Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality

⇚ Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi ⇛

Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China)
家禽还是怪兽 Jiāqín háishì guàishòu? 鹰头马身有翼兽野蛮性研究 Yīngtóu-mǎshēn-yǒuyì-shòu yěmàn-xìng yánjiū	家禽 jiā-qín = ' domestic fowl, poultry'. 还是 hái-shì = 'or'. 怪兽 guài-shòu = 'strange/monstrous beast'. 鹰头马身有翼兽 yīngtóu-mǎshēn-yǒuyì-shòu 'hawk-headed, horse-bodied, winged beast' = 'hippogriff'. 野蛮性 yěmàn-xìng = 'barbarity, brutality'. 研究 yánjiū = 'study, research'.	1. Poultry or Monstrous Beast 2. A Study of Hippogriff Brutality
Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan)
飛禽或是惡獸？鷹馬殘酷行為研究 Fēiqìn huòshì èshòu? Yīngmǎ cánkù xíngwéi yánjiū	飛禽 fēiqìn = 'bird(s), creatures of the air'. 或是 huòshi = 'or'. 惡獸 èshòu = 'evil beast'. 鷹馬 yīngmǎ = 'hawk-horse' = 'hippogriff'. 殘酷 cánkù = 'cruel, brutal'. 行為 xíngwéi = 'actions, behaviour'. 研究 yánjiū = 'study, research'.	Bird or Evil Beast? A Study of the Cruel Behaviour of Hippogriffs
Japanese
鳥か盗りか？ Tori ka tori ka? ヒッポグリフの残忍性に関する研究 Hippogurifu no zannin-sei in kansuru kenkyū	鳥 tori = 'bird'. 盗り tori = 'thief, robber'. か.... か ka ... ka (following nouns) = 'or'. AかBか = 'A or B'. ヒッポグリフ Hippogurifu = 'Hippogriff' (written in phonetic katakana script, used for writing foreign words). の no = connecting particle 残忍性 zannin-sei = 'cruelty, brutality'. (残忍 zannin = 'cruel', 性 -sei = 'nature, characteristic', together mean 'cruel nature, brutal nature'). に関する ni kansuru = 'concerning, regarding'. 研究 kenkyū = 'study, research'.	1. Bird or Thief? 2. A Study concerning the Brutality of Hippogriffs
Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology)
Chim Hay Quỷ? Một Nghiên Cứu Về Tính Hung Ác Của Bằng-Mã	chim = 'bird'. hay = 'or'. quỷ (鬼) = 'spirit of the dead, evil spirit, fiend, devil'. một = 'one'. nghiên cứu (研究) = 'study, research'. về = 'about, concerning'. tính (性) = 'nature'. hung ác (兇惡) = 'cruel'. của = 'of, belonging to'. Bằng-mã (鵬馬) = 'eagle horse' = 'hippogriff'.	Bird or Evil Spirit? A Study concerning the Cruelty of Hippogriffs
Mongolian (new)
Тэжээвэр үү? Махчин үү? Хиппогрифийн зан байдлыг судлах нь Tejeever üü? Makhchin üü? Khippogrifiin zan baidliig sudlakh n'	тэжээвэр tejeever = 'tame'. үү / уу üü / uu Marks yes/no question. махчин makhchin = 'carnivore, beast of prey'. Хиппогриф khippogrif = 'hippogriff' (Genitive form). зан байдал zan baidal = 'behaviour'. сурах surakh = 'study'. нь n' = 'about' (makes the preceding sentence into a noun).	Is it Tame? Is it a Predator? Studying Hippogriff Behaviour

Both the Japanese and Mainland translators mistakenly translate this as two separate titles: 'Fowl or foul?' and 'A Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology'.

How is 'Fowl or Foul' translated?:

The question 'fowl or foul?' works nicely as a pun but is slightly strange in ordinary English.

Firstly, 'fowl' is a noun whereas 'foul' is an adjective. 'Fowl' is used in the archaic sense of 'bird (in general)' (as seen in the expression 'fish or fowl?', or in the words 'wildfowl' and 'waterfowl'). 'Foul' is an adjective meaning 'wicked' or 'immoral', and also carries the sense of 'offensive to the senses, especially the sense of smell'. The result is the rather strained question: Is the Hippogriff a kind of bird, or is it wicked?

The interpretation of the Hippogriff as a kind of bird makes the question even more strained since the Hippogriff has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse — hardly an ordinary bird.

Nevertheless, the two work nicely as a pun. The broader sense of the question is: Is the Hippogriff just an ordinary, inoffensive kind of bird or is it something evil?

The aim of the translators must be to capture this. Reproducing the pun is a bonus but not essential.

For 'fowl':

• The Chinese (Taiwan) edition is closest to 'bird' in a general sense by using the generic expression 飛禽 fēiqìn 'bird(s), creatures of the air'. The Vietnamese and Japanese editions simply use words meaning 'bird'.
  
  
• The Chinese (Mainland) edition veers towards the modern meaning of 'fowl' (barnyard fowl) by using 家禽 jiā-qín ' domestic fowl, poultry'.
  
  
• The Mongolian translation elects to interpret 'fowl' exclusively as 'tame' or 'domesticated' (тэжээвэр tejeever).

'Foul':

• The two Chinese language-translators translate 'foul' as meaning 'evil beast' (怪兽 guài-shòu 'strange/monstrous beast', 惡獸 èshòu 'evil beast') as opposed to 'birds' or 'poultry'.
  
  
• The Vietnamese translation uses quỷ, 'evil spirit, devil', as opposed to an ordinary bird. Quỷ is related to the Chinese word 鬼 guǐ, a common word with the basic meaning of 'ghost or spirit of the dead'.
  
  
• The Mongolian translator opts for махчин makhchin, referring to a carnivore or beast of prey. This is opposed to тэжээвэр tejeever 'tame, domesticated'.
  
  
• Only the Japanese translator attempts to capture the pun on 'fowl' and 'foul'. This is achieved by using the unusual word 盗り tori. In a general sense, tori refers to 'the action of taking' or 'a person who takes'. By using the character 盗り, however, which means 'rob' or 'steal', the translator forces tori to take on the meaning 'thief' or 'robber'. This is then opposed to the homophous 鳥 tori meaning 'bird'.

How is 'Hippogriff' translated?:

Hippogriffs are creatures with the head of an eagle and the body of a horse. The name is from 'hippo' (Greek for 'horse') and 'griffon' (or griffin or gryphon), an ancient Greek creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. It is translated as:

• Simplified Chinese (China): 鹰头马身有翼兽 yīngtóu-mǎshēn-yǒuyì-shòu 'hawk-headed, horse-bodied, winged beast'. While self-explanatory and descriptive, this is a long and clumsy rendition.
  
  
• Traditional Chinese (Taiwan): 鷹馬 yīngmǎ 'hawk horse'. This is a succinct translation that captures the essence of the Greek derivation.
  
  
• Vietnamese: Bằng-mã 'eagle horse' is similar to that of the Traditional Chinese. It uses two Chinese-derived elements. The word bằng means 'eagle' in Vietnamese, ultimately derived from the Chinese 鵬 péng, which refers to a huge mythical bird often translated as 'roc'. Mã is from Chinese 馬 mǎ 'horse'.
  
  
• Japanese: ヒッポグリフ hippogurifu. This is a direct transliteration of the English.
  
  
• Mongolian: Like the Japanese, the Mongolian translation uses a transliteration of the English: Хиппогриф khippogrif. Unlike many Mongolian renderings of foreign words, it does not adhere to the traditional Russian form, which would be Гиппогриф gippogrif.

How is 'A Study of' translated?

English uses the preposition 'of' to indicate the concept of 'a study concerning'. All of the CJV languages use the same word for 'study or research' (noun): 研究 yánjiū (Chinese), 研究 kenkyū (Japanese), and nghiên cứu (Vietnamese), a word hailing from the 19th-20th century modernisation (Westernisation) of vocabulary in East Asia.

• The two Chinese-language translations simply add the word 研究 yánjiū 'study, research' after the topic, yielding expressions meaning (respectively) 'Hippogriff brutality study' and 'Hippogriff brutal behaviour study'. This is in preference to the clumsier possibilities, 有关鹰头马身有翼兽野蛮性的研究 Yǒu guān yīngtóu-mǎshēn-yǒuyì-shòu yěmàn-xìng de yánjiū 'study relating to the brutality of the hippogriff' and 有關鷹馬殘酷行的為研究 Yǒu guān yīngmǎ cánkù xíngwéi de yánjiū 'study relating to the brutal behaviour of the hippogriff'.
  
  
• Japanese uses the expression ..に関する ..ni kansuru 'which concerns..', which stands before and directly modifies the word 研究 kenkyū 'study, research'. This is a favoured construction in academic or official document titles.
  
  
• Unlike Chinese and Japanese, Vietnamese is able to use a phrase that attaches directly after the noun: Một Nghiên Cứu Về Tính Hung Ác Của Bằng-Mã 'a study about the brutality of the hippogriff', where về means 'about, concerning'. The Vietnamese literally says 'one study' or 'a study' một nghiên cứu.
  
  
• Mongolian uses a totally different structure, creating the mini-sentence Хиппогрифийн зан байдлыг судлах Khippogrifiin zan baidliig sudlakh meaning 'To study Hippogriff behaviour', followed by нь n', a reduced third-person possessive pronoun meaning 'its, his, her'. In titles, however, нь n' makes the whole sentence into a noun and means something like 'about'.

How is 'brutality' translated?:

'Brutality' is translated differently in each version.

• In the Chinese (Mainland), Japanese, and Vietnamese versions, the concept of'brutality' is expressed as an abstract noun through the ending 性 -xìng (Chinese), which has been adopted into Japanese as -sei and into Vietnamese as tính (where it precedes rather than follows the adjective concerned). 性 has the meaning 'nature', 'character' or 'attribute' and is regularly used to create words corresponding to '-ity' in English. The adjectives used differ among translations, from 野蛮 yěmàn 'barbaric, brutal' in Chinese to 残忍 zannin 'cruel, brutal' in Japanese and hung ác (兇惡) 'cruel' in Vietnamese.
  
  
• The Chinese (Taiwan) translation renders 'brutality' as 'cruel behaviour' (殘酷行為 cánkù xíngwéi), using yet another word for 'cruel, brutal'.
  
  
• The Mongolian translation omits 'brutality' completely, using the expression зан байдал zan baidal 'behaviour'.

Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology

Category: Magical Creatures