"The meaning is born from the text" and "The meaning is derived from the text"

Reader Le Giang (Hac Thanh - Thanh Hoa) asks: “In the article “On the interpretation of the word “trong” in the word “trong tai” in Le Van Hoe’s Etymological Dictionary,” author Man Nong mentions the phrase “Vong van sinh nghia” (Looking at the text gives rise to meaning). Specifically, he commented: “The reason is probably because the author ‘vong van sinh nghia,’ relying on the homophones of Sino-Vietnamese elements to deduce meaning without comparing it to the original text.” I understand the general meaning of this phrase, but not thoroughly. I also suddenly remembered another phrase commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is “Vong van van van thiet.” Therefore, I request that the “Ca ca chuyen nghia” (Talking about words and meanings) column explain in detail the concepts of “Vong van sinh nghia” and “Vong van van thiet” so that I and other readers can understand them.

Thank you very much.

Answer: Reader Le Giang has asked a rather interesting question. Below, we will explain each concept in turn.

1. "The meaning is born from the written word."

"Wangwen Shengyi" (望文生義, a variant of Wangwen Shengxun - 望文生訓) is a Chinese idiom. In it, "wang" (望) means to look, "wen" (文) means writing or characters, "sheng" (生) means to create, and "yi" (義) means the meaning of words (synonymous with "xun" (訓) = to explain the meaning of writing).

"Vọng văn sinh nghĩa" (literally, "to derive meaning from words and sentences without considering the precise meaning) is defined in the Chinese Dictionary as: "Not seeking the exact meaning of words or sentences, but only interpreting them based on their literal meaning, thus giving erroneous explanations."

The Chinese Dictionary cites the following example:

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In his work *Methods of Treatment* by Qing Dynasty scholars, Hu Shi wrote: “An example of the meaning of ‘falsely believing’ is a sentence from Lao Tzu: ‘In following the great Way, the greatest fear is to deviate from it.’ Wang Bi and He Shanggong both understood the character 施 as ‘action, execution.’ However, Wang Nianzun proved that the character “施” here should be read and understood as “yi” 迆, meaning “evil” 邪 (skewed, deviant): In following the great Way, the greatest fear is to deviate from it.”

This is the phenomenon of "transforming meaning from a text" in Chinese.

For Vietnamese written in the Quốc ngữ script, the harmful effects of misinterpreting words are even more severe, because many Sino-Vietnamese words have the same pronunciation but completely different forms and meanings. For example, Vân Hạc Lê Văn Hòe only looked at the characters for "trọng tài" (written in Quốc ngữ) and deduced that the character "trọng" here means "heavy," then explained: "A referee is someone who examines and judges which side of the scales is heavier and which is lighter." However, this is not the case. Because if one only "looks at the characters," although they are both pronounced "trọng," the "trọng" in "trọng tài" is not the character "trọng" with the form 重 (heavy), but rather the character "trọng" with the form 仲 (in the middle). Trọng tài 仲裁 means "to stand in the middle to arbitrate," "to act as an intermediary to decide a dispute."

Another example. Regarding the term "troublesome," Le Van Hoe explains: "TROUBLESOME means many, numerous. COMPLICATED means the spokes of a wheel. Troublesome means many and complicated, like the spokes of a wheel." However, the character "phức" in "troublesome" is not the character 輻 (radical 車), meaning "wheel spokes" (i.e., wheel spokes), but rather the character 複 (radical 衤). The character 複 originally meant "double-layered garment," "two-layered undergarment" (phức y 複衣), meaning multiple layers of fabric stacked on top of each other. From the meaning of "two-layered garment," the character 複 developed a broader meaning, referring to overlapping, multiple layers, complexity (as in words like: complex; complex system; simple sentence, complex sentence).

We can take the two words "vọng văn" (to look at) in the phrases "Vọng văn sinh nghĩa" (Looking at a text gives rise to meaning) and "Vọng văn vấn thiết" (Looking at a text with a question) as examples. The character "vọng" (望) in both phrases means "to see." However, the character "văn" in "Vọng văn sinh nghĩa" is 文, meaning "writing" or "text"; while the character "văn" in "Vọng văn vấn thiết" is 聞, meaning "to hear or smell."

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From the examples above, it can be seen that "misinterpreting the meaning of words based on written text" is not only an error in interpreting Chinese characters, but also a fairly common ailment when studying Vietnamese, especially with Sino-Vietnamese words written in the Quốc ngữ script. Simply looking at the written characters without comparing them to the original text, context, and the process of meaning development, researchers can easily arrive at erroneous conclusions. And what is "misinterpreting words and questioning the meaning"? What do those four words mean, and why have they become the names of four diagnostic methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine? Please read Part 2: "Misinterpreting words and questioning the meaning" in the next issue of our "Chatting about words and meanings" series.

Man Nong (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/vong-van-sinh-nghia-nbsp-va-vong-van-van-thiet-292477.htm