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From the second chapter in George Orwell's 1984, using the translations at Douban:

Original: The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.
Translation 1: 门厅里有一股熬白菜和旧地席的气味
Translation 2: 一进门厅就闻到煮卷心菜和霉旧地席的气味

Question: Why is there a 地 in (霉)旧地席的气味?

It seems like it should be a 的, not a 地. My understanding is that (霉)旧 (old) is an adjective describing the noun 席 (mat), and thus it should be 的.

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    地席 is 铺在地上的席子, a mat. Jan 31, 2020 at 8:26
  • 1
    BTW, 地席, (Di xí), is floor mat, and 地毯, (Dì tǎn), is carpet. As for the 席, it also means banquet / feast as in the old days people sat on floor mats to eat. Jan 31, 2020 at 8:32

2 Answers 2

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「地」 is not a particle here. The word for rag mats is translated as the two-character word 「地席」, literally mat (席) for the floor (地).

...舊地席的气味

...smelt (气味) of (的) ... old (舊) rag mats (地席).

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  • Oh okay, thanks---that makes a lot more sense.
    – Becky 李蓓
    Jan 31, 2020 at 8:32
  • I personally don't see the reason to use the super common characters 地 and 得 for words which are pretty much cognate to 的, but that's the state of our current writing system =,=
    – dROOOze
    Jan 31, 2020 at 8:34
  • Some people consider that sophistication is directly proportional to complexity? Jan 31, 2020 at 9:15
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地席 is a two character word meaning floor mat.

The 霉 in 霉旧地席 refers to the old mat being mouldy and/or having a musky smell.

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