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chinapage
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Joined: 03 Jun 2002
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Location: New Jersey, U.S.
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 Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 12:59 pm Post subject: Omar Khayyam, the great Persian Poet |
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Omar Khayyam, by anyone account, was one of the World's greatest poet and mathematician.
His poetry is much admired by the Chinese, and is easily understood by the Chinese. He writes like a Chinese poet. The subject of his poetry is also the favorite suject of many Chinese poets. Among the foreign poets, he is perhaps the most 'Chinese.'
His poetry is widely known and has been translated into many languages, including Chinese.
I have recently come across a remarkable Chinese translation of Omar Khayyam by Professor Kerson Huang, a professor emeritus of physics from M.I.T. The translation is truly a masterpiece.
http://www.chinapage.com/poetry9.html#eng
Read and enjoy.
Ming |
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Aolung
Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1037
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| Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 7:37 am Post subject: |
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Dear Ming,
thanks for pointing us to the page and this poem: it is translated (no, conveyed!) very beautifully and with great skill.
一單疏食一壺漿
一卷詩書樹下涼
卿為阿儂歌瀚海
茫茫瀚海即天堂
Some of the vocabulary are, IMHO, not too common, e.g. _jiang1_ for "wine", _qing1_ for "darling/you", _nong2_ for "I" (or is it meant for "you"??).
Can anybody explain the 3rd line?
Alfred |
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michiru
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 8:20 am Post subject: Re. |
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| Aolung wrote: |
一單疏食一壺漿
一卷詩書樹下涼
卿為阿儂歌瀚海
茫茫瀚海即天堂
Some of the vocabulary are, IMHO, not too common, e.g. _jiang1_ for "wine", _qing1_ for "darling/you", _nong2_ for "I" (or is it meant for "you"??).
Can anybody explain the 3rd line?
Alfred |
My first understanding is that: "You sing the wilderness for me." 儂 is the first pronoun.
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Neifion - Vodopan - Neiptin - Ποσειδον - Neptn - Neptunus - Nettuno - かいおうせい - Nenar - Neptunusz |
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Aolung
Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1037
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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Michiru,
mine too - yet the syntax remains somewhat fuzzy for me: what is 阿 for?
Thanks anyway
Alfred |
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michiru
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 8:19 pm Post subject: Re. |
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| Aolung wrote: | Michiru,
mine too - yet the syntax remains somewhat fuzzy for me: what is 阿 for?
Thanks anyway
Alfred |
I should not say 儂 means "I".
It's 阿儂 that stands for the first pronoun. Single 儂 means second pronoun.
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Aolung
Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1037
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 4:08 am Post subject: |
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Dear Michiru:
| Quote: | I should not say 儂 means "I".
It's 阿儂 that stands for the first pronoun. Single 儂 means second pronoun |
This is different from what one of my dictionaries says, there, 儂 (without the 阿!) is given as 2nd p. (dialect) and 1st p. (poetry). Will have to do a search more thorough in consulting all my dictionaries as soon as my time allows  (Yet, this doesn't mean that in any way I doubt your better knowledge.)
Thanks
Alfred |
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chinapage
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Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Posts: 3548
Location: New Jersey, U.S.
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Aolung:
The word 儂 is the intimate form of you. (It is analogous to vous and tu in French.) In the Shanghai dialect, the word is used by everyone every day all the time.
Obviously, the word is not used in a business or formal occasion. But among friends, it must be used.
To address a friend as 你 is rather rude.
The word is more colloquial than formal. Its use here by Prof. Huang is rather brilliant, IMHO.
The word 阿 adds more intimacy.
For young friend (not relatives) the boy is addressed to as 哥 and the girl is addressed as 妹 , even though they are not brothers and sisters.
If they are more intimate friends, then it becomes
阿哥 and 阿妹.
Ming |
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Aolung
Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1037
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Ming:
| Quote: | | The word 儂 is the intimate form of you. (It is analogous to vous and tu in French.) In the Shanghai dialect, the word is used by everyone every day all the time. |
That's what my dictionaries refer to with "dialect". Yet, in the context given, I read it as 1st person (=I) which seems to be the use in poetry style. (BTW, French _tu_ and _vous_ are very different: the first one is familiar, whereas the latter formal/polite speech - albeit in French also used in addressing the parents, and sometimes still used between husband and wife. About half a century back, also in Hungarian the formal form was used to address parents. And I also remember my young mother addressing my grandmother this polite way in German too.)
What then is 卿?? I imagined that it's a term to refer to 2nd person sing. as it is also a term "of endearment" 
| Quote: | The word 阿 adds more intimacy.
For young friend (not relatives) the boy is addressed to as ? and the girl is addressed as ? , even though they are not brothers and sisters. |
Yes, I understand - I also remember the term 阿媽
Alfred |
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chinapage
Site Admin
Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Posts: 3548
Location: New Jersey, U.S.
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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Aolung:
The word 儂 appears twice in this song from the Yuan Dynasty
http://www.chinapage.com/poem/farpoem.html#yuan
The original tone was long lost; but it is still being sung as a love song.
Ming |
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Aolung
Joined: 10 Jul 2002
Posts: 1037
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Ming:
你儂我儂 忒煞情多 !!
What exactly does this mean?!
(ni nong wo nong...tuishaqingduo)
you and I too sentimental (???)
So, "nong" in both senses?
Alfred |
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chinapage
Site Admin
Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Posts: 3548
Location: New Jersey, U.S.
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2003 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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It simply says "you dear" or "my honey"
Intimate way to refer to one's lover. |
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