Fan Jinghua: Word Study

　　　Word Study
Chinese glamour has a radical of ghost
And enamoured is a woman raising her brow
Your glamour is glossy like glass, glittering
Crystal coffin over amour, tinkling but untouchable
How glamorous is that bewitching creature
And charming the grinning fairy, with chic enamel arms
That stretch out skittishly, white as a choice vase of china
-- We are using the same words, but we speak
Two different languages, and do you know my compliments?
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Oct. 2005

　　解字说人

魅力之魅有鬼，女人动用眉毛示爱
您的魅力是玻璃质的　外壳玲玲作响
水晶棺材般罩住了恋情，栩栩如生，而不可企及
多么鬼魅啊，这是个有巫力的尤物
而媚若露齿而笑的仙，那纤纤的手臂啊
怯怯地伸了出来，犹如瓷器精致的白
——我们说同样的词汇，可是我们还是说
不同的语言，你可知道我那样的恭维何意？
　　　　　　　　　　　2009年5月22日


　　In Chinese, 魅力 (glamour) literally means the power (力) of a ghostly creature (魅 which contains the radical of ghost 鬼 and the element of sound未). It is interesting to note that in English the sound element of gl can be found in such words as glossy, glass, glittering which used to explain the word glamour. Chinese 媚 consists two part of a woman 女 and the eyebrow 眉, which etymologically means to show love by eyes and later generally refers to the power to enamor.
　　汉语中的魅用英文的glamour来解释，该词相当于我们汉语的光彩照人，尤以外表的亮丽为主要内涵，就英文字面上硬拆glamour则是gl和amour (隐秘恋情)，gl的声音有似汉语中的金石之音，因此解释时用glossy (有光泽的)、glass (玻璃)、glittering (闪烁的)和tinkling (玉石的玲玲声)。魅的鬼魅性用bewitching (作祟人的、令人迷的) 这个词，而bewitching由witch (巫婆) 为词根。媚，先是说汉字是女子动眉毛，用enamoured (迷恋的，也是以amour为词根) 来解释，因为汉字媚的本义是以目媚人示爱，后面则主要强调其charm (魔力)。英文charm字面上拆为ch和arm (手臂)，ch的声音用了chic (别致的、不落俗套的)、choice (精选的)和china (瓷器)三个词。