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In an ealier question (or thread) 爱、采 ( A trivalent verb takes 2 objects ) ...

3 variations/versions of a proverb or expression were mentioned :

  • 爱及屋乌 == he loves her so much that he even loves the CROW perched on the roof of her house. ( Note: 'crow' rather than 'bird' -- people don't have crows or ravens as pets, do they? ).

  • 爱乌及屋 --- I think this means : (He) loves the pet bird so much that he even loves the cage.

  • 爱屋及乌

I think the original form is 爱及屋乌.

    Confucius would say: a true love (of a man) is trivalent; and
      has two objects: the woman he loves, and everything around her.

Which one is original?

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  • Totally OT: Crows were called 孝鸟 by ancient Chinese because it was said that when their parents get too old to fly, they would care for them and regurgitate food to feed them like their parents did before. Thus they are much admired in ancient China. There is actually a grain of truth in this because zoologists do find that crows visit their parents many years after they left. Aug 5, 2016 at 4:22

2 Answers 2

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http://www.zdic.net/c/1/3/5022.htm

愛屋及烏 因愛一個人連帶的也愛護停留在他屋上的烏鴉。語本尚書大傳.卷三.牧誓.大戰篇:「愛人者,兼其屋上之烏。」後比喻愛一個人也連帶的關愛與他有關的人或物。明.許自昌.水滸記.第八齣:「他們都是你舅舅的相識,你何無愛屋及烏情?」隋唐演義.第八十七回:「楊妃平日愛這雪衣女,雖是那鸚鵡可愛可喜,然亦因是安祿山所獻,有愛屋及烏之意。」亦作「屋上瞻烏」、「屋烏推愛」。

also: http://baike.baidu.com/view/10509.htm

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  • Thank you... I'm still trying to understand what it says. HH
    – HizHa
    Aug 1, 2016 at 17:31
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The provenance of "爱屋及乌" is from Han FuSheng the commentary of the book of documents Wars “爱人者,兼其屋上之乌。” This sentence means love me,love my dog. enter image description here

The completed explain means that: The love for the house extends even to the crows perching on its roof -- loving one thing on account of another. He that loves the tree loves the branch.;He who loves Bertrand loves his dog. Love for a person extends even to the crows on his roof;He that loves the tree loves the branch. (come from:http://www.onlinechineselearning.com/resource/funny-chinese-phrases.html)

爱及屋乌 and 爱乌及屋 are wrong Chinese idioms.You can say 屋乌之爱. The synonym idioms are 相(xiāng)濡(rú)以(yǐ)沫(mò)、屋(wū)乌(wū)之(zhī)爱(ài)、民(mín)胞(bāo)物(wù)与(yǔ)、兼(jiān)爱(ài)无(wú)私(sī).

I send the whole idiom story in Chinese, you can not only understand the idiom but also learn Chinese by yourself.

商纣无道,周武王兵进朝歌,商兵倒戈,商纣自焚,商朝灭亡。 周武王召见姜太公,问道:“商朝她也没了,殷都咱也占了,可是我们对旧王朝的官宦贵族士兵怎么处置呀?”姜太公说:“臣闻之,爱人者,兼其屋上之乌。而商朝的人不是我们所爱。既然不爱他们,就统统杀了他们算了。” 武王觉得不妥,这得杀掉多少人呀?于是就召见召公。召公说:“有罪的就把他杀掉,没罪的就让他活下来。” 这个比姜太公的办法好,但武王还是觉得不行,就召见周公。周公说:“好的君主不偏爱自己的旧朋友和亲属,而是用仁政感化普天下的人。我看应当让他们都回各自的家,耕种自己的田地。” 武王听了很高兴,心中豁然开朗,于是就照周公的意见办理,结果天下太平,民心归顺。 姜太公的那句话,就成就了“爱屋及乌”的成语。

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