What does 代爲 (대위) mean?

This is basically a reposting of a comment I made on a post at 一歸源 (Kuiwon), an excellent blog that deals with classical Chinese writings from the perspective of a Korean-American hobbyist who actually knows quite a bit about classical Chinese.

Anyway, a question was raised about Chinese word order being more similar to English word order than to Korean, which is true, but there is some Chinese word order that is more similar to Korean than to English. Relative clauses is one example.

與我同行之人 (여아동행지인) is a relative clause that means "the people who went with me." In Korean and Chinese the head noun (人 - "people") appears at the end of the clause, but in English it appears at the first of the clause. 與我同行 means "with (與) me (我) together (同) go (行)," and 之 essentially just works as a marker, separating the descriptive part of the clause from the head noun.

In addition to relative clauses, sometimes it is easier to translate Chinese using your Korean mind rather than your English mind. For example, recently I came across the combination 代爲 (대위) while translating some Chinese from the 1800s. The sentence was as follows:

客(각)歲(세)美(미)國(국)領(영)事(사)官(관)託(탁)人(인)代(대)爲(위)買(매)地(지), 蓋(개)起(기)公(공)館(관).

Last year (客歲) the American (美國) consul (領事官) asked someone (託人) to act on his behalf (代爲) to buy (買) land (地) to build (蓋起) an official residence (公館).”

At first I had a little trouble making sense of the character 爲 using my English mind, feeling that 爲 was unnecessary, but then I searched through Korea’s “Annals of the Joseon Dynasty” and noticed that 代爲 appeared quite often. Then I started using my Korean mind and suddenly it made perfect sense.

I may be wrong, but now I interpret 代爲 as being the Chinese version of the Korean word 대신하여, 代 representing 대신 and 爲 representing 하여. In English, 代 means "on behalf of" and 爲 means "to do," "to make," or "to act." Anyone who has lived in Korea for any length of time has almost certainly heard 대신하여 or 대신해서 used in conversation. It is usually followed by a verb telling exactly what is being done on behalf of the person in question.

After more than 1500 years of reading and writing Chinese, Koreans have probably adopted many styles and expressions from the Chinese. How do you say, for example, 대신하여 in pure Korean? 사람을 바꿔서? Even though 代爲 is not a combination found in Naver’s Chinese character dictionary, the meaning seems pretty obvious if you use your Korean mind.

What does 自來火 mean?

自來火 (자래화) literally means "self-coming fire," which was once the name for "matches." Also, 自來筆 (자래필) literally means "self-coming brush," which was once the name for a "fountain pen."

What good is a lot of talk?

多(다)言(언)無(무)益(익)

或(혹)問(문)墨(묵)子(자)曰(왈). 言(언)以(이)多(다)爲(위)貴(귀)乎(호). 墨(묵)子(자)曰(왈), 蝦(하)蟆(마)日(일)夜(야)鳴(명), 而(이)人(인)厭(염)之(지). 雄(웅)鷄(계)一(일)鳴(명). 天(천)下(하)振(진)動(동). 言(언)在(재)當(당)時(시)而(이)已(이). 多(다)言(언)何(하)益(익).

Much (多) Talk (言) Has No (無) Value (益)

Someone (或) asked (問) Mo-tzu (墨子), saying (曰), “[Do] words (言), by means of (以) quantity (多), become (爲) precious (貴乎)?”

Mo-tzu (墨子) said (曰), “Frogs (蝦蟆) day (日) [and] night (夜) croak (鳴), yet (而) men (人) loathe (厭) them (之). [But when] the cock (雄鷄) crows once (一鳴), the whole world (天下) vibrates (振動). Speak (言) at (在) the proper (當) time (時), and nothing more (而已). What is the benefit of talking a lot (多言何益)?

Notes

1.    益 means “value” or “benefit,” as in the Korean word 이익(利益).

2.    曰 means “to say” or “to speak” and signals that quoted speech follows.

3.    乎 is a question marker, similar to “?.”

4.    雄鷄 means “male (雄) chicken (鷄). The character鷄 is the same character found in the Korean chicken dish 삼계탕 (蔘鷄湯).

5.    天下 literally means “under Heaven.”

6.    而已 literally means “and stops.” It is often used at the end of sentences to signal “and that’s all.”

7.    多言何益 literally means “much (多) talking (言) what (何) value (益).” The adverb precedes the verb in Chinese, so 多言 means “talk much.”

What are the "nine kindred" (九族 - 구족)?

The "Nine Kindred" (九族 - 구족)

1. great-great-grandfather (高祖 - 고조)
2. great grandfather (曾祖 - 증조)
3. grandfather (祖父 - 조부)
4. father (父 - 부 / 父親 - 부친)
5. oneself (自身 - 자신)
6. son (子 - 자)
7. grandson (孫子 - 손자)
8. great-grandson (曾孫 - 증손)
9. great-great-grandson (元孫 - 원손 / 玄孫 - 현손)

祖孫 (조손) means "grandfather (祖) and grandson (孫) ."
上 (上) means "before," and 祖上 (조상) means "ancestors."
先 (선) also means "before, and 先祖 (선조) and 祖先 (조선) also mean "ancestors."
後 (후) means "after," and 後孫 (후손) means "descendants."

Why was King Sejong named "Sejong" instead of "Sejo"?

The Joseon Dynasty lasted 519 years, during which there were twenty-seven Korean kings, including Emperors Kojong and Sunjong. After their deaths, they were given "temple names" (廟號 - 묘호), which consisted of two characters. The first character could be called an "adjective character" because it helped to describe the king. The temple name for the dynasty's seventeenth king, for example, was "Hyojong (孝宗). "Hyo" (孝) means "filial piety," which suggests that King Hyojong was a dutiful son. The second character of the temple name was one of two characters, 宗 (종) or 祖 (조). Among those twenty-seven kings of the Joseon Dynasty, eighteen had the character 宗 (종) attached to their adjective character and seven the character 祖 (조). Two of the kings, however, were given the title of 君 (군), which was a title given to princes. not kings. Whether a king's name ended in 종, 조, or 군 was decided only after his death and was based on how he was judged to have performed his duties as king.

The characters 宗 (종) and 祖 (조) were titles of honor for Korean kings, but the character 君 was used for kings who had been dethroned and denoted back down to prince for dishonoring the throne. Though 宗 (종) and 祖 (조) were titles of honor, they were not of equal honor. The character 宗 (종) was attached to the names of kings judged to have been "virtuous," and the character 祖 (조) was attached to the names of kings judged to have been "meritorious." A "virtuous king" simply fulfilled his expected duties as king, but a "meritorious king" did something beyond his regular duties that earned him special merit, suggesting that kings with names ending in 조 were a step above those with names ending in 종.

The following is a list of the Korean pronunciations of the first characters used for the twenty-seven names of the Joseon Dynasty kings. It might help you memorize the order.

태정태세 문단제 

예성연중 인명선 

광인효현 수경영 

정순헌철 고순

After memorizing the list, then you just need to learn on which names to attach 종 (宗), 조 (祖), or 군 (君).

The first king of the Joseon Dynasty was King Taejo (太祖). The attached 祖 means he was considered a "meritorious king." Apparently establishing a new dynasty was quite a feat, earning him his special merit. The character 太 (태) means "great," and was the same character used for the founder of the Goryeo Dynasty, whose name was also "Taejo" (太祖).

The next Joseon Dynasty king to have 祖 attached to his name was King Sejo (1455 - 1468), the seventh king of the Joseon Dynasty and second son of King Sejong the Great (1418 - 1450). The first son of King Sejong was King Munjong (1450 - 1452), who died shortly after becoming king, passing the throne to his 12-year-old son, King Danjong (1452 - 1455). Though King Sejo had forced his young nephew to abdicate the throne to him and killed many people, including his nephew and younger brother; King Sejo apparently earned enough merit by strengthening the monarchy and improving government administration to have 祖 posthumously attached to his name.

Even though King Sejo demoted King Danjong to prince, thereby, reducing his title to 君 (노산군), he is now referred to as King Danjong because scholars during the reign of King Sukjong (1674 - 1720) felt that he had been undeservingly dethroned and, therefore, they restored his title and gave him the posthumous name "King Danjong."

Anyway, the point I want to make is that even though King Sejong the Great is now credited with many achievements, apparently none were considered great enough at the time to merit 祖 being posthumously attached to his name. I find that somewhat interesting.