Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat
| Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China) | ||
| 分院帽 Fēn-yuàn-mào |
分
fēn = 'divide'. 院 yuàn = 'house'. 帽 mào = 'hat'. |
The House-sorting Hat |
| Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan) | ||
| 分類帽 Fēnlèi-mào |
分類
fēnlèi = 'divide into sorts or types, classify'. 帽 mào = 'hat'. |
The Classifying Hat |
| Japanese | ||
| 組分け帽子 Kumi-wake bōshi |
組 kumi = 'class'. 分け wake = 'division'. 帽子 bōshi = 'hat' |
The Class-sorting Hat |
| Korean | ||
| 마법 모자 Mabeob moja |
마법 (魔法) mabeob = 'magic'. 모자 (帽子) moja = 'hat'. |
The Magic Hat |
| Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology) | ||
| Chiếc nón phần loại | chiếc = counter for hats, particularly conical styles nón = 'hat'. phần loại (分類) = 'divide into sorts or types, classify'. |
The (pointed) Classifying Hat |
| Mongolian (previous) | ||
| Хуваарилагч малгай Khuvaar'lagch malgai |
хуваарилагч khuvaar'lagch = 'one who divides, distributes, allots' (хуваарилах khuvaar'lakh 'divide, distribute, allot' + -гч -gch, suffix indicating an agent). малгай malgai = 'hat, cap, headgear (broad sense)'. |
The Assigning Hat |
| Mongolian (new) | ||
| Хуваарилагч бүрх Khuvaar'lagch bürkh |
хуваарилагч khuvaar'lagch = 'one who divides, distributes, allots' (хуваарилах khuvaar'lakh 'divide, distribute, allot' + -гч -gch, suffix indicating an agent). бүрх bürkh = 'hat (narrow sense)'. |
The Assigning Brimmed-hat |
This is the famous hat that assigns new Hogwarts students to their respective houses.
At this stage the deeper significance of the four houses, with segregated living arrangements and differences among their founding philosophies, has not yet become fully apparent. However, we get a clue from the Sorting Hat's Song, which it creates anew each year and sings to the students.
All translations bar the Korean render the concept of 'sorting'. In the Korean translation, the Sorting Hat is referred to only as the 'Magic Hat'. However, on the Internet, 마법의 분류모자 (魔法의 分類帽子) mabeob-ui bunlyu-moja 'magic classifying hat' can also be found.
How is 'sorting' translated?
To indicate sorting, translations use verbs meaning 'to divide', 'allocate' or 'distribute'.
- The Chinese-language translations use 分 fēn, a verb meaning 'to divide'.
- Vietnamese uses phần, which is a borrowing from 分.
- Japanese uses the verb 分ける wakeru 'to divide'. In the word 組分け kumi-wake 'division into (school) classes', the verb is truncated to 分け -wake 'division', constituting a kind of deverbal noun. 分け -wake is found in compound words like 組分け kumi-wake and 手分け te-wake 'dividing up (for a job)', etc.*
- In the Mongolian, the word for 'sort' is хуваарилах khuvaar'lakh 'divide, distribute, allot'. It appears in the form хуваарилагч khuvaar'lagch, where -гч -gch is a verbal suffix indicating the actor, either a thing or a person. The sense is thus 'someone or something which divides, distributes, or allots'.
The outcome of sorting in different translations
The English name of the hat refers only to 'sorting', without indicating what students are sorted into.
The translations can be divided into three types: Those that indicate specifically the result of sorting, those that indicate in a general way the result of the sorting, and those that, like English, don't indicate the result of sorting.
- 1. The Mainland Chinese and Japanese versions are specific about the results of sorting.
- The Mainland Chinese translation indicates a division into 'houses' (院 yuàn).
- Since Japan does not have a system of 'houses', the translator substitutes a division into 'classes' (組 kumi). This is not completely appropriate to Hogwarts. Under the Japanese system, students from a single class always take classes together (except for certain subjects like physical training). At Hogwarts, classes appear to be mixed, with students from different houses attending the same class, although this is not totally clear from the books. Houses are thus different from classes.
- The Mainland Chinese translation indicates a division into 'houses' (院 yuàn).
- 2. The Chinese (Taiwan) and Vietnamese translations refer to a general division into 'sorts' or 'types' (類 lèi or loại). Unlike the specificity of 分院 fēn-yuàn 'divide into houses', these are just the normal words used in Chinese and Vietnamese for the concept of 'classification'.
- 3. Mongolian follows English in not referring to the result of sorting.
How is 'hat' translated?
In English, a 'hat' generally refers to a traditional style of hat with a brim. While usage varies, items such as 'caps' and 'beanies' tend to be regarded as separate categories from 'hat'. In the languages covered here, there is a greater tendency to include all types of headwear under a single term. That is, words for 'hat' are general terms for 'headgear' rather than specific terms for hats with brims.
- Chinese, Japanese, and Korean use the same word for a hat or cap: Chinese 帽子 màozi; Japanese 帽子 bōshi; Korean 모자 (帽子) moja. This tends to refer to headwear in general.
- The previous Mongolian translation uses малгай malgai, also a term for headwear in general.
Two of the translators use words for more specific types of hat.
- Vietnamese nón can refer to hats in general. However, in combination with the counter chiếc it refers specifically to traditional conical straw hats as used in the Vietnamese countryside. The Vietnamese translation appears to be presenting the sorting hat as a kind of straw hat, or at least as a pointed kind of hat.
- The new Mongolian translation uses the term бүрх bürkh 'hat with brim', equivalent to the narrower sense of 'hat' in English.
'Sorting Hat' as a compound
Translations differ in the degree to which the elements are bound together into the name 'Sorting Hat'.
- In the Chinese translations the words in 'sorting hat' are bound closely together into a single word, forming the compound expressions 分院帽 fēn-yuàn-mào and 分類帽 fēnlèi-mào. This involves dropping the 子 -zi from 帽子 màozi.
- The Japanese is less tightly bound together, being a combination of 組分け kumi-wake 'division into classes' and 帽子 bōshi 'hat'.
- Vietnamese is also a looser combination of phần loại 'classify' and chiếc nón 'a (pointed) hat'.
- The Mongolian is a loose combination of хуваарилагч khuvaar'lagch 'allotter' and малгай malgai 'hat' or бүрх bürkh 'brimmed hat'.
- The Korean is a similar loose combination of 마법 mabeob 'magic' and 모자 moja 'hat'.
(On deverbal nouns in Japanese: Deverbal noun used in compound words can be found throughout titles in the Harry Potter series: The Burrow, The Whomping Willow, The Knight Bus, The Leaky Cauldron, The Boggart in the Wardrobe, Back to the Burrow, The Weighing of the Wands, The Death Eaters, The Sorting Hat's New Song, Draco's Detour, The Tale of the Three Brothers, The Wandmaker, The Final Hiding Place, The Missing Mirror, The Lost Diadem, and The Prince's Tale. There are also cases where a deverbal noun is used as an independent noun, that is, not part of a compound word.)
(Korean appears thanks to "Hiro".)
(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
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