Dragon Boat Festival

Today 3^rd June 2022, is Ngou2 Ghuêh8 Zioh4 and the Chinese people remember a Minister from the Chu State which is called Co Gog 楚國 in Teochew.  Co Gog formed an alliance with Qin State which we call Cing Gog 秦國 in Teochew.

When I was a child, Qin was spelled as Chin and this is where China gets its name.

This Co Gog’s minister killed himself by drowning himself in a river after Cing Gog conquered Co Gog and the people loved this minister so much that they made rice dumplings and threw these into the river to feed the fish so the fish did not eat the minster.

The Minister’s name is Qu Yuan 屈原 and in Teochew it is pronounced as Kug Nguang 屈原。

You may want to watch this video for a laugh.

I have created a word list so you know the words which are used during this festival.

Ngou(2) Ghuêh8 Zioh4	五月節｜五月节	Dragon Boat Festival
bag8	縛｜缚	to tie
bag8 zang3	縛粽｜缚粽	to wrap rice dumpling
giam2zang3	鹼粽｜碱粽	savoury rice dumpling
gi1zang3	梔粽｜栀粽	alkaline rice dumpling
zang3giu5	粽球	rice dumpling with meat filling
bhah4zang3	肉粽	rice dumpling with meat filling
bhah4zang3 is said by some overseas Teochew instead of zang3giu5 for rice dumplings filled with meat
pê6 lêng5zung5	扒龍船｜扒龙船	Dragon boat race

 zang3giu5 粽球

Cannot speak Teochew Uê properly!

 I have never understood why our ancestors got us to recite a Teochew ballad from young and taught us such a ballad with a grammatical mistake.

They should have taught us tiⁿ1dêng2 u6 ziah4 gho5 because we do not like zêg8 in our sentence.

tin1dêng2 zêg8 ziah4 gho5

天頂一隻鵝｜天顶一只鹅

tin1dêng2 u6 ziah4 gho5

天頂有隻鵝｜天顶有只鹅

No wonder so many of us cannot speak Teochew properly. 

When ask how many people have arrived, you will often hear people overuse gai5 and they may answer:

No6 gai5 nang5

二個人｜二个人

The answer should be:

No6 gioh4 nang5

二腳人｜二脚人

I am glad Mogher has got this recorded in their online dictionary!

You can see gai5 is omitted in Teochew in the following example.

Mandarin	English	Teochew
三個月後	After three months	san1 ghuêh8 ao6 三月後

learnt a new Teochew word

In the last post on storytelling, I have learnt a new Teochew word hob8 and I looked up in Zhang Xiao Shan’s 2^nd Edition dictionary page 320 for the meaning and uses of hob8. I have made some notes to share with you.

hob8	噏	to blow
hob8huang1	噏風｜噏风	to chat
huang1 cên1 hob8 rib8 lai5
風生噏入來｜风生噏入来
a ferocious wind is blowing
cên1	生	ferocious, fierce, violent

 

Storytelling

In the subtitles it writes 講古 is a Hokkien cultural art of oral transmission of stories according to the link website. The subtitle then writes 講古 = gu3feng1 鼓風  and the Mandarin gu3feng1 means to draw air using bellows.

However, Lim Gang 林江 the storyteller says oh8 gou2 學古 and in Teochew oh8gou2 means story telling. He then says oh8gou2 zui6si6 hob8huang1.

oh8gou2 zui6si6 hob8huang1
學古就是噏風
Storytelling is precisely chatting.
ZXS defines hob8huang1 as 聊天 , 吹牛, 侃大山
hob8huang1	噏風｜噏风	to chat

 

a race

 How does one say a race in Teochew? Listen to the video and you will know how to say sai3pao2.

bi2sai3	比賽｜比赛	competition, a match
sai3pao2	賽跑｜赛跑	a race

Sai3 comes from bi2sai3 and pao2 is from the Mandarin word for run. We normally say run as zao2 走 and we use the Mandarin pao in running shoes as in pao2oi5 跑鞋 we call a treadmill as pao2bou7gi1 跑步機 a horse race as pao2bhe2 跑馬 etc.

the character in7 院

 

We will learn a few Teochew words which has the character iⁿ7 院。

theatre	hi3in7	戲院｜戏院
Cinema is also called hi3hng5 戲園｜戏园 by some overseas Teochew people.
cinema, movie theatre	diang6hi3in7	電戲院｜电戏院
multiplex cinema	zoi7 tian1 diang6hi3’in7	㩼廳電戲院｜ 㩼厅电戏院
multiplex cinema	zoi7 tian1 diang6ian2in7	㩼廳電影院｜ 㩼厅电影院
hospital	ui1in7	醫院｜医院
an educational institute	hag8in7	學院∣学院
science faculty	kuê1hag8in7	科學院｜科学院
a law court	huag4in7	法院
opera house, theatre	giah8in7	劇院｜剧院
picture gallery	uê7in7	畫院｜画院

The Mandarin ting2yuan4 庭院 for courtyard is called ghua7diaⁿ5外庭 often written as 外埕 in Teochew.

hi3hng5 戲園｜戏园

the character hng5 園｜园

 We will learn a few Teochew words which has the character hng5 園｜园。

 

land use for growing plants or a site use for public recreation or for educational purposes		hng5園｜园
garden	huê1hng5	花園｜花园
The Old Winter Palace destroyed by James Bruce in 1860, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863)	In5mêng5hng5	圓明園｜圆明园
public park	gong1hng5	公園｜ 公园
a public square in the middle of Swatow City which has a pavilion	Suan1tao5 Ci6 Sio2gong1hng5	汕頭市小公園｜ 汕头市小公园
kindergarten, nursery (China)	iun3ri5hng5	幼兒園｜幼儿园
kindergarten, nursery (China, Taiwan)	iun3zin2 hng5	幼稚園｜幼稚园
young	iun3zin2	幼稚
vegetable garden	cai3hng5	菜園｜菜园
zoo	dong6muêh8hng5	動物園｜动物园
animals	dong6muêh8	動物｜动物
botanical garden, arboretum	sig4muêh8hng5	植物園｜植物园
plant, vegetation	sig4muêh8	植物
campus	hao6hng5	校園｜校园
amusement park	iu5lag8hng5	遊樂園｜游乐园