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Examination of Four Chinese Characters.
APRIL,
The Tartar version renders in a like manner :
French,
apkai fetcher gui ciel da dessous
be le
nialma
komme
de
à
boume.
donner.
“To give to a man that which is under the heavens (i. e. the empire)."
3d. Or again, the word e, is placed after the direct comple- ment preceding the verb, and then as we have seen above (§ II. A and B), the indirect complement is put after the verb; e. g. Mencius, Book II. page 89, line 4.
D.
un
.
yeih Ikeae π puh
不puh 以
以。
festuc-
non
am
fil
dare
yujin
homini
That is, unam festucam non dare homini, "Not to give a straw to à man."
In the same place there follows a correlative passage entirely like it in construction.
un
yerhπkeae puh ye tseu i jin
festuc-
*
non
am
取
dare
"Not to take a straw from a man." The Tartar versión
our interpretation.
homini.
agrees with
Another example. One interpreter, explaining a passage of Men-
éius, says,
E.
魚 yu
e
喻
PAS yu
生 song
pisc-
a
em fish
vitæ
to life.*
comparat
he compares
e, by the
* But if as is the custom of many with such passages, we render preposition ex, of, or from, then contrary to the opinion of the Tartar interpreters, it will be necessary to take the direct complement for the indirect, and indirect for the direct, viz.
I. Example C: ex humanite conservat cor.
$ II.
"7
19
"From or according to bumanity he preserves the heart." A: dividere homines ex divitiis.
“To divide men from riches.”
B: ex re legare hominem.
"Of or from a thing to devise a man."
E: ex pisce comparare vitam.
"From a fish to compare life."
In these examples, the Tartar interpreters, who, as every one knows, consider it a matter of conscience to give the Chinese words their genuine signification and
proper office in every place, oppose such an exchange in the regimen. We are
persuaded that P. Basile fell into an error which should be guarded against, when
wei, he renders We, the sign of the ac
in his Chinese dictionary, under
cusative by the preposition ez; e. g.
以
ex
from
e
道 chin
recto
the straight
#wei
w facere
to make
曲
keŭh
A neurtum:
the crooked.
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