Editing Chinese Names
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− | The '''Chinese names''' of various people and dragons are presented in | + | The '''Chinese names''' of various people and dragons are usually presented in alphabetic transliteration. |
− | In general, traditional Chinese names consist of a single- | + | Chinese is a tonal language, and English spellings often do not convey the tones. Thus, one set of English letters can have many meanings. |
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+ | In general, traditional Chinese names consist of a single-character family name followed by a personal name, which may consist of one or two characters. Two-character personal names, especially for males, often begin with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_name generational indicator]. Each written character is pronounced as a single syllable. | ||
== Humans == | == Humans == | ||
− | Outside the Imperial family, the Chinese names of humans are | + | Outside the Imperial family, the Chinese names of humans are often given in a two-part format. It is unclear whether this represents a two-part personal name, or a family name followed by a one-part (or truncated) personal name. |
=== The Imperial family === | === The Imperial family === | ||
− | + | In the case of the [[Jiaqing Emperor]], "Jiaqing" (嘉慶) is his regnal title. His two-part personal name was Yongyan; in his youth, it was written as 永琰, but upon his ascension to the throne, he changed the first character to the homonym 顒. "Yong" is the indicator for his generation of the family, as can be seen by comparison to the name of his brother [[Prince Yongxing]]. | |
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− | In the case of the [[Jiaqing Emperor]], "Jiaqing" (嘉慶) is his regnal title. His two-part personal name was Yongyan; in his youth, it was written as 永琰, but upon his ascension to the throne, he changed the first | ||
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− | + | The emperor's sons, [[Prince Miankai]] and [[Prince Mianning]], are also referred to by two-part personal names. "Ming" is the indicator for their generation of the family. | |
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== Dragons == | == Dragons == | ||
− | Chinese dragons have three-part names | + | Chinese dragons usually have a three-part name, although the structure does not exactly mirror that of human names. |
− | In | + | In a blog post, Naomi Novik provided the following information; she linked to some specific characters but did not include them: |
<blockquote>All dragon names have three syllables, beginning with [http://zhongwen.com/d/192/x115.htm Lung] [龍], meaning "dragon". The second syllable denotes the breed; in the case of Celestials, [http://zhongwen.com/d/164/x209.htm Tien] [天], meaning "sky" or "heaven". The third is individual; Temeraire's name is [http://zhongwen.com/d/178/x187.htm Xiang] [祥], meaning auspicious (I am not sure this is the actual character I worked from initially, though -- it seems the closest one I could find on zhongwen.com). Another name used is [http://zhongwen.com/d/165/x254.htm Chuan] [全], meaning perfect. And [http://zhongwen.com/d/172/x252.htm Mei] [美] means beautiful.</blockquote> | <blockquote>All dragon names have three syllables, beginning with [http://zhongwen.com/d/192/x115.htm Lung] [龍], meaning "dragon". The second syllable denotes the breed; in the case of Celestials, [http://zhongwen.com/d/164/x209.htm Tien] [天], meaning "sky" or "heaven". The third is individual; Temeraire's name is [http://zhongwen.com/d/178/x187.htm Xiang] [祥], meaning auspicious (I am not sure this is the actual character I worked from initially, though -- it seems the closest one I could find on zhongwen.com). Another name used is [http://zhongwen.com/d/165/x254.htm Chuan] [全], meaning perfect. And [http://zhongwen.com/d/172/x252.htm Mei] [美] means beautiful.</blockquote> | ||
− | Thus, for dragons, the first | + | Thus, for dragons, the first character is a species indicator, the second character is a breed indicator, and the third is the true personal name. |
=== Breed names === | === Breed names === | ||
The breed indicator is probably the closest analogue to a human family name, especially for [[Celestial]]s which truly comprise a small and closely interrelated family. | The breed indicator is probably the closest analogue to a human family name, especially for [[Celestial]]s which truly comprise a small and closely interrelated family. | ||
− | The ''Qin'' for [[Imperial]]s is probably 秦, which was the name of the first dynasty of China. Its literal meaning is "ash tree" | + | The ''Qin'' character for [[Imperial]]s is probably 秦, which was the name of the first dynasty of China. Its literal meaning is "ash tree". |
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− | + | The ''Yu'' character in the name of [[Lung Yu Ping]], a [[Jade]] dragon, is probably 玉, which means "jade". | |
− | The | ||
− | + | The ''Shen'' character in the name of [[Shen-Lung]] "Spiritual Dragons" is probably 神, which represents a general concept of "spirit" or "consciousness". | |
− | + | The name of [[Lung Li Po]] is probably based on that of the historical Chinese (human) poet [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Po Li Po]]. If so, then the ''Li'' (李, "plum") character may not really indicate a particular dragon breed. | |
− | + | == Transliteration issues== | |
+ | In a comment to Novik's post, a reader pointed out that Novik combines two inconsistent transliteration systems, using Temeraire's Chinese name as an example: "<b>Lung Tien Hsiang</b> is how the name would have been romanized in Wade-Giles. <b>Long Tian Xiang</b> is how it would be romanized in Pinyin." | ||
− | + | According to other readers elsewhere, Novik oversimplifies the Wade-Giles romanizations in a way that may affect the intended pronunciations. | |
== References== | == References== | ||
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[[Category:A-Z]] | [[Category:A-Z]] | ||
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