Subject: Re: "common" words

From: "Alfred W. Tueting (Tüting)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2000 21:25:32 -0000

--- In [email-masked], Ivan A Derzhanski <iad@M...> wrote:
> Jorge Llambias wrote:

> > The Lojban version seems to contain much more than the English
> > one. Can "intimate" by itself really mean "familiar with one's
> > music"?
> 
> The problem is that the English version doesn't say what the Chinese says=
.
> The title is _zhi1 yin1 he2 chu4 xun2_ lit. `know sound what place seek',=

> that is, `Where to look for a connoisseur of music'.

No, it isn't sufficient to "translate" each of the two Chinese words separa=
tely, the compound's semantics indeed is "intimate friend", one has 
to know this! Yet, just reading the English equivalent means to lose the v=
ery _concrete_ meaning behind this expression, i.e. a whole story, 
which goes like this:

"¡§¦n§r¡I¤@¤ù¨L¨L¡A¦n¦ü¦¿ªe¡C¡¨ 
"Oh, how excellent! A vast expanse of flowing waters, it's like a stream, i=
ndeed!" 

¤@¤Ñ¡A§B¤ú©MÄÁ¤l´Á¨ì¤@®y¤j¤sªº¥_±¹Cª±¡A 
One day, Po-ya and Chung Tzu-ch'i went on a pleasure outing together to the=
north slope of a big mountain, 

¹J¤W¼É«B¡A¥LÌ¦b¥Û¤UÁ×«B¡A 
when all of a sudden coming into a cloudburst. After having found shelter u=
nder the precipice of a rock, 

§B¤ú¤S¦b¼u°_µ^¨Ó¡C 
Po-ya again began to play on his Ch'in. 

¶}©l¼u§Î®e³sÄò¤U¤j«Bªºµ¼Ö¡A 
Playing his instrument, he began to describe the music of the heavy rain's =
incessant pouring down, 

«á¨Ó¤S¼u¤Ï¬M¤s±Yªº¼Ö½Õ¡A 
and, later on, he went on playing to picture the melody of the mountain's l=
andslide. 

ÄÁ¤l´Á³£§¹¥þÅ¥¥X¤F¨ä¤¤ªº·N«ä¡C 
Chung Tzu-ch'i listened to his playing, getting all the deep sense from it.=

§B¤ú¬°¦¹¤Q¤À·P°Ê¡A 
Po-ya (becoming aware of this) was very moved, 

»{¬°ÄÁ¤l´Á¬O³Ì¯à»â·|¥Lªº¤ßµªº¤H¡C 
realizing that Chung Tzu-ch'i had the very ability to comprehend the sound =
of his heart. 

«á¨Ó¡AÄÁ¤l´Á¦º¤F¡A§B¤ú«Ü¶Ë¤ß¡A¤£¦b¼uµ^¡A 
Later on, when Chung Tzu-ch'i had died, Po-ya was very distressed so he wou=
ldn't play on his Ch'in any more, 

¦]¬°¥L»{¬°¨S¦³¤H¤ñÄÁ¤l´Á§óÀ´±o¥Lªºµ¼Ö¤F¡C 
since becoming aware of that there no longer would be a man like Chung Tzu-=
ch'i to understand his music. 

«á¨Ó¡A¤HÌ¤@ª½¶Ç³o¦U¡§ª¾µ¡¨¬G¨Æ¡A¨Ã§â¥¦¤ñ³ë°µ¡§ª¾¤v¡¨¡]ª¾¤ß¡Bª¾µ¡^**¦¨¬°¤=
HÌªº¬ü½Í¡C 
After that, this story of "Comprehending the music" ("chih yin") was spread=
out by the people, and the metaphorical
phrase "the one who knows me/my heart/my music" became a pretty saying *** =
among them. 

¬K¬î®É´Á¼Ö®vÌ§ó¥Îªº¼Ö¾¹¤j¬ù¦³¤G¤Q¦hºØ¡A¦pÄÁ¡B¹ª¡BÂ­¡BºÞ¨ä¥¦¡C 
In the "Spring and Autumn" period, there were played about more than twenty=
other kinds of musical instruments
like "chung" (clock), "ku" (drum), "hsiao" (flute), "kuan" (flute) etc. 

Notes: 
* in good old German like in Chinese: "schlagen"= to beat/pluck, e.g. "die =
Leier schlagen" (lit. to beat the lute) 
** added by me 
*** lit.: interesting anecdote 

(tr. A.W. Tueting)" 

> Btw, the Chinese describes Po-ya as _ren2_, not _nan2_, so {prenu}
> is more precise than {nanmu}.

Again no, since one has to consider the meaning of ren2 ¤H *in this context=
*: it isn't just "person", but "man" (human male)! One cannot stick 
to *single* words meaning.

Thanks for the comments of you all - and I agree. But still any advice on=
"one day" (¤@¤Ñ)?

co'o mi'e .aulun.