Carstairs Douglas Dictionary of the Amoy Language (The Amoy Mission--1840-1951)

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[Memorials of Douglas Carstairs]
Part 3&4 Carstair's Amoy Dictionary

CONTENTS
Part 1. LIFE, EDUCATION,TRAINING, OBJECTS, HABITS,WORK
Part 2. Extracts from his LETTERS
Part 3. PREFACE to his AMOY DICTIONARY
Part 4 Extract from AMOY DICTIONARY
Part 5. His CLOSING DAYS, by REV. WM.McGREGOR, Amoy
Part 6. His MISSIONARY CAREER, by REV. W. S. SWANSON, Amoy
Part 7. Extract from LETTER of REV. DR.TALMAGE, Amoy
Part 8. Extracts from LETTERS of REV. H. L. MACKENZIE, Swatow
Part 9. Missions in China of PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND;STAFF, STATIONS,and LONDON OFFICE-BEARERS
Part 10. Statistics of whole PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN CHINA, and of the SHANGHAI MISSIONARY CONFERENCE
Joann Hill Recommends "pure gold" Amoy Dictionary

EXTRACTS FROM PREFACE of Amoy Dictionary
"The vernacular or spoken language of Amoy, which this dictionary attempts to make more accessible than formerly, has been also termed by some 'The Amoy Dialect' or 'The Amoy Colloquial'; and it partially coincides with the so-called 'Hok-kien Dialect,' illustrated by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst in his quarto dictionary, under that title. But such words as 'dialect' or 'colloquial' give an erroneous conception of its nature. It is not a mere colloquial dialect or patois; it is spoken by the highest ranks, just as by the common people, by the most learned, just as by the ignorant; learned men, indeed, add a few polite or pedantic phrases, but these are mere excrescences and even they are pronounced according to the Amoy sounds), while the main body and staple of the spoken language of the most refined and learned classes is the same as that of coolies, labourers, and boatmen.
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"Nor does the term 'dialect' convey anything like a correct idea of its distinctive character; it is no mere dialectic variety of some other language; it is a distinct language, one of the many and widely differing languages which divide among them the soil of China.

"The so-called 'written language' of China is indeed uniform throughout the whole country; but it is rather a notation than a language; for this universal written language is pronounced differently when read aloud in the different parts of China, so that while, as written, it is one, as soon as it is pronounced, it splits into several languages. And still further, this written language, as it is read aloud from books, is not spoken, in any place whatever under any form of pronunciation. The most learned men never employ it as a means of ordinary oral communication even among themselves. It is in fact a dead language, related to the various spoken languages of China somewhat as Latin is to the languages of South-western Europe.
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HIS ACCOUNT OF AMOY LANGUAGE.
"A very considerable number of the spoken languages of China have been already more or less studied by European and American residents in the country, such as the Mandarin, the Hakka, the vernaculars of Canton and Amoy, and several others. These are not dialects of one language; they are cognate languages, bearing to each other a relation similar to that which subsists between the Arabic, the Hebrew, the Syriac, the Ethiopic, and the other' members of the Semitic family; or again, between English, German; Dutch, Danish, Swedish, &c.

"There is another serious objection to the use of the term 'dialect, as applied to these languages, namely, that within each of them there exist real dialects. For instance, the Mandarin, the greatest of all, contains within itself at least three very marked 'dialects,' the Northern, spoken at Pekin; the Southern, spoken at Nanking and Soo-chow; and the Western, spoken in the provinces of Sze-chuen, Hoo-peh, &c.
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"In like manner the language, which for want of a better name we may call the ' Amoy vernacular or spoken language,' contains within itself several real dialects, especially those of Chang-chew, Chin-chew, Tung-an, and of Amoy itself.

"The language of Amoy, including these subordinate dialects, is believed to be spoken by about eight or ten millions. This is the first dictionary of the spoken language."

* * * * * * * *
"While I greatly regret that the Chinese character does not appear in the book, I am in one sense glad that it is absent. For it may serve to make manifest the fact that the vernacular of Amoy is an independent language, which is able to stand alone without the help of the written character. And I should hope that many people may thus be encouraged to study this language who would have been repelled by the sight of the complicated and fantastic characters. Of course every missionary, and every one who would be counted a scholar, must study the written character too, for the vernacular or colloquial cannot for a very long time to come possess any literature worthy of the name."
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******
"To some it seems also a great want that there is no English-Chinese part. But that must really be a separate work. The whole style and character of Chinese thought and expression is so different from the nearest English equivalents, that the work of reversing a dictionary, which at first sight seems very easy, would really be enormous, falling not very far short of the original composition."

(A short specimen of the Dictionary is inserted on next leaf.)

EXTRACT FROM
CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY,
OF THE
VERNACULAR OK SPOKEN LANGUAGE OF AMOY,
BY THE LATE REV. CARSTAIRS DOUGLAS, M.A., LL.D.

IN the Dictionary a number of new letters are introduced, and special marks and accents are applied to ordinary letters, with a view to represent fully and correctly the numerous Chinese sounds, to which our ordinary alphabet is quite inadequate. Some of these signs occur in this extract, but it is impossible to give the explanations of them, as some pages of introduction are occupied in expounding the sounds and signs.
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thiau [R. to carry on a pole; to raise up gently, as with a pin; to stir up or loosen, as with the point of a stick; to sew or embroider; to stir up or instigate; to select; a spoon; = col. thio, thio, thiau].
thiau-hu, a carrier of baggage or burdens, kien-thiau poe-hu, to carry loads on shoulder and back, as pedlars, &c.
thiau-soan, to choose out carefully (v. soan). toa-thiau, the great choosing of graduates for various offices (esp. of Kujin graduates), once in twelve years, by the emperor.
thiau-lang, airy, as a room; having plenty of space between, as houses, trees, &c.; elegant and graceful, as limbs, or us walking (v. lang).
thiau-kiong (C.), = A. thng-si, a small spoon for soup.
thiau[R. chhiau; C. thiau; to excel; to raise], thiau-tug, to call a very young and talented scholar near his own scat, as the examiner sometimes does.
thiau - thoat (r.), - chhiau-thoat, easy-minded; not anxious about danger or troubles.
thiau [R. weak, young, and tender; light and frivolous], kheng-thiau, light and frivolous in manner, esp. as young man; apt to be rather neglectful and too easy-minded about matters entrusted to him; opposed to "hetiong."
kheng-kheng thiau-thiau, id.
thiau [R. tiau, restless; perverse; outrageous], thiau-lan, to cause trouble and annoyance intentionally in many ways (v. lan). thiau-ban, = tiau-ban, obstinately troublesome and disobedient, e.g. very lazy about doing what is ordered, or constantly putting off the payment of what is due.
thiau [R. tiau, a branch; a thin strip; anything long and slender,= col. liau]. chit -be kng- thiau-thiau, extremely poor; having on no clothes at all.
thiau — thiau-a, a pimple on the face.
thiau – (R. id.) thiau-a-hi, a sort of mud-fish, thiau-hi, id.
hoe-thiau, a longer sort of mud-fish.
si-kha-thiau (F), a sort of large lizard which lives in hedges.
thiau [R. thiau, to carry on a pole; to select, &c.; = col. thio, thio; sometimes in C. also read "thiau"], to choose, as persons; also said of things, ke-thiau, choice already made; having been selected. thiau iu-teng, to select some men as soldiers elect (out of a number of candidates) ready to fill up any vacancies that may occur, thiau han-lim, to choose a Tsin-sze graduate and make him a Hanlin.
thiau (Cn.). soat-thiau, vile jesting at each other (cf. A. soat-chhiau).
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thiau (R. id.), to leap; to jump; to overleap; to pass over. to-thiau, to rebound, tio-thiau, to leap about.
thiau-bu, to dance and gesticulate.
thiau-kha-koe, to hop. thiau-tsau, to jump, ma frog, &c.; to give a leap in order to escape, as man.
thiau-thah, very playful and restless, us child, thiau-that, id. thiau-iak (C.), lively and in good health and spirits, as child. oah thiau-tbiau, active, as fish. kia-lo thiau-thiau, to walk (naturally) with a very springy elastic step, thiau-kui, restless imp! said to a troublesome child; a troublesome unruly boy. thiau-han, a troublesome unruly boy, fond of trifling and noisy play.
thiau-han (T.), id. giet-tsu thiau-han, a wild, idle, ill-behaved boy.
thiau-tang, to have the afflatus for giving an oracle, thiau-kau, a set of three dice, used in gambling (v. kau).
chhiak-chhiak-thiau, to jump and frisk about incessantly, phiak-phiak-thiau, to jump about frantically, as sorcerer, phut-phut-thiau, to jump about, as in delight; to jump about, as a flea. pok-pok-thiau, to jump about, as a flea, phok-phok-thiau, to palpitate, as with fear; to dance with rage; to dance with delight or desire, as child; to leap, as a flea. khi kau-phok-phok-thiau, dancing with rage.
thiau-iah, to pass over one leaf of a book, as in reading, &c. thiau-kham, to pass by a shop, as in distributing things, thiau-keng, to pass one house in a row, e.g. one house left unburned in a fire, thiau-chiu", to pass one chapter without reading it; (&c.) thiau-kip seng, to be promoted two or more grades of rank at once.
thiau [U. the, to pass through; thorough; to communicate, as a road; = col. thau], a plank or flat stone used as a bridge or gangway; stepping-stones in a stream, thiau-pang, a plank used as a bridge or gangway (+). u-thiau, there is such a bridge of plank or single stone, &c.
phah-thiau, to lay a gangway or plank, &c., so used; to make a scaffolding, as for building or repairing a house. tah thiau-pang, to make such a scaffolding.
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thiau (On.). khe-thiau, a plant like a dock with red flowers.
thiau (R. tsu), a pillar; a column; a post; a division of a clan, smaller than "phai" or "pang."
si-thiau, a man's horoscope (lit. four columns), consisting of four pairs of characters; said even though written in one column. i--e si-thiau ho, his horoscope is good, poeh-ji pai si thiau, to arrange the eight words of the horoscope in four columns.
to-thiau, the branch of a family; become extinct. beng-pang laan thiau, a weak branch of a powerful family.
thiau-poa", a large square slab of stone sunk in the ground, as foundation for pillar. thiau-e chioh, stone pedestal of a pillar, thiau-tsu, round part of the stone pedestal of a pillar. thiau-peng, a plaster; a half pillar, thiap- thiau, an additional pillar or pilaster set close to a wall as an additional support, esp. to receive boards of a partition. er-thiau, fixed post of a well-sweep, chhu-thiau, the pillar of a house, am-thiau, pillar of a temple, leng-thiau, pillars having dragons carved on them, chha thiau, a wooden pillar. chih-tong, a stone pillar.
thih-teng teng-toa-thiau, the affair is settled finally and conclusively, na’ thi’-thiau, said of a very strong man.

There are single monosyllables in the Dictionary, with much more space devoted to them than in the above case. The page of the Dictionary is much larger than this. It was printed by Messrs. W. Q. Blackie & Co., of Glasgow, employing a large number of special types designed by the Author to express the various Chinese sounds and tones. They furnish this Specimen.
.             Part 5 Douglas' Closing Days

Wanna Learn Amoy Dialect?
Amoy Mission Alumnus Joann Hill recommends "Pocket Dictionary of the Amoy Vernacular: Chinese-English," by Ernest Tipton. She and Dr. Jack speak fluent Amoy so they should know! Tipton's is small and convenient. She wrote, "We treasured the Tipson as tho it was pure rare gold!" (Nov. 7, 2007 e-mail).

I also have copies of the more cumbersom but useful:
Campbell, Rev. W., F.R.G.S. (Member of the Japan Society), "A Dictionary of the Amoy Vernacular Spoken Throughout the Prefectures of Chin-Chiu, Chiang-Chiu and FORMOSA, The Ho Tai Hong Printing Factory, Tainan, Taiwan, 1913
MacGowan, Rev. J., "English and Chinese Dictionary of the Amoy Dialect," London Missionary Society, Amoy, 1883
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HELP the AMOY MISSION!!! This photo of the May, 2007 RCA China Missionary Reunion (courtesy of Wendell and Renske Karsen) show that some RCA folk are still around--and we need their help!
   The John Otte Memorial on Gulangyu Islet finishes with, "This stone may crumble, his bones may become dust, but his character and deeds are imperishable.” But too many characters and deeds will be forgotten if we don't record them while those who remember are still with us. Please E-mail to me stories and photos for the Amoy Mission site (and planned book) so present and future generations can appreciate the character and deeds of those who served in the Amoy Mission.
          Thanks!
Dr. Bill   Xiamen University MBA Center
E-mail: amoybill@gmail.com
Snail Mail: Dr. William Brown
Box 1288 Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian PRC   361005