108
JOHN MCCOY
proto-Wu. We could safely make a preliminary approximation now from a survey of Chao's materials, but scholars are presently working intensively on proto-Wu and soon we may be able to use their results. What we ultimately have will be an amalgamation of two bodies of data, comparative and textual, with the evidence from one source supplementing the other.
To illustrate some of the points made above I have chosen six of the Mountain Songs from the Feng Meng-lung collection. These were selected as typical in structure and language yet relatively simple to translate. I have given an English version as close as possible to the Chinese meaning. Any attempt at this stage to capture the rhythm and the double meanings in a single translation would be doomed to failure. The most I strive for here is to give the primary meaning in my translation and the secondary meanings in the subsequent notes. I know that I am missing many of the secondary meanings because they are just not the sort of thing that turns up in dictionaries; however, from time to time a native speaker is good enough to point out to me some of the puns and hidden meanings which I have missed. I hope that my version will be of help in highlighting the linguistic points under discussion and to capture some of the flavor of these poems. In the notes (M) denotes Mandarin and (S) Shanghai dialect.
I.
姐道我郎呀,
爾若半夜來時沒要捉後門敲,
只好捉我場上雞來拔子毛,
假做子黄鼠郎偷雞引得角角哩叫.
好教我穿子單裙出來趕野貓。
The girl says, 'My sweetheart,
If you should come at midnight, don't give a rap at the back door.
It would be better to grab a chicken in our yard and pull out some feathers.
Pretend you are a weasel stealing chickens and make them let out a cackle.
This will be enough to get me running out in my slip to chase away the wild cat.'
108
JOHN MCCOY
proto-Wu. We could safely make a preliminary approximation now from a survey of Chao's materials, but scholars are presently working intensively on proto-Wu and soon we may be able to use their results. What we ultimately have will be an amalgama- tion of two bodies of data, comparative and textual, with the evidence from one source supplementing the other.
To illustrate some of the points made above I have chosen six of the Mountain Songs from the Feng Meng-lung collection. These were selected as typical in structure and language yet re- latively simple to translate. I have given an English version as close as possible to the Chinese meaning. Any attempt at this stage to capture the rhythm and the double meanings in a single translation would be doomed to failure. The most I strive for here is to give the primary meaning in my translation and the secondary meanings in the subsequent notes. I know that I am missing many of the secondary meanings because they are just not the sort of thing that turns up in dictionaries; however, from time to time a native speaker is good enough to point out to me some of the puns and hidden meanings which I have missed. I hope that my version will be of help in highlighting the linguistic points under discussion and to capture some of the flavor of these poems. In the notes (M) denotes Mandarin and (S) Shanghai dialect.
I.
姐道我郎呀,
爾若半夜來時沒要捉後門敲,
只好捉我場上雞來拔子毛,
假做子黄鼠郎偷雞引得角角哩叫.
好教我穿子單裙出來趕野貓。
The girl says, My sweetheart,
If you should come at midnight, don't give a rap at the
back door.
It would be better to grab a chicken in our yard and pull
out some feathers.
Pretend you are a weasel stealing chickens and make them
let out a cackle.
This will be enough to get me running out in my slip to
chase away the wild cat.'
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