The Study on the Translation of Geographical Terms of Sketch of the World

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies,Guangzhou,China Email:201710064@oamail.gdufs.edu.cn

[Abstract]Chinese Monthly Magazine is the beginning of modern Chinese magazines.It takes up a lot of space to introduce the latest knowledge of Western astronomy and geography.Based on an investigation of translation of geographical terms in his column Sketch of the World,this paper finds that the author,William Milne(1785-1822),intends to abandon the previous translation system and establish his own geographical translation system.

[Keywords]Sketch of the World;William Milne;geographical terms;translation system

Introduction

Organized by Robert Morrison(1782-1834),William Milne(1785-1822),the first Chinese magazineChinese Monthly Magazinein modern times,was officially published in Malacca on August 5,1815.Although its content is mainly to spread Christianity and ethics,it still takes up a lot of space to introduce the latest knowledge of Western astronomy and geography.Its serialSketch of the Worldwas published from April 1820(six volumes)to April 1821(seven volumes).In 1822,a 30 page booklet was published in Malacca(Alexander Wylie,1867).Because of the nature of its contents and the place of publication overseas,the knowledge of astronomy and geography in did not have a profound influence in China at that time.

Sketch of the Worldintroduces in detail the latest geopolitical pattern and human geography knowledge of the four continents of the world at that time.Its publication time is 20 years earlier than that of records of four continents.After Giulio Aleni(1582-1649)and Ferdinand Verbiest(1623-1688),Western missionaries once again displayed a large number of information,cultural landscapes and cultural systems of the world’s natural geography to Chinese people.It is of great value to the dissemination of geographical knowledge and the translation of geographical names into Chinese and western.

Knowledge of Human Geography Introduced in Sketch of the World

Sketch of the Worldis different from the previous narratives.It writes:

夫神天所造普天下万地，今贤分之为四分。有罗巴一分，亚西亚一分，亚非利亚一分，又亚默利加一分。(William Milne,1822)(All the earth under heaven is made by God.Today,the sages are divided into four parts.One for Europa,one for Asia,one for Asia,one for Africa,and one for America.)

The islands of Oceania,such as the Australia,New Zealand,the Palau islands,the social islands and the Tahiti islands,are classified into Asia.The chronicles of Si Zhou Zhi compiled by Lin Zexu（林则徐）only introduces more than 30 countries on four continents,but does not mention the fifth continent.Although Wei Yuan（魏源）’s Hai Guo Tu Zhi only mentions four continents in the general catalogue,its volume II,the complete map of the front and back of the earth,states:

此墨瓦兰所寻得，得南极下地荒，杳无人物，与南默利加州之火地等为天下第五大州。(Wei Yuan,1852)(This is what Magellan found.This is the fifth largest state in the world.)

OnlySketch of the Worldclearly describes the world view of the four continents,reflecting the different understanding of human geography from other works.

Sketch of the Worldaims to spread the knowledge of human geography in the world.Although the article does not belong to the name,its author can be clear that it is William Milne(1785-1822)himself(Zou,2000).From the beginning of April of Volume VI(1820)to the end of April of Volume VII(1821),the series has 11 chapters in total,including two chapters of Volume VI on the countries of Europa,three chapters of the countries of Asia,two chapters of the countries of Africa,one chapter of Volume VII on the countries of American and two theories of the countries of South American.This series of articles was later compiled into a volume in the name ofSketch of the Worldand published in Malacca in 1822(Zhuo&Zhang,1992).In terms of content,it mainly introduces the geographical overview of the four continents,the main empires,kingdoms,principalities,capitals,important cities,islands,islands,etc,as well as the languages and politics used by other countries,and the history and culture of some countries.In terms of style,the place names in the annals of the nations are framed with“□”,which is easy to express.

Sketch of the Worlddivides the countries and regions of the world into four categories:country,land,island and archipelago.“State”means Empire,Kingdom and principality,such as the state of 士未士耳蘭国（Switzerland）那耳歪国（Norway）意大利亞国（Italia）巴法耳以亞国（Bavaria）.“land”means colony,such as 只利地（Chile）,比路地（Peru）,巴大我尼亚地（Patagonia）.“island”refers to one island,such as 巴耳巴多士岛（Barbados）,安氐瓜岛（Antigua）,茶米加岛（Jamaica）.“Islands”means islands such as“甲百非耳得各岛（Cape Verde）,拉得倫各岛（ladrone）,扭加利多尼亞各岛（New Calidonia）.

Countries and regions with multiple translations are listed together.For example:

四、厄得耳蘭士、即何蘭國。其京曰：百耳五士勒士。此國舊京：曰亞麥士得耳大麥。(William Milne,1822)(Fourth,the kingdom of Horan.Its capital is 百耳五士勒士.The old capital of this country is called 亞麥士得耳大麥.)

There are two parts in Countries of Europa.On the first part,it introduces the geographical situation of Europa,the names of 28 countries and their capitals,and the governments of various countries.At the end of this paper,the government of 28 countries is discussed.The second is about the introduction of the languages and genealogy of the Europa countries,the European education system.

There are three parts on the Asian Countries:on the first part,it introduces the geographical situation of Asia,the sixteen inland countries and their capitals; on the second part,it introduces 31 island countries of Asia; on the third part,it introduces 4 islands,the politics and languages of Asian countries.

Countries of Africais divided into two parts:on the first part,it introduces the geographical situation of Africa,the 26 countries and capitals of East,West,South and North Africa;on the second part,it introduces the seven countries in the mainland,the 17 islands,the dynasties and languages of the countries.The discussion ofCountries of Americanand Countries of South American is similar

Sketch of the Worldis published from 1820 to 1821,the chronicle of the nations reflects the world geographical pattern roughly between 1807 and 1815.

二十八三得多馬士島。其周圍不過四十餘里，而為英國所治也。(Milne,1822)(三得多馬士島.It’s only more than 40 miles around,and it's governed by Britain.）

The island of St.Thomas,that today is translated into 圣托马斯岛(Saint Thomas)discovered by Columbus in 1493,it was first colonized by the Netherlands in 1657 and occupied by the Danes in 1666.In 1807 ～1815,it belonged to England for a short time,but soon returned to Denmark.There are 347 place names in it.Among them,there are 4“continents”,125“countries”,51“islands”,24“archipelagoes”,16“lands”,116“capitals”,11“cities”or“regions”.Among them,there are 39 regions that have several names in total,such as“波耳土加勒/西洋国”“士扁/大呂宋”“法蘭士/佛郎機”“厄得耳蘭士/何蘭”“氐畢/西藏”“西亞麥/暹羅”,etc.269 Chinese characters are used,see the table below for high frequency words:耳亚士利加得巴大马百尼拉以麦多三勒罗西波阿革比撒戈我兰布地.

Most of the translated words use common Chinese characters,among which only“瞣”and“挼”aren’t common Chinese characters.In addition to the place names that have appeared in the ancient books,William Milne(1785-1822)translated the place names in the way of“using its sound”,that is,to transfer the pronunciation of the source language into the native language by means of sound transfer(Shen Guo,2010).For example:戶得孫士拜,today's translation of 哈德森湾(Hudson Bay)根士但顛阿百勒,today’s translation of 君士坦丁堡（Constantinople）;亞拉比亞,today’s translation of 阿拉伯（Arabia）; 希印都士但,today’s translation of 印度（Hindustan）etc.In addition,most of the translated names appearing inZhi Fang Wai JiandKun Yu Tu Shuohave not been used inSketch of the World.波尔杜瓦尔→波耳土加勒以西把尼亞→士扁把理斯→巴耳以士

谙厄利亚→應蘭得西齐里亚→西色利 印弟亚→希印都士但

Most of the translated names come from English,and a few from Spanish,Latin,Italian,Dutch,Romanian,Portuguese and other languages.For example:個寧士百耳革,from Königsberg of German,now translated into 加里宁格勒; 百利士布耳革,from Pressburg of German,now translated into 布拉迪斯拉发(formerly known as 普莱斯堡);得耳安西勒反以亞,from ransilvania of Romanian,now translated into 特兰西瓦尼亚;波羅尼亞,from Polonia of Spanish,now translated into 波兰;巴大非,Bataafse of Dutch now translated into 雅加达.

Conclusion

Through investigation,Sketch of the Worldintroduces 347 countries or regions,William Milne(1785-1822)tries to get rid of the shackles of the previous geographical translation system and establish his own system.Its translation method is transliteration,and common Chinese characters are used.

Acknowledgements

This paper is the phased achievement of the National Social Science Fund ProjectA study on the stylistic occurrence and form of modern missionaries'Chinese newspapers and magazines（No.19BZW155）.