can be found here, on the Pīnyīn.info website.

Usage Examples

In the above-mentioned jw.org Mandarin article, “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)” is used as follows:

📖 📄 📘 2023 Nián (Year 年 年/秊) 2 Yuè (Moon → [Month] 月) 24 Rì (Sun → [Day] 日) Xīngqīwǔ (Xīng·qī·wǔ {Star · {Period of Time} → [Week (Day)]} · Five → [Friday] 星期五) shì (is 是) yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) cǎndàn (cǎn·dàn tragic · tasteless → [dismal] 惨淡 慘淡/澹) de (’s 的) rìzi (rì·zi {sun → [day]} · [suf for nouns] 日子), biāozhìzhe (biāo·zhì·zhe {marking (with)} · mark (that) · being → [marking that] 标志着 標志/誌/識着/著) Wūkèlán (Ukraine 乌克兰 烏克蘭) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭) mǎn ({had filled} 满 滿) yì (one 一) zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年).

The Pleco app’s built-in dictionary provides these usage examples:

wǔshí zhōunián jìniàn ((wǔ·shí five · tens → [fifty] 五十) (zhōu·nián {circle → [cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年) (jì·niàn remembering · {thinking of} → [commemoration] 记/纪念 記/紀念) → [golden jubilee])

yìbǎi zhōunián ((yì·bǎi one · hundred 一百) (zhōu·nián {circle → [cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年) → [centenary])

Will There Be Another Anniversary?

For now, it seems uncertain how much longer Russia and Ukraine will continue to battle for. While many experts, including some Western experts, initially expected Russia might succeed in its initial plan to topple the Ukraine government in a few days, Ukraine has succeeded in holding out, and, with much Western support, has even conducted some successful counteroffensives in the last year. Russia continues to have significant combat power, however, and seems intent on continuing to pursue its goals in this war. Recently, the director of the CIA said the USA believes that China is considering providing lethal aid to Russia, perhaps in the forms of drones and ammunition. Meanwhile, Ukraine remains intent on completely driving out the Russian invaders, and many nations, including many Western nations, continue to provide it with ever more significant military support, now including advanced Western main battle tanks.

Regardless of how long this war may drag on, may we keep our brothers and sisters in the affected areas in our prayers to Jehovah, the only true God and the “God of all comfort”—John 17:3, 2 Corinthians 1:3.

Categories
Current Events Theocratic

shìjiè mòrì

shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent’s → [world’s] 世界)
mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None 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 was featuring the article “Politicians Warn of Armageddon—What Does the Bible Say?”. Where the English version of this article uses the word “Armageddon”, the Mandarin version often uses this week’s MEotW, “shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent’s → [world’s] 世界) mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日)” (which basically means “the end of the world”), with the first occurrence of “Hāmǐjíduōdùn (Armageddon 哈米吉多顿 哈米吉多頓)”, the direct Mandarin translation of “Armageddon”, occurring in parentheses after an occurrence of “shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent’s → [world’s] 世界) mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日)”.

This shows that the expression “Hāmǐjíduōdùn (Armageddon 哈米吉多顿 哈米吉多頓)” is not considered by the organization to be commonly known by householders in the Mandarin field. The English word “Armageddon”, which refers to something mentioned in the Bible, may be relatively well known in the English-speaking world, but compared to the English-speaking world, the Mandarin-speaking world is significantly less familiar with the Bible and the things mentioned in it.—Revelation 16:14, 16.

[Not taking for granted that Mandarin-speaking people are familiar with the Bible includes not taking for granted that they are familiar with Bible characters and Bible stories. In this regard, some publishers find it helpful to refer their Mandarin-speaking Bible students to publications like the Learn From the Bible (lfb) book. (Mandarin-learning publishers may find it helpful to follow along with the resources at the following links: official CHS+Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) 🔗; unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus 🔗).]

Related Expressions

The “shì (generation [→ [life; lifetime | world | age; era; epoch]] 世)” in “shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent → [world] 世界)” has an original meaning of “generation”, from which is often derived the meaning “world”, since the current generation of people makes up the current world of people. “Dài ({take the place of}; replace; subsitute | replacing; substituting → [acting; substitute | generation [→ [period; era; age]]] 代)”, a past MEotW, is also used to mean “generation”. So, it is no surprise that “shìdài (shì·dài generation · {replacing → [generation]} [→ [generation | generation after generation | period; epoch; era; age]] 世代)”, which could mean “generation”, is a thing. “Shì (generation [→ [life; lifetime | world | age; era; epoch]] 世)” also occurs in past MEotW “shìsú (shì·sú {generation’s → [world’s]} · customs | {(of the) generation → [world]} · secular | {generation → [world]} · {secular (world)} 世俗)”, which is used in 1 Corinthians 3:1 (Mandarin NWT (nwtsty)) to effectively mean “fleshly”, “worldly”, or “secular”.

The “mò (tip; end [→ [last/final stage]] 末)” in “mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日)” also appears in “mòqī (mò·qī end · period 末期)”, and indeed, in “mòshì (mò·shì {end of → [last stage/phase of]} · {generation → [world | age; era]} 末世)”. Some who have been in the Mandarin field for a while may also remember the expression “mòhòu (mò·hòu end · last 末后 末後) de (’s 的) rìzi (rì·zi {suns → [days]} · [suf for nouns] 日子)”. However, note that in the current version of the Mandarin New World Translation Bible (nwtsty), this expression has been replaced with “zuìhòu (zuì·hòu most · afterwards → [final] 最后 最後) de (’s 的) shíqī (shí·qī {(particular) time} · period 时期 時期)” in scriptures such as Ezekiel 38:16.

Ezekiel 38:16 (WOL CHS+Pinyin Parallel Translations)

Usage Examples

Here are a couple of examples of “shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent’s → [world’s] 世界) mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日)” in use, taken from the above-mentioned article:

English:

Politicians [warn] that we may be facing Armageddon.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zhèngzhì (Zhèng·zhì political · governing → [political] 政治) lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù leading · sleeves → [leaders] 领袖 領袖)…fāchū (fā·chū sent · out 发出 發出) jǐnggào (jǐng·gào warning · declarings → [warnings] 警告), shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent → [world] 世界) jiāng ({is going to} 将 將) miànlín (miàn·lín {be facing} · {be drawing near to} 面临 面臨) mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日).

English:

Will the possible use of nuclear weapons lead to Armageddon? What does the Bible say?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Shǐyòng (using 使用) hé ({pit (of a fruit)} → [nuclear] 核 核/覈) wǔqì (wǔ·qì military · instruments → [weapons] 武器) huì (will 会 會) dǎozhì (dǎo·zhì lead · {to extend to} 导致 導致) shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent’s → [world’s] 世界) mòrì (mò·rì end · {sun → [day]} 末日) ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) zěnme (zěn·me what · [suf] 怎么 怎麼/麽) shuō ({does say} 说 說/説)?