论文部分内容阅读
Once upon a time， it meant a sacrifice for the gods， but now， 赛 （s3i） is all about challenging ourselves to be the best we can be. This character appears whenever there’s a contest： a football match （足球赛z%qi%s3i）， a cycling contest （自行车赛 z#x！ngch8s3i）， or even a debate （辩论赛 bi3nl&ns3i）.
赛 is a pictophonetic character（形声字 x！ngsh8ngz#）. The top part borrows from 塞 （s3i， fill in） for pronunciation. The lower part，贝 （b-i）， represents a seashell. You might be asking yourself what a seashell has to do with anything， but judging from scripts dating back over 2，000 years， the lower part is actually two hands holding a piece of seashell—an object of great value to the inland ancients. In order to show respect to the gods， they would offer seashells as sacrifices to the gods. The original meaning is one of religious piety； however， this usage has largely died off in modern day， only preserved in words that refer to rituals and offerings， such as 祭赛 （j#s3i）， 赛神（s3ish9n）， and 赛社 （s3ish-）.
Roughly 1，500 years ago， in the Book of Wei （《魏书》W-ish$， a historical writing recording the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei Dynasty from 386 to 550）， the first case of 赛 used to mean contest was spotted. Some suspect this comes from the fact that—when families put up sacrifices， such as geese or pigs—they tended to compare sizes for bragging rights and social status. Other traditional contests also include poetry contests， or 赛诗 （s3ish～）， during the Dragon Boat Festival and lantern contests， or 赛花灯 （s3ihu`d8ng）， during the Lantern Festival.
The words 竞赛 （j#ngs3i） or 比赛 （b@s3i） mean competition. The two characters 竞 and 比 have interestingly similar origins that complete the meaning of 赛. Both of those characters appeared over 3，000 years ago on the oracle bones in the form of two people standing side by side （the traditional form for竞 being 铏 ）. The difference is in the identities of the people involved. In 比， the two are a couple， which originally meant “close and intimate”. For 竞， it’s a fight to the death. The pictograph indicates that the people depicted in 竞 wear shackles， and much like the times of ancient Rome， fights between prisoners were a favorite pastime of the Chinese ancients.
Today， 赛 is mainly associated with sports. A race is 赛跑 （s3ip2o）， a car race is 赛车 （s3ich8）， and a horse race is， by parity of reason， 赛马 （s3im2）. For competition related terms and phrases， you’re never wrong throwing in more 赛. Preliminary competition is 初赛 （ch$s3i）， quarter-final is 复赛 （f&s3i）， and final is 决赛 （ju9s3i）. A championship or tournament is 锦标赛 （j@nbi`os3i）， literally “a competition for a brocade flag”， because grabbing the flag used to be the sign of winning dragon boat races. The same prefix is true for venue， area， and time： playing field is 赛场 （s3ich2ng）， division is 赛区（s3iq$）， and season is 赛季 （s3ij#）.
Besides being the building blocks for sports words， 赛 alone can be used as a comparative or quantitative word. For instance， 这里的风光赛江南 （Zh- l@ de f8nggu`ng s3i ji`ngn1n）， means “the view here is better than south of the Yangtze River”； or 这些姑娘干活儿赛过小伙子 （Zh-xi8 g$niang g3n hu5r s3igu7 xi2ohu6zi.）， which means “these ladies got the job done better than the men”. If you are having an extremely good time， you can describe it as 赛神仙 （s3i sh9nxi`n）， or “merrier than the immortals”.
There’s also a particularly famous case of clever translation worth mentioning. Subway， the American sandwich shop， picked 赛 as a part of their Chinese brand name 赛百味 （S3ib2iw-i）， which not only resembles its English pronunciation but means “better than many other flavors”. - LAO HUANG （黄伟嘉）， TRANSLATED BY LIU JUE （刘珏）
赛 is a pictophonetic character（形声字 x！ngsh8ngz#）. The top part borrows from 塞 （s3i， fill in） for pronunciation. The lower part，贝 （b-i）， represents a seashell. You might be asking yourself what a seashell has to do with anything， but judging from scripts dating back over 2，000 years， the lower part is actually two hands holding a piece of seashell—an object of great value to the inland ancients. In order to show respect to the gods， they would offer seashells as sacrifices to the gods. The original meaning is one of religious piety； however， this usage has largely died off in modern day， only preserved in words that refer to rituals and offerings， such as 祭赛 （j#s3i）， 赛神（s3ish9n）， and 赛社 （s3ish-）.
Roughly 1，500 years ago， in the Book of Wei （《魏书》W-ish$， a historical writing recording the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei Dynasty from 386 to 550）， the first case of 赛 used to mean contest was spotted. Some suspect this comes from the fact that—when families put up sacrifices， such as geese or pigs—they tended to compare sizes for bragging rights and social status. Other traditional contests also include poetry contests， or 赛诗 （s3ish～）， during the Dragon Boat Festival and lantern contests， or 赛花灯 （s3ihu`d8ng）， during the Lantern Festival.
The words 竞赛 （j#ngs3i） or 比赛 （b@s3i） mean competition. The two characters 竞 and 比 have interestingly similar origins that complete the meaning of 赛. Both of those characters appeared over 3，000 years ago on the oracle bones in the form of two people standing side by side （the traditional form for竞 being 铏 ）. The difference is in the identities of the people involved. In 比， the two are a couple， which originally meant “close and intimate”. For 竞， it’s a fight to the death. The pictograph indicates that the people depicted in 竞 wear shackles， and much like the times of ancient Rome， fights between prisoners were a favorite pastime of the Chinese ancients.
Today， 赛 is mainly associated with sports. A race is 赛跑 （s3ip2o）， a car race is 赛车 （s3ich8）， and a horse race is， by parity of reason， 赛马 （s3im2）. For competition related terms and phrases， you’re never wrong throwing in more 赛. Preliminary competition is 初赛 （ch$s3i）， quarter-final is 复赛 （f&s3i）， and final is 决赛 （ju9s3i）. A championship or tournament is 锦标赛 （j@nbi`os3i）， literally “a competition for a brocade flag”， because grabbing the flag used to be the sign of winning dragon boat races. The same prefix is true for venue， area， and time： playing field is 赛场 （s3ich2ng）， division is 赛区（s3iq$）， and season is 赛季 （s3ij#）.
Besides being the building blocks for sports words， 赛 alone can be used as a comparative or quantitative word. For instance， 这里的风光赛江南 （Zh- l@ de f8nggu`ng s3i ji`ngn1n）， means “the view here is better than south of the Yangtze River”； or 这些姑娘干活儿赛过小伙子 （Zh-xi8 g$niang g3n hu5r s3igu7 xi2ohu6zi.）， which means “these ladies got the job done better than the men”. If you are having an extremely good time， you can describe it as 赛神仙 （s3i sh9nxi`n）， or “merrier than the immortals”.
There’s also a particularly famous case of clever translation worth mentioning. Subway， the American sandwich shop， picked 赛 as a part of their Chinese brand name 赛百味 （S3ib2iw-i）， which not only resembles its English pronunciation but means “better than many other flavors”. - LAO HUANG （黄伟嘉）， TRANSLATED BY LIU JUE （刘珏）