ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2342 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2342 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 19 Sep 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for a Chinese name that might be given to a white woman living in China during the Yuan Dynasty (c1270-1368), possibly as a concubine after her merchant father met an untimely demise. Failing that, you asked for a Chinese feminine name with as an element. We researched both options, assuming that you refer to ethnic Chinese (Han) rather than Mongols who ruled and lived in China during the Yuan Dynasty. We would like to apologize for the length of time it has taken us to finish this report. Chinese naming is a new area for us, so it took longer than usual to get the necessary information and organize it. We need to begin with some background on the Chinese writing system. It is very different from alphabetic systems most Westerners use. Even today each written Chinese character represents one syllable and each possible syllable is meaningful. These characters are traditionally written in columns from top to bottom, one character per line, with columns written from right to left. There was no punctuation to identify sentences, phrases, or polysyllabic words. Even today literate Chinese think of characters, rather than words, as their basic language unit. To complicate matters, each syllable is a pronunciation for many different written characters, each with its own definition. Chinese has many more homophones (words that sound the same but have different definitions, such as and ) than English. Therefore, sound often is not enough to identify which written character is intended. Han often need to see written characters to understand a spoken word. However, a written character does not completely indicate pronunciation because the same writing system is used for many different dialects, and as a basis for other written Asian languages. Unfortunately, we cannot use Chinese characters here. We are limited to romanization (representing Chinese characters with Roman letters) for various reasons. You will also need to use such a representation if you decide to register a Chinese name with the College of Arms. [1] Romanization makes it difficult to distinguish between homophones, which makes it difficult to identify which syllables and written Chinese characters go with which name. We try to reduce this difficulty by translating each syllable to help you identify exactly which Chinese character is intended. (If you need more help identifying written Chinese characters after you select your name, ask us to provide an image of the appropriate characters.) Syllable translations listed here do not necessarily give the real meaning of a polysyllabic word. For example, literally translates as "green skin," but it actually means "rogue." We cannot translate many polysyllabic names because none of our current members reads Chinese. However, we can usually translate monosyllabic names because we only need a Chinese-English dictionary (many syllable meanings have not changed significantly since ancient times). Similarly, we also can translate some disyllabic names because their syllables often do not form a non-name phrase. Another difficulty is that there are several incompatible systems of romanization. The two most common modern transliteration conventions are Wade-Giles and Pinyin. Both conventions are based on modern Mandarin dialect. They are not interchangeable because, in many cases, they use different letters to represent the same sound, as you'll see in names we list later in this letter. We list Wade-Giles romanizations first, followed by Pinyin romanizations in brackets ([]). However, we modified these romanization conventions slightly to be more consistent with Chinese written characters. We write each syllable as a separate word. (Wade Giles romanization typically hyphenates polysyllabic names and Pinyin romanizations typically joins polysyllabic names into a single word.) Moreover, common Chinese sounds are quite different from common sounds in English and other major European languages. Therefore, all standard romanizations use letters and letter combinations that are pronounced very differently than you probably expect. We are not able to provide a medieval pronunciation guide at this time, but we listed pronunciations based on modern Mandarin. [21] Our pronunciation information includes numbers (1, 2, 3, or 4) at the end of most Chinese syllables listed here. These numbers, usually superscripted in word-processed documents, indicate a syllable's spoken tone. At their simplest, Tone 1 is high level Tone 2 is high rising Tone 3 is low dipping Tone 4 is high falling Tone combinations in polysyllabic words can be much more complicated. However, such tone combinations can be _roughly_ approximated by treating each syllable as a separate entity. You can learn more about tones and pronunciation, through the web addresses below. (There are no blank spaces in these addresses. If your font underlines web addresses, a space that looks blank is actually a single underscore character.) http://www.wellgot.ca/phonetic/preface-e.htm http://icg.harvard.edu/~pinyin/ http://www.wannalearn.com/Academic_Subjects/World_Languages/Chinese We also want to provide some background in Han naming conventions. Our information indicates the general conventions changed very slowly in period, and most of them were still in effect in the early 20th Century. [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] A Han with any social, civic, or military status would consistently use an inherited family name, a [xing4], even in early SCA period. Since ancient times, family names come first in a Han name, even before a title or form of respectful address. [11] Family names are used more consistently than any other name or title when referring to a person. An authentic Han name begins with a family name. There are about 600 Han hsing we can confirm as being used before 1600. [3] The five most common hsing at the end of the Yuan Dynasty were: [4] [Zhang1], which translates as, "to draw a bow" Pronounced \djahng\ [Zhao4], which translates as, "to hasten to, a surname" Pronounced \djow\, to rhyme with [Li3], which translates as, "plum, plum tree" Pronounced \lee\ [Liu2], which translates as, "an axe, to kill, a family name" Pronounced \lyoh\ [Wang2], which translates as, "prince, king" Pronounced \wahng\ Although hsing originally had meaning, by early SCA period a hsing's meaning was much less important than relationships it indicated. [12] In addition, hsing were inherited in period. Therefore, a woman who inherited a hsing that translates as archer was most probably not an archer. On the other hand, the meaning of a Han given name was very important. Meaning was much more important than sound. Most given names were auspicious, a few were descriptive, and some were conferred to honor an ancestor or patron. Feminine names typically indicated the bearer had traits desirable in a wife or concubine. Alternatively, feminine names referred to a beautiful or precious object. There are several primary types of Han given names that a woman used in her lifetime. A Han of any social status had both a [ming2] and [zi4]. [13] A ming is a formal or official name, the first of which was typically given by her parents in infancy or early childhood. A tzu is a style, informal, or familiar name by which she was typically known outside the home. An uncle, elder brother, or close family friend typically conferred her first tzu as she neared adulthood. A tzu is not a nickname or epithet. A woman's tzu might be a variant of her ming, or it might be completely unrelated. People often changed their ming, tzu, or both if the names became inappropriate or outdated. However, it appears that a person did not have more than one ming and tzu at a time. Ming and tzu [13] consisted of one or two syllables. Our examples indicate disyllabic names are at least slightly more common than monosyllabic names. Disyllabic names can form a phrase, for example, to indicate a woman is beautiful and loyal. Sometimes the syllables of a disyllabic name were repetitive, either using the same syllable twice (for example, , meaning "red, red") or using two synonymous syllables (for example, in which both syllables mean "virtuous, pure"). Many Han also had one or more [hao4], which they would also change whenever appropriate. A hao is a fancy name, literary name, or short title used as a name. It is typically short, but often included more than two syllables. Many hao appear to be epithets or descriptive phrases. A few hao appear to be nicknames or sobriquets, but they apparently were not diminutives of ming or tzu. Hao were typically conferred by friends, colleagues, or relatives. A few hao were truly titles conferred by a civilian or military authority. In some cases a person was better known to the general public by her hao, than by her tzu or ming. Which given name was used, if any, depended on many factors. For example, a Han would not use a person's ming when addressing her directly or, usually, when she held higher social status. However, a hao could be more appropriate in some cases than a tzu. In addition, Han apparently did not chain together given names. Instead, each given name was used singly, with the family name and, possibly, with a title such as "lady." For example, an eighth century woman was and is mostly known as , but she was also called and could have been called or . (The colon indicates an umlaut, or two dots, over the preceding character and the ^ indicates a hachek over the preceding character.) is the family name this woman inherited from her father. is a hao, meaning "precious imperial consort," that was a title used as a name. was the woman's ming or tzu, meaning "white jade ring or bracelet." is a title and form of address meaning "lady." Now for specific information about your name requests. This letter addresses your second option first to limit redundancy and to provide a sense of suitable meanings for feminine Han names. Our current examples include several feminine names with a flower element. Two medieval fictional names include "Lotus," transliterated as [Lian2] and pronounced \lyen\. We believe "Lotus" was also used by real women before 1600, but our historical examples were used after 1600. None of our feminine flower name examples is from the Yuan Dynasty, but that might be due to our limited number of examples. In addition, our examples suggest "Orchid" is more common in feminine names than "Lotus." You might use "Lotus" (or "Orchid") alone, or combine it with a syllable meaning "fragrant," "beautiful," "graceful," "virtuous," or a suitable color. Examples of historical, feminine, flower ming and tzu include: [4,5,13,22] [Jing3 Lan2] (1605-1676) meaning "beautiful or admirable orchid." Pronounced \dyeeng lahn\ translates as "bright, beautiful; scenery, a view; prospects; circumstances; admire, respect." translates as "orchideous plant." [Jiong2 Ying1] (15th C) meaning "precious flower." Pronounced \dyung yeeng\, with \u\ as in . translates as "brilliant, precious." translates as "flower, brave, superior." [Xiu4 Ying1] (ca. 5th C) meaning "beautiful flower." Pronounced \hyoh yeeng\, with both \y\s as consonants and with lots of friction on the \hy\. translates as "ripening; luxuriant; beautiful, elegant." [Ying1] translates as "flower, brave, superior." [Hua1 Rui3] (10th C) meaning "flower heart." Pronounced \hwah Rway\ [14] translates as "flower." translates as "flower center, organs at a flower's center." [Hui4] (4th C) meaning "orchid." Pronounced \hway\ translates as the name of a marsh orchid. [Ruo4 Lan2] (4th C) meaning "like an orchid." Pronounced \Rwaw lahn\, where \Rwaw\ rhymes with translates as "to be as; if; as to; to follow; to be in sympathy; with; much." translates as "orchideous plant." [Lan2] (5th C) meaning "orchid." Pronounced \lahn\ translates as "orchideous plant." [Li4 Hua2] (6th C) meaning "elegant/graceful flower." Pronounced \lee hwah\ translates as "antelopes; elegant; graceful; beautiful." translates as "flower; flowery; variegated; China." [De2 Hui4] (very late 16th C or early 17th C) meaning "virtuous orchid." Pronounced \d@ hway\ where \@\ represents the sound of 'a' in and translates as "moral excellence, goodness, power, quality, virtue." translates as the name of a marsh orchid. [Yun2 Ying1] (9th C), apparently meaning "flowery cloud." Pronounced \yu:n yeeng\ where \u:\ is pronounced as the \ue\ in Dueseldorf translates as "clouds." translates as "flower, brave, superior." Our fictional flower name examples come from a translation of a period Chinese novel. Scholars indicate this novel accurately reflects domestic life among wealthy families in large, late 16th C Chinese cities. We do not currently have historical examples of these names, so we can't recommend them without reservation. However, these fictional names appear consistent with trends we deduce from our historical name examples. Translated, feminine, flower names from this novel include: [6] Gold Lotus, [Jin1 Lian2] in romanized Chinese Pronounced \dyeen lyen\ where \y\ is a consonant As You Like It (the Chinese name of a specific flower) Sunflower Apricot Blossom Autumn Aster Cinnamon Bud Fragrant Orchid Lotus Petal Orchid Bud Pear Blossom Summer Blossom Waterlily We have romanized syllables one of these fictional names. We cannot currently provide romanizations or Chinese characters for some of these names because we can not yet identify which synonymous syllables were used. However, if you choose a name element from this novel, we will provide what little information we have to identify the appropriate written Chinese character. As we noted earlier, you might want to combine "Lotus" with a color element. Examples of similarly constructed, historical, feminine ming and tzu include: [4,5,13,22] [Jin1 Luan2] (8th-9th C) meaning "golden bells." Pronounced \dyeen lwahn\ translates as "gold." translates as "little bells; imperial ears; a term of respect." [Hong2 Hong2] (9th C) meaning "red, red" Pronounced \hung hung\, with \u\ as in translates as "red." [Hong2 Fu4] (7th C) meaning "red flicker," apparently based on a dyed yak tail the name-bearer always carried. Pronounced as \hung foo\, with \u\ as in and \oo\ as in translates as "red." translates as "to shake off; to brush; to oppose." [Cai3 Luan2] (4th-5th C) meaning "colorful\ornamental pheasant." Pronounced \tsy lwahn\, with \y\ as in translates as "gay-colored, ornamental, elegant, lucky, clouds." translates as "argus pheasant, bells, imperial." [Cui4 Ping2] (9th C) meaning "blue screen." Pronounced \tsway peeng\. translates as the "king-fisher; blue." translates as "a screen; to cover; protection." Some period, fictional, Chinese, feminine names also included a color element. As we indicated earlier, these names seem consistent with our historical name examples, but we do not currently have examples of real women who used these names. In addition to the name Gold Lotus above, our fictional examples include: [6] Golden Jewel Golden Willow Little Gold Little Silver Silver Bird Silver Bud As we previously indicated, we do not have transliterations or Chinese characters for some of these names. We also researched a name Han might give a white woman. That research led to some observations that might affect your persona development and to a few name suggestions. Very few people traveled the entire distance between Europe and China before 1600. Most of those travelers were masculine, 16th Century missionaries and merchants. Academy members currently have no information to indicate that women traveled the full distance except, possibly, as servants or slaves. This lack of information might be because our research in this area is new or because women of status did not undertake such a trip. [15,16,17,18] Further, the Yuan Dynasty was one of foreign occupation, when Mongols ruled Han. Han were notably xenophobic during such times. With very few exceptions, Han men very carefully protected their home life from foreign influences at such times. It seems very unlikely that a Yuan Dynasty Han household would include a non-Han woman, except possibly as a slave or low-status servant. Han were much more interested in foreign people, cultures, and goods when their government was truly domestic and fairly stable. (The 7th and early 8th Century, specifically the Golden Age of the T'ang Dynasty, appears to be the era when period Han were least xenophobic.) [7,9,10,16,17] All our examples of names that Han gave to Europeans, and most examples for other foreigners, are masculine. Those examples indicate Han typically gave a foreigner a hao that sounded similar to the foreigner's native name. Otherwise, Han usually gave a foreigner a hao that was a descriptive title. In a few cases Han gave, or the foreigner adopted, a name that looked and sounded like a native Han name. Feminine examples identified to date seem similar, but we do not have most of the their native names: [4,5,22] [A1 Shi4 Hui1] (1608-1692) apparently meaning "key household member." Pronounced \ah shR hway\ is a prefix used as a sound before a pet name, surname or a title indicating family or close relationship. translates as "house, home, household." translates as "to move, to shake, to rouse, to brush away." [A1 Shi4 Ge1] (early 17th C) meaning "a senior woman in the household." Pronounced \ah shR g@\ is a prefix used as a sound before a pet name, surname or a title indicating family or close relationship. translates as "house, home, household." translates as "an elder brother." [Lu4 Fan2] (16th-17th C). Pronounced \loo fahn\ with \oo\ as in translates as "happiness, salary," and is identical to an inherited, Han family name. is a name for a species of Artemisia (sage brush). [Mai4 Lai2 Di2] (14th C) apparently meaning "one who prepares others for the future." Pronounced \my ly dee\ with \y\ as in translates as "to step, to go." translates "as, to come, the future." translates as "to follow, docile, to lead, to teach, to intimate to." [Nai3 Ma3 Zhen1] (13th C) apparently meaning "true and valuable person," if one considers how highly Mongol's valued horses. Pronounced \ny mah dj@n\, with \y\ as in translates as "this, here, precisely, but, then, thereupon, you, your." translates as "horse, mare, stallion, pony." translates as "true, truly, genuine." [Bo2 Yan2 Hu1 Du1] (m1337), a hao for Mongol name . Pronounced \by yahn khoo doo\, with \y\ as in and \oo\ as in translates as "a father's elder brother, a senior, an earl, a leader." [23] translates as "color, the countenance." translates as "to disregard, confusion, suddenly." translates as "the capital, all, full." [San1 Niang2 Zi3] (d1612) meaning "third wife." Pronounced \sahn nyahng dzz\; the \y\ here is a consonant translates as "three, third." translates as "a mother, a lady." is a suffix. It also translates as "son, boy, sir, seed." [Da2 Na4 Shi1 Li3] (14th C), a hao for Mongol name . Pronounced \dah nah shR lee\ translates as "vetch, entangled, to answer." translates as "to hand up, to keep, to pay." translates as "to lose, to omit, to fail." translates as "a hamlet, one third of a mile." [Wan2 Zhe3 Hu1 Du1] (14th C), a hao for Mongol name . Pronounced \wahn dj@ hoo doo\, with \oo\ as in translates as "to finish, to complete, to settle." is a suffix. translates as "to disregard, confusion, suddenly." translates as "the capital, all, full." We based some hao suggestions on these and other examples, and on , the European name you've been using in the Society. However, Chinese dialects apparently do not include a sound very similar to the 'r' in . Consistent with modern Chinese practice, these suggestions therefore drop that sound or substitute it with a somewhat similar sound. [Ren2 Bei3 Cai2] meaning "talented Northern person." Pronounced \Ren bay tsy\, with \y\ as in translates as "a person, a man." translates as "North." translates as "talent, ability, strength, endowments." [Lai4 Pei4 Zhai2] meaning "give/make a strong home." Pronounced \ly pei djy\, with \y\ as in translates as "to give, to bestow." translates as "to bank up with earth, to strengthen." translates as "family dwelling." [Lai4 Pei Zhai2] meaning "always very kind." Pronounced \ly pei djy\, with \y\ as in translates as "to rely upon, to trust to, to accuse, to repudiate." translates as "great, vast, largely." translates as "a marsh, to soak, kindness, favour." [Wa2 Pei4 Kai4] meaning "very loyal woman." Pronounced \wah pay ky\, where \ky\ rhymes with translates as "beautiful woman, a baby." translates as "great, vast, largely." translates as "generous, loyal, noble-minded, worried." We hope this letter is useful. Please write us again if you have any questions or need Chinese written characters for one of our examples or suggestions. Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Blaise de Cormeilles assisted in researching and writing this letter. For the Academy, Yin Mei Li and Aryanhwy merch Catmael 19 September 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Endnotes and References [1] Romanizing Chinese homophones also results in a Society registration byproduct possibly unique to names that are natively written with Chinese characters. Such a name is registered in its romanized form, and the intent was to register one unique name. However, the same string of sounds can often represent two or more very different Asian names. Hence, the registered name effectively includes and protects all same-sounding names, at least under one Romanization convention. [2] Hucker, Charles O. China's Imperial Past. Stanford: Stanford University Press: Stanford (1976), pp438-439. [3] Chao, Sheau-yueh J. In Search of Your Asian Roots, Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames. Clearfield Co./Geneological Publishing Co.: Baltimore, Maryland (2000). Uses modified Wade-Giles, but cross-references Pinyin. [4] Giles, Herbert A. A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, in two volumes. Literature House: Taipei, Taiwan (1962). Republication of original edition, Bernard Quaritch; Kelly Walsh Ltd: London; Shanghai (1898). Uses Wade-Giles [5] Goodrich, L. Carrington & Chaoying Fang (editors). Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368-1644, The Ming Biographical Project of the Association for Asian Studies, in two volumes. Columbia University Press: New York and London (1976). Uses modified Wade-Giles [6] Miall, Bernard, translator. Chin P'ing Mei, The Adventurous History of Hsi Min and His Six Wives. Perigree Books: New York (1982). Authorship attributed to Hsiao Hsiao-sheng. Story was apparently first mentioned in Yu:en Hung-tao's list, composed 1595-1600, and its first known printing was a little after 1609. Although the tale is set in 12th C, scholars indicate it accurately reflects Ming dynasty (16th C China) domestic life. [7] van Gulik, R[obert] H[ans]. Sexual Life in Ancient China. E.J. Brill: Leiden, Netherlands/Barnes and Noble (1961/1996). [8] Lin Yutang. My Country and My People. John Day Company: New York (1935). [9] Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China, about 15 volumes. New York: Cambridge University Press (1954-). Especially, but not exclusively, The Social Background. Part 1: Language and Logic in Traditional China, Vol 7, by Christoph Harbsmeier. [10] Watson, Rubie S. and Patricia Buckley Ebrey. Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society. Uinversity of California Press: Berkeley (1991). [11] Modern Chinese often conform with Western convention by writing their family name last, when they live among or frequently deal with Westerners. However, within China and Taiwan, they usually conform to ancient Chinese conventions and write their family name first, like their ancestors who lived in our period. [e.g. 2,8] [12] Han changed and added names throughout their lives for specific reasons. Apparently Han were least likely to change a family name because the family was much more important than an individual. Entering a man's household as wife, concubine, or maid was not a reason, in and of itself, to change a family name. [4,5,6,7,8,10] [13] In Wade-Giles transliteration, the 'u' in (and in and ) should be written with a breve above it. A is a rounded, inverted hachek (or a crescent-like shape). [14] This Chinese \R\ is similar to one of two common American \r\ pronunciations. Many Americans pronounce it with the tip of the tongue curled up and back, almost touching the roof of the mouth. This pronunciation is similar to the Chinese sound that we've represented by \R\. To make a good approximation to \R\, just curl your tongue back a bit further than normal and increase the friction; the result should sound almost like \zh\. [15] Traveling any part of the Silk or Spice Routes was arduous, dangerous, and time consuming. Missionaries, merchants, and adventurers typically went only part of the distance, and left their family members in a home base. This strategy better ensured that heirs would reach adulthood to continue family names, support aged parents, and care for infirm family members. In merchant cases, this strategy also protected important parts of a business and preserved key contacts in the home base. However, goods traveled the entire distance because they were traded many times along a route between merchants. [16,17,18] [16] Frank, Irene B. and David M. Brownstone. The Silk Road, A History. Facts on File: New York (1986). [17] Smith, Bradley and Wan-go Weng. China, A History in Art. Doubleday: (1972), pp113-151, 193-207 [18] Guy, John S. Oriental Trade Ceramics in South-East Asian, Ninth to Sixteenth Centuries. Oxford University Press: Oxford (1990), pp1-44. [19] Cowie, A. P., and A. Evison. Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press: Oxford (1986). Uses Pinyin and very small font. Available in most bookstores with translation dictionaries. [20] Weiger, L. Chinese Characters: their origin, etymology, history, classification, and signification. A thorough study from Chinese documents, translated into English by L. Davrout, 2nd ed. Paragon Book Reprint and Dover Publications: New York (1965). ISBN 0-486-21321-8. Reprint of original 2nd ed. published by Catholic Mission Press, 1927. Uses modified Wade-Giles and includes a dictionary by transliterated syllable and by Chinese written character. Available in many libraries. [21] McCawley, James D. The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters. University of Chicago Press: Chicago (1984). Includes a pronunciation guide geared to Pinyin. [22] Dates listed in parentheses usually indicate the lifetime of the name's bearer. The names were, in most cases, given or adopted in adulthood. [23] Subject Chinese character is romanized as in older dictionaries that use Wade-Giles romanizations. Based on this and similar names, and on some period poetry, the pronunciation \by\ associated with is correct for this name example. However, this same Chinese character is usually now romanized as [Bo2]. Such a change can be explained in several ways, but we do not yet have enough expertise to identify applicable explanations. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 10 Nov 2001: Fixed two typos.