Questions tagged [classical-chinese]
Classical Chinese (古文, Pinyin: gǔ wén, "ancient text") is the language of the classic literature from the Spring and Autumn period through to the end of the Han Dynasty, a written form of Old Chinese. The term is also used for Literary Chinese (文言文 wényán wén, "text of written language"), a traditional style of written Chinese modelled on the classical language, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese.
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Dealing with expressions in classical Chinese letters: 月日 and 惶恐百拜
Are there standard translations for phrases like 月日 and 惶恐百拜, used in correspondence in premodern times? 'A day of a month' and 'I cower fearfully and bow a hundred times' don't really...y'know...WORK ...
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For a long time, I caused the <wide world> to be <manlang 漫浪>
I'm working on a literary translation of a 16th century Joseon prose narrative, and I'm here to ask for help with a few of the bits I'm finding gnarly and confusing. I've hit on the passage:
久作江湖之漫浪。 ...
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Classical Chinese question. 古文。 Meaning of 起予？
I'm translating a classical Chinese text into English and the phrase "起予“ 让我头痛。 Please, help.
This is the full classical text (from the Confucian analects) :
子夏問曰：「『巧笑倩兮， 美目盼兮， 素以為絢兮。』何謂也？ 子曰： 「...
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What is this book called? 汉说文
I am beginning Chinese speaker, but I watch this documentary on Chinese characters and they talk about origins of the characters from ideograms. They refer to a book called "Roots of Characters" but ...
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What is meaning of the sentence 「夫非盡人之子與」?
夫非盡人之子與
I only understand this sentence from classical Chinese to a very low degree.
夫 could be some kind of sentence particle or simply mean "man".
非 and 與 often belong together, 非 negates a ...
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What is the usage of 蔑 as a negation word in classical chinese?
I read someone mentioning 蔑 as a negation word in classical Chinese, but unfortunately without explaining how it works or an example sentence. So I looked it up in my dictionary and it only showed me ...
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Is there strong evidence that Classical Chinese was ever spoken?
Classical Chinese (Wenyan) diverges sharply from modern varieties, as any student of classical texts will note whether foreign or native Chinese. Wenyan has a long written history, but is there ...
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meaning of 傳 in 傳不習乎?
In Analects, chapter 4,
「吾日三省吾身
為人謀而不忠乎？
與朋友交而不信乎？
傳不習乎？」
I would translate it: Master Ceng said: everyday I check three things in myself:
do I plan my behavior without loyalty? do I make friends ...
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How to understand "实" in this context? ”五侯九伯，女实征之“（《齐桓公伐楚盟屈完》）之"实"字何以训？
《齐桓公伐楚盟屈完》，出《左传》僖公四年，原文节此：
”昔召康公命我先君太公曰：‘五侯九伯，女实征之，以夹辅周室。’”
这个“实”字当何以训？“实”常见的释义里，大概只有“真正、真确”还强通文意。但看到《康熙字典》里“实”又有“具數”一义：“又具數也。《史記·始皇本紀》使黔首自實田。《註》謂令民自具頃畝實數也。”用来训此“实”，是否得当？有更好的解释吗？
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Can someone translate this for me? It's a family heirloom [closed]
My grandfather found this during WWI, would love to know what it says
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Can “未” modify descriptive adjectives?
Can “未” modify descriptive adjectives (in either classical or modern Chinese)?
I've previously asked about the correctness of the phrase "未長未短", but I think 長 and 短 are used as verbs (instead of ...
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Is 未長未短 grammatically correct (in classical Chinese)?
Is 未長未短 grammatically correct (in classical Chinese)?
The article
http://www.hainan-today.com/2012/201201/web/201201_28.htm
uses “未長未短”:
但与大门前的“翻天覆地”相比，作为景区主体之一的“雨林谷”变化却“含蓄”许多，景观还是两年前的样子，没多没少，...
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Chinese Chengyu (Idiom): Refute somebody with his own argument
Is there a Chinese Idiom for
"Refute somebody with his own argument"?
I thought this is not quite the same as "self-contradictory" 自相矛盾.
Thank you.
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What does the phrase "足矣" mean?
I saw this phrase recently in a post online. The whole sentence is 人生得一知己足矣. I think 人生得一知己 means "getting a BFF(?) in one's life". (The only meaning of the word 知己 that I know of is BFF, but please ...
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Is “之” usually used as a possessive pronoun (attributive) in Classical Chinese?
True or False Question:
In classical Chinese,
“之” is usually used as a possessive pronoun (attributive), “其” is usually used as a subject, and “彼” is usually used as an object.
a. True b. ...
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What is the relationship between vernacular and literary Chinese?
I don't quite get the difference between and relationship of vernacular Chinese to literary Chinese.
I know that "literary Chinese" does not represents sounds, the way an alphabet does, so it is ...
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Confucius quote: what's the original?
The man who moves a mountain starts by carrying away small stones.
This is (reportedly) a quote from the Analects of Confucius. I have tried looking for 山 in the whole Wikisource text and found the ...
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Meaning of 莫逮 in Classical texts?
Some examples of 莫逮 found in Classical texts:
三國志．卷二十一．魏書．王粲傳：「昔伯牙絕絃於鍾期，仲尼覆醢于子路，痛知音之難遇，傷門人之莫逮也。」
《南齐书·周盘龙传》
形甚羸訥, 而臨軍勇果, 諸將莫逮。
《宋史•朱弁传》:“叹马角之未生,魂销雪窖;攀龙髯而莫逮,泪洒冰天。”
《荀子·尧问》
楚莊王 謀事而當羣臣莫逮, 退朝而有憂色。
I'...
Mou某♦
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Medieval Chinese Pronunciation
It's here! The A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese dictionary is finally out!
Language Log says:
A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese
All of the people ...
Mou某♦
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How can the expression "高就" be understood grammatically?
I've heard the phrase 您高就 without an interrogative rise at the end. The way it was spoken sounded like a statement, but in context it was more like a question.
Can this phrase be a question? Or was ...
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How is 青 and 苍 used in classical Chinese to denote colors?
Here is what the dictionary says about 青:
1. 深绿色或浅蓝色：～草。～苔。 Dark Blue or light green.
2. 靛蓝色：靛～。～紫。 Indigo blue.
3. 黑色：～布。～衣。 Black.
Similar case is 苍:
1. 深青色，深绿色：～翠。～天。 Dark blue or green.
2. ...
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Is the character 攜 still used in modern Chinese?
This character has in classical Chinese a very common meaning, namely "to take", like in the sentence:
攜妻子至海岸。
(To take wife and children and arrive at the sea shore).
I recognize many characters ...
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Are there online sources containing example sentences in classical Chinese with grammar annotations?
I came across a site that is called zdic and holds explanation of characters, but unfortunately no example sentences like nciku for modern Chinese.
Do you know of any source that contains sample ...
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What Chinese characters are rare in modern but common in classical Chinese?
I browsed randomly through texts written in classical Chinese, and I noticed there were a lot of Chinese characters that were frequent in classical Chinese but never or rarely being present in modern ...
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if 奥巴马 was a sentence in classical chinese, what would be its meaning? [closed]
if you look up the characters used to transscribe obama in chinese, you get the following:
奥 = mysterious
巴 = to long for
马 = horse
a simple sentence pattern in classical chinese is:
adv. V O ...
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What are some profanity words in classical Chinese?
It is easy to find profanity words for modern Chinese, but I could not find any profanity words for classical Chinese. Even such simple ones as "to fuck". Please help to promote this knowledge.
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Is there a serial verb construction in classical Chinese?
Serial verb constructions are several verbs in sequence constituting one single predicate to describe a whole event.
Example from Wikipedia:
我(I) 坐(sit) 飞机(aircraft) 从(depart) 上海(Shanghai) 到(arrive) ...
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What are common adverbs in classical Chinese?
As far as i know, adverbs in classical chinese are put right in front of the verb, whereas in English their position is quiet freely.
for instance:
並食 = to eat sitting next to each other
尽食 = to ...
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What is the average number of words necessary to read classical Chinese?
I heard classical Chinese had a limited amount of vocabularies compared to modern Chinese.
How many words one has to learn in order to acquire average reading abilities, disregarding the grammar?
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What is the function of 乃 in 子甫至乃去乎 ?
i understand:
子甫至 - you just arrived a moment ago.
去 - go.
乎 - character that makes the sentence a question.
What is the role of 乃 in this sentence?
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What is the meaning and usage of 于之 and its contraction 焉 in classical Chinese?
I've read 于 was a preposition, but there were many unrelated translations for it. 之 is as far as I know an object pronoun, like for instance him, her, them but can also mean somthing different.
How ...
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Through which processes became words in classical Chinese that tautological?
There are a lot of different words for many concepts in classical Chinese,
for instance for the personal pronouns. Due to which circumstances could this happen?
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Could you give annotated examples regarding the grammar of a sentence in classical Chinese where 爾 is used as an adverbial suffix?
爾 here used as an adverbial suffix of classical Chinese.
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What kind of typology does ancient Chinese belong to?
Modern Chinese belongs to the group of languages are isolating, just like English, but even purer. English once was not isolating but possessed flection.
Is the situation with English similar to that ...
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What's the difference between Classical Chinese and Modern Chinese?
What I mean by difference is its grammatical difference. How is Classical Chinese grammatically different from today's Chinese? Is modern Chinese's golden rule similar or equivalent to some rules in ...
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If Confucius came back to life today and scribbled a message, could most modern Chinese people understand it?
For example (and I am not sure if this is a good example), if presented the following stone inscription (石鼓文, source, c. 374 B.C.), could most modern Chinese people understand it (even vaguely)?
(...
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道 vs 途 in religious texts
As we all know, 道 is an important concept in classical Chinese, meaning "the way" in the metaphorical sense. It is a central concept in Taoism, but it was also used in Buddhism and Confucianism to ...
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What is the ancient Chinese one-character name for woman like '子’ means man?
青青子衿，悠悠我心。但为君故，沉吟至今
Here:
子，对对方的尊称
子 implicitly implies the poem is addressing a man. The poem talks about how a lady misses a man. I just wonder if there is a corresponding word for Chinese. (i.e. ...
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What character is this? (yu2)
The book "A First Course in Literature" from Shaddick uses this character:
In the vocabulary section it is explained as "TV to cross; to exceed". But I can't seem to find this character anywhere else ...
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Use of 以 in 臣以弑君、可謂仁呼
I'm not sure what this sentence means. My dictionary lists 以 as having an adverb-like function of indicating purpose or result so my best guess in translation would be "A vassal intending to kill/...
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Do 之 and 的 come from the same word?
In modern Chinese 之 is thought of as the literary genitive particle and 的 as the colloquial. In most reconstructions of Old Chinese 之 looks very similar to the way 的 is pronounced now. For example in ...
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Does anyone recognize the characters written on this home shrine? [closed]
So far I can read most of the characters on this picture, except 1 character.
The characters on the center is: 忠義 (zhong1yi4 - Tiong-gī), which
means: Loyalty and is related to the story of the three
...
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In Dao De Jing, 常 should be translated as "eternal" or as "common"?
I'm doing a translation of the Dao De Jing, using some originals and some translations to english and portuguese. I've noticed that 常 chang is almost always translated as "eternal", "fixed", "...
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What is a one-character translation of the English word "Freedom"?
I've been trying to find a single-character translation of the word "freedom," but I can't seem to find one anywhere.
The best translation I can find is, of course, 自由, which seems to be a fairly ...
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Reasons for Chinese changing from monosyllabic to disyllabic?
Classical and Middle Chinese are often considered monosyllabic languages - most words are single syllables. Modern Chinese however is considered disyllabic - most words are two syllables.
For example,...
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What does 乃 mean here?
On a particular forum is a banner reading:
此乃舊貼唯讀區
which I imagine is a highfalutin way of saying that this thread is read-only.
Now, 乃 has many senses in my dictionary. What is the sense of 乃 ...
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Included or Not Included As In "以後" "以來", etc
Check out the references below, we see that Japanese has the same problem as Chinese: Does "以X" include the word itself, eg. is 1 included in "1以上"?
As what I have seen, in old Chinese books, there ...
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黃中 = being employed as an imperial government official/having a career in the imperial government?
Many Chinese clans have a "昭穆", a kind of poem from which each generation of the clan picks a successive character as a prefix to given names, so we can easily identify people from one generation to ...
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Using 變音 when reading Classical Chinese poetry in Cantonese
The poem 《登鸛雀樓》 (Climbing Stork Tower) has the final line 更上一層樓.
If I were to read this in Cantonese, would I pronounce the final character as lau4 (without 變音), or lau2 (with 變音)?
My guess would be ...
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What is the classical Chinese meaning of 或?
I am reading a text that uses the following phrase:
或謂鄭相曰
I understand it generally to mean that
someone told to the prime minister of Zheng saying
However, I don't understand exactly what ...
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