Giải âm

Giải âm (, ) refers to Literary Vietnamese translations of texts originally written in Literary Chinese. These translations encompass a wide spectrum, ranging from brief glosses that explain individual terms or phrases to comprehensive translations that adapt entire texts for a Vietnamese reader. Works translated into Vietnamese include Chinese classics, such as the Analects (Luận ngữ uớc giải; 論語約解), as well as native Vietnamese Classical Chinese literature, such as Truyền kỳ mạn lục (Tân biên Truyền kỳ mạn lục tăng bổ giải âm tập chú; 新編傳奇漫錄增補解音集註).

Etymology The term giải âm (解音) literally meaning 'to explain sounds.' It refers to translations of Literary Chinese texts into Literary Vietnamese, with an emphasis on preserving the original syntax while providing Vietnamese equivalents for the Chinese characters.

Âm (音) is a clipping of the term quốc âm (國音; "national pronunciation"), which was used to refer to the Vietnamese language. This can be seen in the full book titles such as Tứ thư ước giải Trung Dung giải quốc âm nghĩa tăng bổ đại toàn bị chỉ (四書約解中庸解國音義增補大全備旨) or Phật tử an thiền giải quốc âm lục chương (佛子安禪觧國音六章).

Translations of texts can be referred to by several terms, including:

giải âm (解音) diễn âm (演音) ước giải (約解)

Another related term, giải nghĩa (解義), literally meaning 'to explain meaning,' refers to translations that prioritize conveying the meaning of the text without adhering to the original word order. This approach places greater emphasis on semantic meaning of the source text.

giải nghĩa (解義) diễn nghĩa (演義) thích nghĩa (釋義)

History The earliest extant Vietnamese text with bilingual translation is Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經), dated to either the twelfth or fifteenth century. This text features an Old Vietnamese translation alongside the original Classical Chinese. The Vietnamese translation uses obsolete vocabulary and linguistic features that were characteristic of the period, providing valuable insight into the development of the Vietnamese language at the time.

Another notable translation work is Quốc ngữ thi nghĩa (國語詩義; 1396) which was written by Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛; 1336–1407), it was a translation of the Classic of Poetry (詩經) into Vietnamese. It was lost during the Fourth Era of Northern Domination.

The excerpt about Hồ Quý Ly's work from the Complete Annals of Đại Việt (Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư; 大越史記全書):Books continued to be translated into Vietnamese well into the Nguyễn dynasty, with notable examples such as:

Thượng dụ huấn điều sao bản giải âm (上諭訓條抄本解音; 1834) - A giải âm translation of Huấn địch thập điều (訓迪十條), a set of ten moral and disciplinary principles issued by Emperor Minh Mạng (明命) in 1834. Chư kinh diễn âm (諸經演音; 1900) - A diễn âm translation of several Buddhist sutras such as Amitābha Sūtra (阿彌陀經), Cause and Effect Sūtra (因果經), etc. The preface of Chu dịch quốc âm ca quyết (周易國音歌訣; 1815) states,

The preface of Tứ thư ước giải (四書約解) written by Lê Quý Đôn also states that the spoken languages in Vietnam and China differ thus the need for translations was necessary:

Examples An example of simple vernacular glossing can be found in Tam thiên tự giải âm (). In this text, the Chinese characters are organized into four-character verses, with their equivalents in chữ Nôm provided in smaller print alongside.

In comparison, comprehensive translations such as the one found in Lễ ký đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (), a translation of the Book of Rites (),

In this example, the Classical Chinese term, (a humble word for "I"; literally "person of few [virtue]") is translated into Vietnamese as (a person of little virtue; ). The rest of the sentence is translated with its equivalent word. The Classical Chinese sentence reads as "I heard it", while the Vietnamese sentence reads "This person of little virtue heard that sound"

A prominent line from Classic of Filial Piety (; ),

Chưng () is an obsolete Vietnamese particle (inside Vietnamese translations) commonly used to translate Classical Chinese terms such as: , , , , etc. , originally used pronominally gained additional functions as a result of exegetical translation of Literary Chinese.

Washizawa outlines the meanings of the particle chưng as follows: +FunctionLiterary Chinese EquivalentSubject-Predicate modifierchi 之Prepositionư 於, vu 于Sentence initial particlephù 夫, phàm 凡Pronounchi 之“Meaningless particle”chi 之Definite article (-like)(kỳ 其)

Subject-Predicate modifier Here, the Classical Chinese structure A 之 B becomes 蒸 B A (similar to Modern Vietnamese, B genitive A).

Preposition

Sentence initial particle

Pronoun

Weak demonstrative

For the weak demonstrative sense, chưng is only used to translate 其 whenever 其 is placed close to 所 grammatically. Functions similarly to when chưng is used to translate phù 夫 (pronoun).

Thửa Thửa (所) is an obsolete Vietnamese particle used to translate Classical Chinese terms such as: 其 kỳ, 所 sở, 厥 quyết, etc. +FunctionLiterary Chinese EquivalentDemonstrativekỳ 其Pronounkỳ 其, quyết 厥Nominalizersở 所Placesở 所, du 攸

Demonstrative This function of the word acts similarly to English the or that.

Pronoun In this example, thửa is being used as a pronoun to refer to his words.

Another example using 厥 quyết,

Nominalizer Here thửa being used as a nominalizer which acts similarly to modern Vietnamese sự or điều.

Place

Translations of vocabulary Here are some translations of function words (Vietnamese: hư từ; 虛詞), these words may contain obsolete vocabulary that is not used in Modern Vietnamese. Some of these words may be written with different characters as chữ Nôm was never standardised. +NegationVietnameseClassical Chinesechẳng 拯不 bấtchẳng 拯無 vôchớ 渚毋 vôchớ 渚弗 phất mựa 𱐾勿 vậtchăng 庄莫 mạc +ConjunctionVietnameseClassical Chinesemà 麻而 nhi vả 𡲤且 thảbèn 卞乃 nãicũng 拱亦 diệc thì/thời 時則 tắc bằng 朋若 nhượcmặc 黙以 dĩ +PrepositionVietnameseClassical Chinesechưng 蒸於 ư bởi 𪽝自 tự lấy 𥙩以 dĩ +ParticlesVietnameseClassical Chinesevậy 丕也 dãvậy 丕矣 hĩru 𠱋乎 hồvậy 丕焉 yênthay 台哉 taiấy 意者 giả +InterrogativeVietnameseClassical Chinesesao 牢何 hà ở đâu 於兠安在 an tạisao chưng 牢蒸惡乎 ô hồ bao nhiêu 包饒幾多 kỉ đa +ModalVietnameseClassical Chineseắt 乙必 tấthợp 合當 đươngkhá 可可 khảhay 咍能 năng Gloss reading Similar to Japanese Kanbun Kundoku (漢文訓読) and Korean Kugyŏl (口訣), Vietnam also used a system to annotate Classical Chinese texts into readable Vietnamese albeit rarely. Marks such as ン and ソ were used to invert the word order to match Vietnamese grammar. The marks are also primarily placed on the right side unlike Japanese and Korean marks.

An example from the Classic of Poetry, this poem is most well known for Cao Cao's use of its four opening line in his famous poem Short Song Style (短歌行).

The sentence would be annotated with reversal marks as such,

Then the sentence would be glossed with chữ Nôm, Afterwards, the characters are then reversed,

The final reading would be:

In this example, 野 and 之苹 switch places. 野 is glossed with ngoài nội (外内), an archaic Vietnamese word meaning "wild". While 之苹 is glossed with chưng lá rau lại tiêu (蒸蘿蒌藾蕭; leaves of Chinese mugwort).

Here is another example:

The sentence would be annotated with reversal marks as such,

Then the sentence would be glossed with chữ Nôm,

Afterwards, the characters are then reversed,

The final reading would be:

Examples

Notable giải âm texts

Chỉ nam ngọc âm giải nghĩa (指南玉音解義) - earliest existing Literary Chinese - Vietnamese dictionary, has two prefaces both in Vietnamese and CC. Tứ thư ước giải (四書約解) - a translation of the Four Books, complied by Lê Quý Đôn (黎貴惇). Thi kinh giải âm (詩經解音) - a translation of the Classic of Poetry. Ngũ kinh tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (五經節要演義) - a translation of the Five Classics totalling 12 volumes, translated by Bùi Huy Bích (裴輝璧). Thi kinh đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (詩經大全節要演義) - a translation of the Classic of Poetry. Thư kinh đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (書經大全節要演義) - various translations of the chapters from the Classic of Documents. Lễ kí đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (禮記大全節要演義) - a translation of the Classic of Rites consisting of 4 volumes. Dịch kinh đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (易經大全節要演義) - a translation of the I Ching, translated by Phạm Quý Thích (范貴適). Xuân Thu đại toàn tiết yếu diễn nghĩa (春秋大全節要演義) - a translation of the Spring and Autumn Annals consisting of 6 volumes. Âm chất giải âm (隂騭解音) - a translation of Wenchang Wang's work, 陰騭文 Yīnzhìwén. Đại Việt sử ký tiệp lục tổng tự (大越史記捷綠總序) - a summary of the history of Đại Việt with Vietnamese commentary. Tam giáo nhất nguyên giải âm (三教一原解音) - a translation of Tam giáo nhất nguyên (三教一原) written by Trịnh Tuệ (鄭穗). Tử vi đẩu số giải âm 紫微斗數解音 - a translation of the Ziwei doushu methods used for divination.

Gallery

Giải âm

Bron en licentie