"Drifting" and "Drifting"

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - In a social media post, the author wrote, "The rain is pouring down. Leaves are starting to drift into the yard..." This sentence describes a heavy rain pouring down on the street, the water quickly rising, causing dry leaves to drift into the yard.

A reader commented, asking: "Should it be 'Dạt vào' or 'giạt vào'?" The author replied, "It's correct to write 'giạt vào' or 'dạt vào'."

However, many other readers did not accept it.

So, which spelling is correct: "giạt vào" or "dạt vào"? Or are both correct?

Let's look up the words "giạt" and "dạt" in a dictionary to see how they are used.

- The Đại Nam Quốc Âm Từ Điển (Huình Tịnh Paulus Của) defines "giạt" as "being carried out or washed ashore by waves and wind," and lists "giạt vào bờ" = "washed ashore"; "giạt ra" = "taken out, removed, set aside"; "bạt giạt" = "drifted, washed ashore, or brought to a certain place"...

Regarding the word "dạt," this dictionary explains it as "to spread out, to loosen up, to prevent clumping together" and lists: "dạt ra" = "to let go, to loosen up"; "dạt củi" = "to pull firewood apart to keep it far apart; to reduce firewood, to reduce the fire."

Thus, according to the explanation of Huình Tịnh Paulus Của, when describing something drifting away, it should be written as "giạt"; while when referring to "putting out, discarding, setting aside" or "spreading out, loosening, not allowing it to clump together," either "giạt" or "dạt" is acceptable. Therefore, writing "Leaves begin to drift into the yard..." is perfectly correct.

Some dictionaries were published later:

- The Vietnamese dictionary (from the Association for the Advancement of Knowledge) defines "giạt" as: "Being swept away by waves and wind," and gives the example "The rain washes away the pond of water lilies. The boat is swept ashore by the waves. Literary example: Flowers drift, water lilies drift away (Kieu)." With the word "dạt," this dictionary defines it as "sparse, stretched," and gives the example "Fabric drifts away, threads drift away."

- The Vietnamese dictionary (by Lê Văn Đức) defines "giạt" as "to drift, to get lost, to float aimlessly, without direction," and gives the example "A boat drifts, water hyacinths drift, flowers float." For "dạt" (verb), this dictionary defines it as "to load, to spread out, not to pile up," and gives the example "to scatter firewood, to scatter piles of sand"; while "dạt" (adjective) means "sparse, loose, not thick, not tight: Drifting cloth, drifting thread."

Several other dictionaries, such as the Vietnamese Dictionary for the Common of People (Dao Van Tap) and the New Vietnamese Dictionary (Thanh Nghi), have similar explanations.

Thus, the dictionaries of the Association for the Advancement of Knowledge and Tran Van Duc, along with several other authors, clearly distinguish: "giạt" is used for drifting or being pushed around aimlessly; while "dạt" is associated with the situation where something becomes loose, separated, or becomes spaced apart, no longer close together. According to this, writing "Leaves begin to drift into the yard..." is not a spelling mistake.

Some dictionaries were published even later:

- The Vietnamese dictionary (edited by Văn Tân) only records "giạt" and explains it as "Being pushed to one side <> Cloth washed ashore; Water hyacinth washed ashore".

- The Vietnamese Dictionary (edited by Hoang Phe, Vietlex edition), entry "giạt", directs you to read "dạt". The entry "dạt" explains two meanings: - "to be pushed to one side or place", and gives the example "bèo dạt mây trôi ~ "The children ran to the sides, splashing water everywhere." (Doan Gioi)"; - "to spread out [often referring to the threads of a woven fabric]", for example "the surface of the fabric has been pushed out".

- The Comprehensive Vietnamese Dictionary (edited by Nguyen Nhu Y) only includes "dạt," not "giạt," and defines "dạt" (verb) as "Being pushed to one side or place: The raft drifts to the shore <> floating weeds drift like clouds"; it defines "dạt" (adjective) as "Sparse: A garment worn for a long time, the fabric is all scattered."

Thus, in Vietnamese, there was originally a distinction between "giạt" (to drift away) and "dạt" (to be scattered, to be thinned out). Later (especially nowadays), there has been a tendency to simplify, no longer distinguishing between "giạt" and "dạt," but instead using a single spelling, "dạt." However, the subtle distinction between "giạt" in "Floating water hyacinths and drifting clouds," "What a pity the clear water basin / Letting duckweed and water lilies drift in" (folk song), and "dạt" in "fabric being scattered," remains the choice of many. Therefore, considering the evolution of the word, both "trôi giạt" and "trôi dạt" are correct.

Man Nong (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/giat-va-dat-255246.htm