warm, overflowing, dull, tormented

In our previous installment of the "Talking About Words" series, we pointed out four compound words that were mistakenly identified as reduplicated words by the Vietnamese Dictionary of Reduplicated Words: "nôn nao" (anxious), "cồn cào" (craving), "cơ cực" (extreme hardship), and "cục càn" (roughly translated). In this article, we continue to analyze the coordinate meanings of four words: "đầm ấm" (warm), "đầm đìa" (damp), "đần đù" (dull), and "đầy đoạ" (tormented) (the part in quotation marks after the entry number is the original text from the Vietnamese Dictionary of Reduplicated Words - Institute of Linguistics - edited by Hoàng Văn Hành; the new line is our discussion):

1 - “WARMTH. It has the effect of creating a feeling of warmth due to harmony, love, and mutual support. The atmosphere of the meeting is joyful and warm. A warm family scene.”

"Dầm ấm" is a compound word with coordinate meanings, where: "đầm" (or "đầm") means having a feeling of calmness, richness, and tranquility (as in "Wine aged for a long time tastes very smooth/mellow"; "She is very calm"); "ấm" means: having a feeling of calmness and comfort (as in "I feel my heart warm up").

- Of all the dictionaries we have, only the Vietnamese Dictionary (by Le Van Duc) records "đầm" with the meaning "quiet, not noisy, not urging," and its figurative meaning is "gentle, harmonious." "Đầm" here corresponds to the gentle meaning in the context of "Wine aged for a long time tastes very smooth...", as we mentioned above. Furthermore, "đầm" or "đầm" in this sense is also the same as "đầm" in "đầm thắm/đầm Thấm." The Vietnamese Dictionary (cited), under the entry "đầm Thấm," explains it as "Gentle, quiet, not flirtatious or playful," and gives the example "A girl should be gentle and modest."

- The Vietnamese Dictionary (edited by Hoang Phe) defines "warm" as "having the effect of creating a soothing and pleasant feeling. 'Her heart is warm again now, the dead love has been revived.' (Nguyen Binh) ~ The lyrics aren't unusual, but her voice is so warm, it's like lulling people into a dream.' (Vo Huy Tam)".

Therefore, "dầm ấm" is a compound word formed by combining elements, not a reduplicated word.

2 - “So much so that tears and sweat flowed profusely. Tears streamed down. Sweat poured down like a bath. “Carelessly tilting to the other side, A drop of sorrow will flood someone’s eyes” (Nguyen Duy).”

"Đầm đìa" is a Sino-Vietnamese compound word: "đầm" comes from the word "đàm" (潭), meaning deep pond; "đìa" comes from the word "trì" (池), meaning pond.

In Chinese, there is no word for "pond" (潭池), but there is "pond" (池潭), which the Chinese Dictionary defines as a deep pond (指深水池).

In Vietnamese, "đầm" and "đìa" originally referred to low-lying, deep places in the middle of fields where, during droughts, water and fish would gather (as in "Today we drain the pond, tomorrow we drain the pool, the day after tomorrow we celebrate the anniversary"; "With a sullen face, we drain the pond but it never dries up" - Proverb). The Đại Nam quấc âm tự vị (Huình Tịnh Paulus Của) defines "đầm đìa" as "a pond or pool where fish live." Later, "đìa" or "đầm đìa" acquired a broader, figurative meaning of "soaked," "a lot," or "too much" (as in "Wet pond, wet pool"; "Debt from pond, debt from pool"; "Back drenched in sweat").

Thus, in the compound word "đầm đìa," both "đầm" and "đìa" are independent words in terms of function, having a coordinate relationship, not a reduplicated sound relationship.

Reference: "đầm" comes from the character 潭, meaning deep pond. The phonetic relationship AM ↔ ÂM is also seen in other cases such as 含 ↔ "hám" (to hold in the mouth); "đìa" comes from the character 池, meaning pond. The phonetic relationship TR ↔ Đ is seen in cases like 置 ↔ "để" (to hold); I ↔ IA in cases like 匙 ↔ "thi" (spoon).

3 - "STUPID" (adjective). Appearing slow and incompetent in understanding and behavior. "The girls in the village also criticize him for being stupid; no one would even dream of him" (Vu Thi Thuong).

"Đần đù" is a compound word with coordinate meanings, where: "đần" means foolish, unwise (like "that guy is very stupid"; "dull-witted"; "standing there dumb"); "đù" means clumsy, slow, not quick-witted (like "dull-witted"; "He looks very stupid").

All the dictionaries we have only record and define "đù" or "đụ" as swear words. However, the Nghe An Dictionary collects and defines "đù" as "Khù khờ - đù đờ (reduplicative)".

People from Thanh Hoa also use "đù" to describe being slow or not quick-witted, for example, "If you sit at home all the time, you'll become dull-witted."

It should also be added here that the Nghe An dialect dictionary lists "đù" as a single word, but considers "đù đờ" to be a reduplicative word. In fact, "đù đờ" is also a compound word with coordinates: "đù" = slow; "đờ" = dazed, bewildered (like "lờ đờ"; "đờ đẫn"; "sitting dazed"). The Le Van Duc dictionary shows us the independent meaning of "đờ": "đờ • adjective. C/g. Dazed, bewildered, not, not knowing how to speak or act: Exposed, standing there dazed and accepting."

Therefore, at least from a dialectal perspective, "đần đù" is not a reduplicative word.

4 - “TORMENT (verb). Like torment. “In people like him, enduring so much poison and extreme suffering, yet never getting sick” (Nam Cao).

"Đầy đoa/đầy đoa" is just one word with two spellings. "Đầy đoa/đọa đòi" is a compound word with a coordinate meaning [contemporary meaning], in which: "đầy" means to be forced to endure suffering and humiliation (as in "I am lucky to have survived/My kind mother died young, so heaven punishes me by making me write poetry" - Nguyễn Bính).

"Damage" also means having to endure extreme humiliation; exile, suffering (as in "Living in damnation, dying in torment"; "Having been born into a life of playfulness / Heaven has condemned me to a place where I must work" - Kieu):

- The Vietnamese Dictionary (edited by Hoang Phe) states: “đọa • verb. [id] [heaven] makes one suffer a life of extreme hardship, according to the old concept: “Or what was the past life like?/Heaven punishes the sin by making one a monster.” (CC)”.

Thus, all four words: warm and cozy, overflowing with water, dull and foolish, tormented, which we analyzed above, are compound words formed by combining elements, not reduplicated words.

Hoang Trinh Son (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/ve-mot-so-tu-lay-dam-am-dam-dia-dan-du-day-doa-236095.htm