Equal meanings of some reduplicated words ho hoan, haggard, hoc toc, and stench

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - In the previous issue of the "Cà ke truyện chữ nghĩa" column, we mentioned two compound words that were mistakenly recognized as reduplicative by the Vietnamese Reduplicated Words Dictionary: bộp chập, bún nhung. In this article, we will analyze the meanings of the elements in some reduplicated words: ho hoan, hac hac, hoc toc, hoi ham (the part in quotation marks after the item number is the original text of the Vietnamese Reduplicated Words Dictionary - Institute of Linguistics - editor-in-chief Hoang Van Hanh; the line breaks are our discussion):

1-“SHOUT loudly. Shout out loud so everyone knows what happened. “When they heard his scream, the neighbors ran over and shouted”; When he entered, he grabbed her wrist, “Please don’t shout this should be loud (cd)”.

Ho hoan 呼喚 is a compound word of Chinese origin [historical meaning], in which ho 呼 means to shout loudly, to call out loud (like shouting out loud; hoan ho = to shout, to shout out loud to express joy or encouragement); hoan 喚 also means to call, to call (like: ho phong hoan vu 呼風喚雨 = to call wind and call rain, compared to the profound, extraordinary magic of immortals or Taoists).

2-“GONE-UP tt. Completely emaciated, eyes and cheeks sunken, looking tired. “Mr. Nhan, why do you look so gaunt these past few days?” (Ma Van Khang).

"Hóc hác" is a compound word of Chinese origin [historical meaning], in which "hóc" is the Chinese word "cốc" 谷, meaning cave, a deep concave part (like a mountain hollow; a tree hollow); "hóc 壑" is a Sino-Vietnamese element, also meaning cave (like "Gây hồ" thin and hac).

- Sino-Vietnamese dictionary (Thieu Chuu) explains “hac” as “A cave, a dangerous place in the forest or mountain is called a cave. Like a forest corner, a mountain hollow... A place that holds water is also called a cave. Like a river or sea is called a great cave”.

3- “SPEED tt. Work hard to do it quickly. Do it quickly to finish”.

The word "huc toc" 觳觫 is a compound word of Chinese origin [historical meaning], which originally means a fearful appearance, in which "huc toc" means a frightened appearance; "toc toc" means a trembling, trembling appearance.

The Vietnamese Dictionary (Hoang Phe, editor, version with Chinese characters for Sino-Vietnamese words - Vietlex Lexicography Center) explains "hoc toc" as "to be in a hurry, to be as fast as possible, regardless of everything else: to do hoc toc ~ "The bad news flew by like a flash, Anh Tuyet hurriedly ran there, only to see her husband being taken into court." (Nguyen Cong Hoan).

Hoang Phe's Vietnamese dictionary has an additional note: "Hốc tố 觳觫 in Chinese means 'fearfully trembling'; is the meaning in Vietnamese perhaps due to understanding toốc 觫 as toốc 速 'fast', these two words in Chinese are also homophonous?".

- Vietnamese dictionary: "hốc-tốc A fearful appearance. Used in Vietnamese to mean running too fast, too strong, panting <>Hốc-tốc giốc gan".

3- “STINK tt. Having a bad smell, stinking (generally speaking). “The gray, stinking bodies tied with bandages kept wiggling their limbs back and forth” (Anh Duc).

Hòi Hàm is a compound word [historical meaning]: Hồi, the meaning is clear, but what does Hàm mean? Hầm also means stinky. In all the Vietnamese dictionaries we have in hand, all of them only explain the single meaning of the word Hàm as tham, ham. However, the Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin Dictionary records as follows: “Hầm, hồi Hàm: Stinky. Hồi Hàm: Smelly. Hàm lám: Same meaning”.

Thus, we see that, "ham" originally meant "smelly"; "rotten ham" meant "stinky", similar to the word "smelly" today.

Thus, ho hoan, hag hac, hoc toc, and stench are originally compound words, because the elements that make up the word have the ability to function independently. However, later, one of the two elements (or both) lost their meaning or became ambiguous, so these words are considered reduplicative.

Man Nong (CTV)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nghia-dang-lap-cua-mot-so-tu-lay-ho-hoan-hoc-hac-hoc-toc-hoi-ham-246069.htm