汉英姓氏和称谓语的习俗对比2

1、汉英姓氏和称谓语的习俗对比A Comparison of names and forms of address between Chinese and English 摘要：姓名是社会上人们籍以相互区别的标志，不同的国家，不同的语言，有着不同的姓氏习俗和称谓体系。本文讨论了汉英姓氏的历史渊源以及称谓语的异同点，这可以避免跨文化交际中的陷阱，达到有效的交际。关键词：姓氏习俗，称谓语，异同点，文化差异。 Names refer to the words that someone is called or known by. Names include given names, surnames,

2、full names, with or without a title, and nicknames or pet names. Chinese names consists of surname plus given name with surnames put first whereas English names have surnames coming first .In the following, we would like to discuss the source of surname and naming habits in both languages.I. Surname

3、1. Chinese surname1.1 HistoryThe convention of bearing a surname in Chinese can be traced to“伏羲氏”，“正姓氏别婚姻”，so Chinese surname has a history of at least 5000 years. The present“姓” is actually the combination of “姓”and “氏”。From the ancient times to the early period of Chin “姓”and “氏” are two different

4、 concept. Originally, “姓” is the symbol of a tribe, it derives from the matriarchy.It is used identify the maternal relationship.Therefore, we can find “女” in the formative part of the character “姓”,and also many other characters of surnames, such as “姚，姒，姬，姜，妫”. As time elapsed, with the growing of

5、 population, one tribe subdivided into several branches, with each branch having its own symbol, thats “氏”.During the Warring Period, people usually used “姓” instead of “氏”. Gradually the divide between “姓” and “氏” became vague, and two combined into one concept, that is the present surname.1.2 Sour

6、cesChinese surnames were drawn mainly from the following sources.1.2.1 Ancestors titles conferred after they died, such as “庄”王，“哀”公.1.2.2 Ancestors noble titles, such as 王, 公, 侯.1.2.3 Ancestors offical titles, such as 司马, 司徒, 帅, 尉, 司空. 1.2.4 Ancestors character or given name, 郑国的公子“偃”, 字“子游”, his s

7、ons surname was “游”.1.2.5 The kingdoms their ancestor founded, such as 齐, 鲁, 秦, 晋.1.2.6 The place they lived, such as 西门, 南宫.1.2.7 The occupation, such as陶、卜、巫、商、乐. 1.2.8 Ancestors totem, such as the animals or natural phenomena their ancestors worshipped “云, 龙, 熊, 牛, 马, 羊, 鹿”.The Chinese people hav

8、e been accustomed to the expression “百家姓”, even though more 100 surnames can be founded in Chinese. According to 新编千家姓edited by ,there are 3017 surnames including the two characters surnames. Another book中国字符published in台湾, there are 6363 surnames including single, two characters, three characters,

9、four characters surnames. Generally speaking, it is said to be about 3000 Chinese surnames, mostly are single and two characters, three and four characters are rare, such as朱可浑,步六孤, 候莫陈, 井疆六氏, 自死独膊, 爱新觉罗. 2. English surname 2.1. HistoryThe history of the names in English is only several hundred year

10、s, people in ancient England had only first names. The names of the Anglo-Saxons are quite simple, mostly was composedof a common word such as Firth and Snelgar. It was not until the 10th century that the practiceof bearing surname was introduced, to be more specific, in the year of 1066 when the No

11、rmans invaded England, they brought with them the convention of surnames,during the 500 yearsafterwards, that was up to about 1500s Englishmen formed their own surname system.2.2. SourcesEnglish surnames were draw from a number of sources.2.2.1 Some came from the occupationsFor example: Cook means a

12、 person who cooks or prepares food. Forester means a person who looks after a forest. Chandler means a person who sells candles. Taylor means a tailor who makes clothes. 2.2.2 Some came from the place identity: derives their surnames from the place or the geographical feature of the place they lived

13、.For example: Norman, Moor, Hall, Chesterfield, Wood, Hill, Lake, Brook, Bush.2.2.3 Some came from the family relationship identity. As with Robertson for the son of Robert. In Scotland instead of adding “-son” to the end, “Mac-” or “Mc-” was placed at the beginning with the same meaning, such as Do

14、nalds son became Donaldson in England, but MacDonald in Scotland. The Irish version of this device was to add “O-” before the name, so that the son of Patrick became known as OPatrick. Other ways in which family relationships came to be woven into family names can be seen in Watkins (the kin of Watt

15、) and Thomas(Toms).2.2.4 Some came from the personal characteristics. Many surnames had their origin in nichnames expressing some personal characteristics, such as Small, Long, Wise, Short, Little, Moody, Fox, Brown, Young.The local people address the newcomers by the place they come from, such as S

16、cot, Wallace,Newcomb, Strange, Travel.2.2.5 Some came from the legal status, such as Freeman.2.2.6 Some came from absurd ideas, they created a different new surname, such as an Americanstudent, his name is “William Yoguess”, its from the words “you guess”.It has been said that there are more than 35

17、000 surnames adopted by English speakers. English native speakers also have compound surnames and double surnames, such as Lloyd-Jones, Bartle-Smith. There are two reasons for double surnames. One is to avoid repetitions,have the same surname as others. The other can be traced to the law concerning

18、property inheritage, it required that males had priority over the females in inheritage. If there were nomales in the family, then the female can inherit the property under the condition of combiningthe surnames of the females father and that of her husband with a hyphen between the two surnames. Th

19、e double surname drives from the Womens Liberation Movement, more and more women tend to retain their surname and adding their husbands surname after it.Form the above, we can see that originally the surname (both Chinese and English) had implication, indicate something like family relationship and

20、so on. Gradually they lost the original indication, and became a simple symbol.3 A comparison between Chinese surnames and English surnames3.1 The history of Chinese surname is much longer than that of English surname with Chinese surname bearing a history of 5000 years whereas English surname only

21、has 500 years.3.2 As we know, whatever in England or in china, peoples family name is hereditary, children always use fathers surname. But in china, after woman get married, she can still keep her surname, sometimes add her husbands surname before her own surname; But in English speaking country, af

22、ter woman get married, she should change her own surname into her husbands surname, this kind of custom was kept till now. 3.3 In both Chinese and English, there is two character surname, such as “上官、诸葛、司马、 孟仲、公孙、欧阳、西门” in Chinese, “Lloyed-Jones, Bartle-Smith” in English.But in Chinese surnames, exc

23、ept the one character surname and two character surname, there still are there character surname and four character surname, such as “朱可浑、步六孤、候莫陈” and “井疆六氏、自死独膊、爱新觉罗”. But this phenomenon seems not appeared in English surnames.3.4 In both Chinese and English, they use occupation and place identity

24、as their surnames.In China, people also use ancestors totem and ancestors kingdom as their surnames. However, people from English speaking country use the legal status and the physiographical feature of the place they lived as their surnames. II. Given Name1. Chinese given nameChinese given names ca

25、n give all sorts of information about a person. They may, for example, give clues about where and when the person was born. Or they may tell us something about family relationships, ethnic group, parents expectation for their children, sex, value or even personal characteristics.1.1 Personal names a

26、re related to historical events.According to a survey done recently there are in Beijing alone more than ten thousand people bearing the name “国庆”. Many people who are about 45 years of age are called “援朝” or even “抗美”. According to another survey, “红” is the most popular Chinese character entering

27、personal names from June, 1966 to October, 1976. Apparently, “红” is associated with “The great Cultural Revolution” in those ten years in particular and revolution in general. 1.2 Personal names are related to the date of birth.“春”, “夏”, “秋”, “冬”, the names of four seasons , can all be assigned as p

28、ersonal names to those who are born in one of those seasons. “谷雨”, “芒种”, “立秋”, “小雪”, can also become personal names of the rural Chinese to whom the 24 divisions of a year are important. Interestingly, there are even people who were named “五一”, “六一” or “九一” because they were born in one of these day

29、s. 1.3 Personal names are related to the place of birth.“京生”, “沪生”, “晋生”, “鲁生”, (literally, born in Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi, or Shandong repectively) are likely to be assigned to the children from mobile families.The same is true for “榕”(Fuzhou), “宁”(Nanjing), “蓉”(Chengdu), “蕙”(Guangzhou), “渝”(Cho

30、ngqing) that are frequently found in personal names in Chinese. These names are linguistic manifestations of “一方水土养一方人”, a cultural theme in China. 1.4 Personal names are related to the others.The terms representing natural phenomena, such as “冰”,“雪”,“霜”,“云”, the geographical terms like “峰”, “岳”, “江

31、”, “泊”, “海”, “涛” and many others, plant names like “松”, “竹”, “柳”, “杨” and, of course, the flower names such as “梅”,“菊”, “莲”, “桂”, represent the natural environment in which human beings exist and can often be found in Chinese personal names, too. In fact, the personal names in Chinese cited above dr

32、aw a comprehensive picture of the environment in which the Chinese. Obviously, Chinese personal names are strongly influenced by Chinese environmentalistic culture.2. English given nameFour types of personal names are quite common among English speakers.2.1 The first type are religious names.The fol

33、lowing names, for example, are associated with Christianity which is foreign to most of the Chinese people. These names remind us of the close relationship of the Western life-style to Christianity. Such as Christian, Eliot, Godwin, Joseph.2.2 Plant, especially flower, names are popular among female

34、 English speakers. And we know that many Chinese females bear flower names, too. Flowers are beauty embodied. And it is a human nature to love beauty. It is only natural for human beings, especially females, to love flowers and flower names. Such as Camellia, Daisy, Evelyn, Flora, Heather, Ivy.2.3 T

35、here are weapon names in English, which are borne by more makes than females.Many ancient English speakers were soldiers to whom weapons were indispensable. Suchas Barry, Edgar, Gerald, Oscar, Giles, Brenda.2.4 It seems that English speakers are particularly fond of pikes as personal names. Names re

36、lated to knowledge, authority, fame are also quite common in English. Such as Abraham, Arthur, Benjamin, Edmund, Guy, Henry.3. A comparison between Chinese given name and English given name 3.1 English babies may be named after influential figures. For example, “John” and “Jane” which are both relig

37、ious names and many influential figures in the Western historybear these names, including St. John, an early disciple of Christ and one of the 12 Apostles and John Bull, England personified. “Lincoln”, is apparently after Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the country. English babies may be name

38、d after their grandparents or other relatives to show respect or to honor them. This practice was, however, absent from traditional Chinese culture which was characterized by a clearly delineated stratified society in which the names of ones relatives one or two generations above or officials or oth

39、er influential figures were taboos to the ordinary Chinese.3.2 We can hardly find personal names in English that are related to historical events, which are quite common among the Chinese people. For example, “国庆”.,“援朝”, “抗美”, “三运”, “红”等.3.3 We can hardly find personal names in English related to th

40、e date of birth. But in Chinese these names are also popular, “春”, “夏”, “秋”, “冬”, “谷雨”, “芒种”, “立秋”, “小雪”, “五一”, “六一” or “九一” all can be used as ones personal name.3.4 Whatever in Chinese naming system or in English naming system, names have their distinction according to the sex. We can also see the

41、 resemblance of names symbolism in Chinese and English. For example, girls name always embody the character of smart, elegant, virtuous, lovely and so on. Opposite to these, boys name embody the character of strong, staunch, brave and so on. And in English speaking country, female first names tend to be longer