Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass
| Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China) | ||
| 悄悄消失的玻璃 Qiāoqiāo xiāoshī de bōli |
悄悄 qiāoqiāo = 'quietly'. 消失 xiāoshī = 'to vanish'. 的 de = connecting particle 玻璃 bōli = 'glass'. |
The Glass that Quietly Vanished |
| Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan) | ||
| 消失的玻璃 Xiāoshī de bōli |
消失
xiāoshī = 'to vanish'. 的 de = connecting particle 玻璃 bōli = 'glass'. |
The Glass that Vanished |
| Japanese | ||
| 消えたガラス Kieta garasu |
消える
kieru 'vanish, disappear' (た -ta = Past tense). ガラス garasu = 'glass' (as a substance). |
The Glass that Vanished |
| Korean | ||
| 사라진 유리창 Salajin yuli-chang |
사라지다 salajida = 'vanish, disappear' (-ㄴ -n Past attributive). 유리 (琉璃) yuli = 'glass'. 창 (窓) chang = 'window'. |
The Glass Window that Vanished |
| Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology) | ||
| Tấm kính biến mất | tấm 'pane' (counter for glass, mirrors, etc.) kính (鏡) = 'glass, glasses'. biến mất = 'vanish'. |
The Glass that Vanished/The Glass Vanishes |
| Mongolian (previous) | ||
| Шил алга болов Shil alag bolov |
шил shil = 'glass'. алга alag = 'not there'. болох bolokh 'become' (-в -v = recent past tense form). |
The Glass Disappeared |
| Mongolian (new) | ||
| Алга болсон шил Alag bolson shil |
алга alag = 'not there'. болох bolokh 'become' (-сон -son = Past tense). шил shil = 'glass'. |
The Glass that Disappeared |
The 'vanishing glass' refers, of course, to the pane of glass in front of the boa constrictor's enclosure at the zoo, which vanished mysteriously when Dudley knocked Harry out of the way to have a look.
This chapter title looks like a fairly straightforward expression, but English is a tricksy language with more meanings than first meet the eye.
How is 'glass' translated?
The English doesn't make it clear whether it was a pane of glass, a glass container, or even an eye-glass that vanished — it could easily have been a glass of water that disappeared from a table, for instance. Most of the translations make it clear that glass (a pane of glass) and not a glass (drinking glass) is meant.
Interestingly, the words for 'glass' are foreign loanwords in all of these languages, but from different sources.
- The Chinese uses 玻璃 bōli, referring to the substance. A drinking glass would be a 玻璃杯 bōli-bēi 'glass cup'.
Origin: Although written with two characters, the word 玻璃 bōli is ultimately from the single Sanskrit word स्फटिक sphaṭika, via the later form phaḷia. - The Japanese here uses ガラス garasu to indicate glass as a substance. グラス gurasu refers to a glass for drinking from. An alternative term is コップ koppu.
Origin: ガラス garasu 'glass' is an early loanword from Dutch. グラス gurasu 'drinking glass' is a later loanword from English. コップ koppu is from Dutch. - The Korean uses 유리 yuli 'glass', written 琉璃 in Chinese characters. 'Window' (창 chang, related to Chinese 窓 chuāng) indicates more specifically what the glass was in.
Origin: 유리 yuli is from Chinese 琉璃 liúlí (Mandarin), which normally refers to coloured glass, although in a literary context it can also be used to refer to plain glass. The Chinese word ultimately appears to derive from an Indian language and is related to Pali veḷuriya, 'lapis lazuli'. A drinking glass is 잔 (盞) jan (from Chinese), 글라스 geullaseu, or 컵 keop. The last two may be from English 'glass' and 'cup' respectively, but Japanese influence is possible. - The Vietnamese uses kính, a popular term meaning 'glass'. The fact that it is a pane of glass is clear from the counter tấm, which is used for mirrors and panes of glass (see also Chapter 12.) A more formal Vietnamese term for 'glass' is thủy tinh. A drinking glass is li / ly, or cốc.
Origin: Kính is probably from Chinese 鏡 (Mandarin pronunciation jìng) 'mirror, lens'. Thủy tinh is from Chinese 水晶 (Mandarin pronunciation shǔijīng) 'crystal'. Li (ly) is from second part of Chinese 玻璃 bōli. Cốc may be native Vietnamese. - In Mongolian, шил shil does not distinguish among the different senses and can mean 'glass', 'glasses' or, in Mongolia, even 'bottle', but not a drinking glass. (A drinking glass is commonly called стакан estakan (from Russian) in Mongolia, and шил цомоо shil tsomoo in Inner Mongolia.)
Origin: The word шил shil is from Tibetan ཤེལ shel 'glass, mirror'.
How is 'vanishing' translated?
Grammatically, 'vanishing' is a present participle. This doesn't tell us much because present participles (verb + -ing) are used for lots of different purposes in English. Rowling loves them and they are an inseparable part of her style.
Here, 'vanishing' is used to describe the word 'glass'. It has two possible interpretations:
(1) Present or habitual action: glass that vanishes (e.g., a kind of trick or magical glass that has the property of vanishing if you try and touch it). English has lots of expressions like this, e.g., a flying plane, running water, and The Whomping Willow, which 'whomps' you if you go near it.
(2) Past event or action: glass that vanished. This is typically used in titles of books, for instance, a mystery story about 'the case of the vanishing glass'.
Here the correct meaning is the second one. All of our translators, having obviously read the chapter, come up with the correct interpretation.
Most use a clause ('which vanished') to describe 'glass'. In English, this is called a 'relative clause' and usually features a 'relative pronoun' (here it is 'which'). But unlike English, none of the languages here requires a relative pronoun. (See Chapter One.)
- In the Japanese, Korean, and new Mongolian translations, the past tense of the verb 'to vanish' (or similar expression) stands before, and directly modifies, the noun 'glass'.
'vanish, disappear' past⤷ 'glass' Japanese kieta⤷ gurasu Korean salajin⤷ yuli-chang Mongolian alag bolson⤷ shil
The Korean past-tense ending -ㄴ -n can only be used in a modifying clause like this one, and cannot appear at the end of the sentence. - In the Chinese translations, the verb stands before and modifies the noun 'glass'. The particle 的 de is used to link the two. 的 de is also used to link adjectives (if they have more than one syllable) and show possession. There is no marking of tense or aspect in the clause. Using 了 le to mark 'completed action' would be extremely ungainly.
'vanish' particle⤷ 'glass' Chinese (Taiwan) xiāoshī de⤷ bōli Chinese (Mainland) qiāoqiāo xiāoshī de⤷ bōli
The Mainland Chinese translator adds an extra flourish to the title with the word 悄悄 qiāoqiāo 'quietly'. - In the Vietnamese, modifying verbs follow the noun, making the sentence ambiguous between 'the glass vanished' and 'the glass that vanished'.
'glass' ⤶ 'vanish' Vietnamese tấm kính ⤶ biến mất
The previous Mongolian translation adopts a different tack, remodelling the title into a straightforward statement that 'glass disappeared' (шил алга болов shil alag bolov).
| glass | disappear | -d | |
| Mongolian | shil | alag bol | -ov |
As with the Korean past-tense form -ㄴ -n, which can't be used to end a sentence, there is a partial split in Mongolian between verbs used in adjectival clauses and verbs used at the end of the sentence. The verb ending -ов -ov, indicating recent past, is the opposite of the Korean example and can only be used at the end of sentences. It differs from the general past-tense form -сон -son, which can appear at both places.
Making the title into a sentence ('The Glass Vanishes'), as in the older Mongolian translation, and potentially in the Vietnamese, makes no difference to the message conveyed by the chapter title. Titles like 'the vanishing glass' are a customary convention in English. Even in English it's possible to use a full sentence for a chapter title, as in 'Padfoot Returns' -- although the style will depend on the message that is meant to be conveyed.
(Korean appears thanks to "Hiro".)
(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
| ⇚ Chapter 1 |  |