The Cantonese Made Easy Vocabulary
THE CANTONESE MADE EASY
VOCABULARY
A Small Dictionary in English and Cantonese, containing Words and
Phrases used in the Spoken Language, with the Classifiers indicated
for each Noun, and Definitions of the Different Shades of
Meaning, as well as Notes on the Different uses
of some of the Words where Ambiguity
might otherwise arise
THIRD EDITION
Revised and Enlarged
BY
J. DYER BALL, I.S.O., M.R.A.S., ETC.,
OF HIS MAJESTY'S CIVIL SERVICE, HONGKONG
Author of
"Cantonese Made Easy," "How to Speak Cantonese," "How to Write Chinese,"
"Hakka Made Easy," "Things Chinese," "The Celestial and His Religions,"
&c., &c., &c.,
HONGKONG:
KELLY & WALSH, LD.
SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, AND YOKOHAMA
1908
[All Rights Reserved]
Preface to the First Edition.
When the author prepared 'The Cantonese Made Easy' some years since, it was his intention to attach a Vocabulary to it; but, not considering it advisable to delay the publication of that Guide Book to the correct use of Cantonese, he put it off till a more convenient season. Though this Vocabulary purports to be one for the Lessons in 'Cantonese Made Easy,' it has not been confined to the words contained in those lessons alone; more especially has this been the case when any ambiguity would arise to those who would make use of it if only one rendering had been given to a word in the lessons. It has been thought advisable in such a case to make an exhaustive list of different shades of the English meaning in order to prevent the beginner from making mistakes which he otherwise might do.
The terms given under the heading of vulgar should never be used. They are simply given in this book so that when heard the learner may know their meaning and not with the object of his acquiring them to add to his using vocabulary.
Several finals it will be found are given under different words. This has only been the case when the final has such a strength of meaning as to require in good interpretation to be represented in English by a word, under which word it will then be found to appear.
All the nouns to which Classifiers are, and can be, used have these useful little words appended to them; and the student should never use any other classifier than the one, or those, as the case may be, which are given with the words. When no classifier is given under a word, none should to used.
Where under the same English words different Chinese words are given, and different classifiers are used with these different Chinese words, the proper classifiers are given under each heading; but where the same classifier, or classifiers, can be used for all the different words, it or they are given at the end. It is hoped that the indiscriminate use of these necessary adjuncts to Chinese nouns may thus be avoided, and that the student by seeing, when looking for a word, its proper classifier at the same time as the word itself, may have it impressed upon his memory at the time he first learns the word, and may thus be prevented from falling into error instead of having to, as in many cases, rectify mistakes already made.
A number of useful little phrases as well as sentences are given, some of which are idiomatic, while others, though simple in their construction, are in as common use.
The 中入 ꜀chung yap꜇ tone, which has never yet appeared in an English-Cantonese dictionary, but which any cultivated ear can detect without the slightest difficulty, here appears, as well as the colloquial rising tone, into which so many of the 下平 há꜅ ꜁p‘ing, 下去 há꜅ huí꜄ and occasionally 入 yap꜇, as well as other, tones are thrown in conversation. An asterisk indicates these last.
Another new feature in this little book is the full rendering of English words into Chinese. The author has not been content when two nearly synonymous words are used together in Chinese to represent an English word, which one or both of them equally well represent, to merely put the two together; but by a use of brackets attention is drawn to the fact of one, or both, of them being used singly, as well as in union together, to represent the meaning of the English word, as for instance:—Truly, 眞 (正) ꜀chan (ching꜄), which means that 眞 ꜀chan alone is aften used to represent truly, as well as the two words 眞正 ꜀chan ching꜄ together. The brackets are also used when the exigencies of everyday use often drop, as superfluous, a word which it is necessary to use when strict accuracy is required, as for instance:—Spirits (燒) 酒 (꜀shíú) ꜂tsau. 酒 ꜂tsau alone being often used in common talk, though strictly speaking 酒 ꜂tsau is applied also to fermented liquors. Brackets have also been used to indicate that an English word may be represented in different ways in Chinese, as for instance:—Manager 司事 (人, or 嘅) ꜀sz sz꜅ (꜁yan, or ke꜄). Here there are three ways of representing Manager, as simply 司事 ꜀sz sz꜅, 司事人 ꜀sz sz꜅ ꜁yan, or 司事嘅 ꜀sz sz꜅ ke꜄.
The orthography is that of Dr. Williams' adaptation of Sir William Jones', with some slight provincialisms and errors corrected. When the colloquial pronunciation differs from that of the book language the former is given, and attention is drawn to it by a dagger.
The student is referred to 'Cantonese Made Easy' for full explanations as to the tones and orthography.
The Author's thanks are due to Mr. Chung Shing-hong, Translator in the Supreme Court, for much valuable assistance rendered to him in the Compilation of this little Vocabulary.
Preface to the Second Edition.
It is now more than six years since the First Edition of this little book appeared, and it has been out of print for some time past. Circumstances have prevented the Author from issuing a Second Edition until now; that such has been called for is evidenced by the fact of enquiries for copies from different quarters since the First Edition was exhausted.
This Edition contains all the words which have been added to the lesson portion of the Second Edition of 'Cantonese Made Easy'; at the same time the opportunity of its passing through the press has been taken advantage of to make some other slight additions to it.
Any mistakes which might arise from the same tonic mark being used for both the 上上 shöng꜅ ꜃shöng and colloquial rising tone, as in the First Edition, has now been prevented by the use of a distinctive tonic mark for the colloquial rising tone. This Edition has therefore thus been brought into harmony with the Second Edition of 'Cantonese Made Easy,' and 'How to Speak Cantonese.' The Author trusts that the great convenience of having a separate tonic mark for this important colloquial tone will ensure this mark receiving the attention he believes it deserves. He himself has introduced it and used it in his books for some years past, and its use obviates much confusion. It is possible to have it printed neatly and clearly now.
He has much pleasure in acknowledging the assistance he has received from the Honourable J. H. Stewart Lockhart in the labour of revision; also the help rendered to him by Mr. Mok Man-cheung in proof-reading.
Hongkong, October 1892.
Preface to the Third Edition.
The last edition of this book appeared in 1892. This Second Edition was sold out some time ago, and has been out of print for a considerable time. It seemed desirable on issuing a Third Edition to take the opportunity of adding largely to it, as the previous edition, only containing some forty pages was limited in its scope and utility.
As the Chinese are awakening to a wider life in the modern world, an extension of the vocabulary of all classes amongst them is taking place as new ideas are adopted, new appliances used, and new knowledge gained. It is hoped that, though it is impossible to introduce every new term on its first appearance in the language into a Small Dictionary like this, yet the user of this book will find not a few new terms in it together with an immense number of other words which found no room in former editions.
One new feature in this edition which demands notice is a slight change in the representation in the romanized spelling of two words by which a 'superior letter' is used for the final k in the finals loᵏ˳ and cheᵏ˳. The peculiar pronunciation of the words has never been noticed before, and the ignoring of this peculiarity is one of the causes which contribute to the poor pronunciation of Chinese by foreigners.
Dr. Sten Konow calls attention to this peculiarity of pronunciation in one of the Indian dialects in an article on the Kurku Dialect of the Munda Family of Speech in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for the year 1904 pp. 426-427. He says:—'The Kurkus are a Munda tribe living in the North of Berar and the adjoining parts of the Central Provinces. At the last census of 1901 their dialect was returned as spoken by 87,675 individuals.'
Dr. Konow says:—'One of the most characteristic features of the Munda phonology is the existence of a set of semi-consonants, * * * They are formed like the corresponding consonants k, c, t, and p, but the enunciation is checked at the point of contact, and there is no off-glide * * * We can * * * trace the use of semi-consonants * * * back to a comparatively ancient period. It seems probable that they existed in the original Munda language, and there are perhaps indications of their use in the language of the aboriginal inhabitants of Nearer and Further India.' Dr. Konow describes this peculiarity as a pronunciation of the consonant which stops before the completion of its full enunciation 'and there is no off-glide.' This is the same as the pronunciation of (what Dr. Konow calls) the semi-consonant k as a final in the only two words that the Author has found it to appear in the Cantonese. To discover the full force of the difference let a distinct speaker of Cantonese be requested to pronounce 呮, cheᵏ˳ and 隻, chek˳ and 咯, loᵏ˳ and 落, lok꜆. The full force of the k, it will be seen, is given to the k in 隻, chek˳ and 落, lok꜇, while in 呮 cheᵏ˳ and 咯, loᵏ˳, the voice commences to pronounce the consonant k and stops abruptly before completion of the act of pronunciation.
Circumstances compelled the Author to leave Hongkong when this book was in the press and before its completion, while in fact the words under the letter S were being printed. Though the rest of the book was outlined and filled up to a large extent, yet it required some additions and careful revision before being put in the hands of the printers. Uuder these unfortunate conditions of affairs Rev. G. Bunbury very kindly consented to see the remainder of the book through the press and to him the Author is indebted for the great assistance thus rendered in a time of need.
Exmouth, Devon,
England.
29th July, 1908.
Abbreviations used in this book.
Class.=Classifier.
Lit.=Literally.
N.=Noun.
A.=Article.
Adj.=Adjective.
V.=Verb.
Adv.=Adverb.
Conj.=Conjunction.
Inter.=Interjection.
Prep.=Preposition.
Pers. Pron.=Personal pronoun.
Vulg.=Vulgarly.
* Indicates that the tone the word is marked in is different from the tone in the book language—the tone is a colloquial one.
† Indicates that the pronunciation of the word as given in this book is different from that given to it in the book language—the word is pronounced differently in colloquial.
Vocabulary of Words and Phrases.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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