ALAS 嗚呼
EXCLAMATION EXPRESSing SADNESS OR REGRET.
Old Chinese Criteria
Modern Chinese Criteria
Hypernym
- SAD DISTRESS ARISING from BAD THOUGHTS NOW IN ONE'S MIND which CAUSE one to LACK DELIGHT:joy.NB: The words I have chosen to include in this group pose special problems of contrastive analysis. There is something irretrievably diffuse about their usage, in many cases, and in many others the number of relevant examples in the early literature is so small that it is impossible to get anything like a firm grip on their precise semantics. Under these circumstances I have tried to compensate for lack of neat analysis with more quotation, especially from Chǔcí. Throughout this section I quote my teacher David Hawkes' translations, mindful of the fact that many of these were written in the third year of his study of Chinese... (anc: 13/0, child: 7)
- DISTRESS FEELING that one's SELF:own SITUATION IS INTENSELY BAD. (anc: 12/0, child: 5)
- FEELING NATURAL REACTION IN one's MIND. (anc: 11/0, child: 17)
Words (10 items)
哀哉 āi zāi OC: qɯɯl skɯɯ MC: ʔəi tsəi 27 Attributions
Āi zāi 哀哉 adds to the complaint the judgment that something is indeed sad. [DECLARATIVE], [EMPHATIC]
- Syntactic words
- VP+Salas for
- VPibe a tragedy; be deeply tragic.CH
- VPi(0)(always with understood and unexpressed subject:) what a tragedy!; how deeply tragic!
嗚呼 wū hū OC: qaa qhaa MC: ʔuo̝ huo̝
嗚虖 wū hū OC: qaa qhlaa MC: ʔuo̝ huo̝
於呼 wū hū OC: qaa qhaa MC: ʔuo̝ huo̝ 13 Attributions
1. Wū hū 嗚呼 expresses an emphatic complaint. Note that there is is specially large number of graphic variants used to write this word. Ancient scribes seem to have been uninterested in the orthography of this word. [EMOTIONAL], [EXCLAMATORY], [HIGH-DEGREE]
- Syntactic words
- PP+NprOh Npr!
- PPadSalas
- PPadVoh, how (the subject) V-ed!
嗟 jiē juē MC: tsjae OC: skal 3 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- nabautonym"alas"DS
- padSalasCH
- ppostadSalasLZ
於乎 wū hū MC: 'u hu OC: qaa ɢaa 2 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- PPadS(= wu1hu1 嗚呼) alas!, ah!LZ
已 yǐ OC: k-lɯʔ MC: jɨ 2 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- padSAlas!
已而 yǐ ér OC: k-lɯʔ njɯ MC: jɨ ȵɨ 2 Attributions
- Syntactic words
- PPexclamatoryI've had it; we're finished
惜乎 xī hū MC: sjek hu OC: sqaɡ ɢaa 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- VPiemphaticWhat a pity!CH
於呼 wū hū OC: qaa qhaa MC: ʔuo̝ huo̝ 1 Attribution
Wū hū 嗚呼 expresses an emphatic exclamatory complaint. >>EXCLAMATORY, HIGH-DEGREE
- Syntactic words
- PPalas
繄 yī OC: qee MC: ʔei 1 Attribution
- Syntactic words
- padSalas
誒 xī OC: qhɯ MC: hɨ 0 Attributions
- Syntactic words