接我在聖路易，路易

As some of you have doubtless already noted, Multilingual Monday is back! This week's topic is one I've wrestled with myself: Chinese versions of American place names.

Seems there's always more to learn. I've known for years that the Chinese call my hometown 聖路易 Shèng Lùyì, which is interesting in that it's neither a straight transcription nor a complete translation but a little of both. 聖 shèng is an old term for a sage (至聖先師 Zhìshèng Xiānshī or "Most Sage Master" is an official title of Confucius) that by happy coincidence resembles some derivatives of Latin sanctus such as saint, san, and são. Thus, it's used in the names of Christian saints like 聖彼得 Shèng Bǐdé "St Peter". 路易 Lùyì (which incidentally can be read as a phrase, "the road is easy") is a transcription of Louis, probably based on the French pronunciation.

[Another interesting example of a "half-translation" is 聖彼得堡 Shèng Bǐdébǎo, where 堡 bǎo means "small fort" but also happens to sound something like various descendents of Proto-Germanic *burg- and so conventionally replaces them in names (e.g. 匹茲堡 Pǐzībǎo "Pittsburgh"). So it's a full transcription (Bǐdé) sandwiched between two translated elements.]

What I didn't realise until aadroma's post, however, is that 聖路易 is not the only form in use. Some older names contain 聖藟 Shèng Lěi. The last character is so obscure that Lin Yu-tang doesn't even list it. I did find it in my Far East Chinese-English dictionary, however, where it is translated as "a variety of climbing plant", although it can also be a variant form of 蕾 as in 蓓蕾 bèilěi "flower bud". On the basis of this, I would expect it to be read lèuih (i.e. [lɵy21]) in Cantonese and luǐ in pre-modern Beijing Mandarin (and more conservative Mandarin dialects). This suggests that a dialect pronunciation was the basis for its adoption.

City names often have abbreviated forms, particularly (exclusively?) when there is a Chinese community dwelling in them (e.g. 芝城 Zhīchéng for 芝加哥 Zhījiāgē "Chicago", and St. Louis, as I've belatedly discovered, is no exception there either. Poking around, I uncovered 聖市 Shèngshì "Holy Market". Actually, althoug the literal ancient meaning of 市 shì is "market", here it is only an abbreviation of 城市 chéngshì "city". I assume this is a term distinguishing the city proper from either the county or the metro area, but most of the cites I've found are ambiguous.

Weekend Odds and Ends

It's hard not to look back over a three-day weekend without feeling like I've wasted oodles of time. Oh, well--that's not always a bag thing, is it? But what else did I actually do besides get myself sweaty, muddy, mosquito-bitten, and worn-out trying to wrestle a light craft overland and keep it from capsizing on the water? Apparently, I drank a lot--for me, that is. Normally, I don't have more than one or two drinks a week. Saturday night, though, I had four bourbon-and-sodas at Bear Night (which probably amounts to at most one-and-a-half real drinks at home), Sunday I had a couple of glasses of red wine with dinner, and then Monday afternoon I knocked back three beers at a barbecue followed by some Chinese Riesling at home.

Chinese Riesling? Yeah, I know, that was our reaction when we saw it at Foremost Liquors on Argyle. But we figured it would give us a preview of what we'd find in China. The label is Huadong, a winery with an interesting history and, apparently, a growing rep. However, it was only after we drank some that we noticed the vintage is 1992, which is long in the tooth for a Riesling and early in the day for Huadong, which was only founded in 1985. Hopefully, there more recent stuff will be more palatable. I wonder if it will have the same "Chinesy" quality. The moment we sniffed the bouquet, both monshu and I had the same thought: This smells like Shaoxing! We wondered if they might have finished it in Shaoxing casks in order to make it easier for Chinese tipplers to accept. (Huadong's production is almost entirely consumed domestically.)

The Leinenkugle Berryweiss' that we drank at the BBQ were probably the tastiest alcohol I had all weekend, but they didn't seem to have much effect. Maybe between the bleariness from my stupid sleeping and the languidness of relaxing on the warm deck I simply didn't notice. Unfortunately, I was too out-of-it to visit much with people that I don't see enough of and instead hunkered down with my steady buddies. I was a little more outgoing at Bear Night, where I spent much of my time talking to a really sweet guy sitting up front, knocking back straight tequila on the rocks, and snapping photos of everyone. I also finally met the Scoutmaster's boyfriend and got to chat a bit with a crushette who unfortunately found the lure of a roach more intoxicating than my honeyed words.