Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 240

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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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