Chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge

Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China)
康奈利･福吉 Kāngnàilì Fújí	康奈利 Kāngnàilì = 'Cornelius' (or 'Connelly'). 福吉 Fújí = 'Fudge'.	Cornelius Fudge
Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan)
康尼留斯･夫子 Kāngníliúsī Fūzǐ	康尼留斯 Kāngníliúsī = 'Cornelius'. 夫子 Fūzǐ = 'Fudge' (also 'master').	Cornelius Fudge (Master Cornelius)
Japanese
コーネリウス・ファッジ Kōneriusu Fajji	コーネリウス Kōneriusu = 'Cornelius'. ファッジ Fajji = 'Fudge'.	Cornelius Fudge
Korean
코넬리우스 퍼지 Konelliuseu Peoji	코넬리우스 Konelliuseu = 'Cornelius'. 퍼지 Peoji = 'Fudge'.	Cornelius Fudge
Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology)
Cornelius Fudge	Cornelius Fudge (pronunciation in footnote: Coọc-neo-lớt Phớt).	Cornelius Fudge
Mongolian (previous)
Корнелиус Фюж Kornelius Fyuj	Корнелиус Kornelius = 'Cornelius'. Фюж Fyuj = 'Fudge'.	Cornelius Fudge
Mongolian (new)
Корнелиус Фаж Kornelius Faj	Корнелиус Kornelius = 'Cornelius'. Фаж Faj = 'Fudge'.	Cornelius Fudge

Cornelius Fudge was the Minister of Magic, who decided to take Hagrid into custody.

How is 'Cornelius Fudge' transliterated?

'Cornelius Fudge' is rendered phonetically in all versions except the Vietnamese, which retains the English spelling. The name is possibly related to the sweet known as a fudge and, more probably to the verb 'to fudge', which means 'to present or deal with an issue in a vague or inadequate way, especially so as to conceal the truth or mislead', something that Fudge was very good at doing.

• There does not appear to be a standard way of rendering 'Cornelius' in Chinese. A bewildering variety of renditions can be found (including some Roman and Biblical names, transliterated from Latin or Greek, and some European names). These include:
  
  
  • 科尼利厄斯 Kēnílì'èsī
  • 科内利烏斯 (Trad.) / 科内利乌斯 (Simpl) Kēnèilìwūsī
  • 科内留斯 Kēnèiliúsī
  • 科内琉斯 Kēnèiliúsī
  • 科爾涅里烏斯 (Trad.) / 科尔涅里乌斯 (Simpl.) Kē'ěrnièlǐwūsī
  • 科爾乃略 (Trad.) / 科尔乃略 (Simpl.) (a Pope) Kē'ěrnǎilüè
  • 柯内留斯 Kēnèiliúsī
  • 科内利斯 Kēnèilìsī
  • 柯内流士 Kēnèiliúshī
  • 克奈爾斯 (Trad.) / 克奈尔斯 (Simpl.) Kāngnàiěrsī
  • 康内留斯 Kāngnèiliúsī
  • 哥内留斯 Gēnèiliúsī
  • 哥尼流 Gēníliú
    
    
  There are two distinct philosophies in transliterating foreign names in Chinese. Taiwan still follows the tradition of using shorter, more impressionistic transliterations while Mainland China has adopted the practice of transliterating each sound separately. (For example, 'Trump' is 川普 chuānpǔ in Taiwan and 特朗普 tèlǎngpǔ in China.) But in the first few books of Harry Potter, the Mainland translators show a clear tendency to ignore convention and follow the lead of the earlier Taiwanese translations. Although they did tend to add an extra syllable or two in a nod to their own conventions, the resulting names were often at odds with established practice in China. 'Cornelius Fudge' is a rare case where the Mainland translation is even shorter than the Taiwanese model.
  
  
• The Taiwanese translation's transliteration of 'Cornelius' is 康尼留斯 Kāngníliúsī, which is slightly different from any of the Cornelius's above. For 'Fudge', she uses 夫子 fūzǐ, meaning 'master'. This is a respectful old term for a scholar or teacher, and also an old term of respect for one's husband. The most famous person to be given the title 夫子 fūzǐ is 孔夫子 Kǒng fūzǐ or 'Master Kong', more commonly known in English as Confucius. This title is a rather humorous touch that makes Fudge sound more pompous.
  
  
• The Mainland Chinese translator truncates 'Cornelius' to 康奈利 Kāngnàilì, which would be more appropriate as a rendition of the English name 'Connelly'. The surname 'Fudge' is rendered as 福吉 fújí meaning 'happy + auspicious', a slight variation on the English pronunciation.
  
  
• コーネリウス Kōneriusu in the Japanese version is a mixture of English and Latin-style pronunciation. The standard rendition of 'Cornelius' for well known modern figures is コーネリアス Kōneriasu. For ancient Latin names, the transliteration is コルネリウス Koruneriusu. The Japanese translator chooses something in between. This problem occurs with many of the Japanese transliterations of names for Hogwarts staff and Wizards.
  
  
• The Korean translator uses 코넬리우스 Konelliuseu, which is standard for modern names. For ancient Latin names, 코르넬리우스 Koleunelliuseu is used, adding the 'r' in the first syllable. 'Fudge' is 퍼지 Peoji, with 'f' rendered as 'p', the normal practice in Korean. Unlike Chinese and Japanese, Korean does not use a centred dot when writing foreign names.
  
  
• The two Mongolian versions use the normal Russian rendition of 'Cornelius', which is Корнелиус Kornelius. 'Fudge' in the previous translation is Фюж Fyuj. There does not appear to be any deeper reason for this than lack of knowledge of the English pronunciation. The new translation uses фаж Faj in line with the English pronunciation. (The Russian translation uses Фадж Fadj).

(Korean appears thanks to "Hiro".)

(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)

⇚ Chapter 13

Chapter 15 ⇛