{"id":3517,"date":"2006-12-18T12:46:58","date_gmt":"2006-12-18T12:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/2006\/12\/are-your-chopsticks-fast\/"},"modified":"2011-02-05T07:40:57","modified_gmt":"2011-02-05T07:40:57","slug":"are-your-chopsticks-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/2006\/12\/are-your-chopsticks-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"Are your chopsticks fast?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese Pidgin English<\/a> is most certainly a transient language \u2014 it arose from contact between English and Chinese traders in the late 17th century and ceased to be spoken by the early 20th century. During its short life Chinese Pidgin English donated several expressions to standard varieties of English, where they live on. Among these donated expressions is chop-chop<\/i>, meaning ‘hurry up’. Most etymologies of the English word chopsticks<\/i> (e.g. those in the the Oxford English Dictionary<\/i><\/a>, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary<\/i><\/a> and the Hobson-Jobson<\/i> Anglo-Indian dictionary<\/a>) claim that it is also derived from Pidgin English. Chopsticks<\/i> is taken to be a semi-calque on the word \u7b77\u5b50 ku\u00e0izi<\/i> (Mandarin pronunciation), which is the usual word for chopsticks in many Chinese dialects.1<\/sup><\/a> The \u7b77 ku\u00e0i<\/i> in ku\u00e0izi<\/i> is homophonous in many dialects with the word for ‘fast’, \u5feb ku\u00e0i<\/i>. The theory is that the English word chopsticks<\/i> comes from the Pidgin word chop<\/i> ‘fast’ plus the English word stick<\/i>. The true story may not be that simple, however.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The most commonly repeated etymology for the Chinese word \u7b77\u5b50 ku\u00e0izi<\/i> lends some support to the notion that the chop<\/i> in chopsticks<\/i> is a calque on the Chinese. In this etymology the homophony of \u5feb ku\u00e0i<\/i> ‘fast’ and the first syllable of \u7b77\u5b50 ku\u00e0izi<\/i> is considered not to be accidental. The claim usually made is that speakers consciously chose the name \u5feb ku\u00e0i<\/i> (later written with the bamboo radical as \u7b77) as a reaction against the old word \u7bb8 zh\u00f9<\/i>\uff08also written \u7b6f), which is homophonous with ‘stop’ \u4f4f zh\u00f9<\/i>. The homophony of \u7bb8 zh\u00f9<\/i> with \u4f4f zh\u00f9<\/i> was taken to be inauspicious and so speakers decided to make the word for the eating utensils homophonous with an antonymous, and so more auspicious, word. My favourite Chinese dictionary, the \u5e94\u7528\u6c49\u8bed\u8bcd\u5178 Y\u00ecngy\u00f2ng H\u00e0ny\u01d4 c\u00eddi\u01cen<\/i> (2000)<\/a>, after giving a patriotic spiel about how great chopsticks are, tells the story below.<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe name of chopsticks has changed over time. In the pre-Qin period they were called \u631f ji\u0101<\/i> (sometimes written \u41f2); in the Qin-Han period they were called \u7bb8 zh\u00f9<\/i> (written \u7b6f in the Sui-Tang period). But \u7bb8 zh\u00f9<\/i> and \u4f4f zh\u00f9<\/i> are homophonous, and people thought this was inauspicious because they hope to travel forward smoothly without stopping, so naturally they turned the meaning around and changed \u7bb8 zh\u00f9<\/i> (homophonous with ‘stop’) to \u7b77 ku\u00e0i<\/i> (homophonous with ‘fast’). \u7b77 ku\u00e0i<\/i> appeared around the Song Dynasty. Chopsticks were mostly made from bamboo and so they capped the character \u5feb ku\u00e0i<\/i> ‘fast’ with the bamboo radical \u7af9 zh\u00fa<\/i>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u7b77\u5b50\u7684\u540d\u79f0\u6709\u6240\u6f14\u53d8\uff0c\u5148\u79e6\u65f6\u671f\u53eb”\u631f”\uff08\u6709\u65f6\u4f5c”\u41f2”\uff09\uff1b\u79e6\u6c49\u65f6\u671f\u53eb”\u7bb8”\uff08\u968b\u5510\u65f6\u671f\u5199\u4f5c”\u7b6f”\uff09\u3002\u4f46”\u7bb8”\u4e0e”\u4f4f”\u8c10\u97f3\uff0c\u4eba\u4eec\u8ba4\u4e3a\u4e0d\u5409\u5229\uff0c\u5e0c\u671b\u4e00\u5e06\u98ce\u987a\u5730\u4e0d\u4f4f\u524d\u8fdb\uff0c\u4e8e\u662f\u5f88\u81ea\u7136\u7684\u53cd\u5176\u4e49\u800c\u79f0\uff0c\u6539”\u7bb8”\uff08\u4f4f\uff09\u4e3a”\u7b77”\uff08\u5feb\uff09\uff0c”\u7b77”\u5927\u7ea6\u662f\u5b8b\u4ee3\u624d\u6709\u79f0\u547c\u3002\u52a0\u4e4b\u8fd9\u4e1c\u897f\u5927\u90fd\u4ee5\u7af9\u5b50\u5236\u6210\uff0c\u56e0\u6b64\u53c8\u5728\u201c\u5feb\u201c\u5b57\u4e0a\u51a0\u4ee5”\u7af9”\u5b57\u5934\u3002\n<\/p>\n

\n(\u5e94\u7528\u6c49\u8bed\u8bcd\u5178 Y\u00ecngy\u00f2ng H\u00e0ny\u01d4 c\u00eddi\u01cen<\/i> 2000<\/a>:730)\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If the homophony of the Chinese words \u7b77\u5b50 ku\u00e0izi<\/i> and \u5feb ku\u00e0i<\/i> is not accidental, as claimed in the etymology discussed above, then it is quite likely that Chinese Pidgin English speakers would calque \u7b77 ku\u00e0i<\/i> with chop<\/i>. Chop-chop<\/i> itself probably comes directly from a Chinese variety. The Hobson-Jobson<\/i> dictionary<\/a> proposes that the word is derived from Cantonese kap kap<\/i> (both syllables in upper yin ru tone) \u6025\u6025. My Cantonese informant, Hil\u00e1rio de Sousa, tells me that kap kap<\/i> is found in the modern Cantonese expression kap kap koe:k<\/i> (koe:k in lower yin ru tone) \u6025\u6025\u811a, which means ‘in a hurry’. In Hobson-Jobson<\/i><\/a> it is also suggested that chop-chop<\/i> could come from Malay chepat-chepat<\/i> ‘quick-quick’.<\/p>\n

Bolton (2003<\/a>:139) suggests that chopsticks<\/i> might not be a semi-calque from Chinese Pidgin English but instead a wholly native English word. His argument is that chopsticks<\/i> appeared in English long before the expression chop-chop<\/i> and even long before the emergence of Chinese Pidgin English. The earliest attestation of chopsticks<\/i> listed in the Oxford English Dictionary<\/i><\/a> is a 1699 quote from William Dampier, shown below.<\/p>\n

\nAt their ordinary eating they use two small round sticks about the length and bigness of a Tobacco-pipe. They hold them both in the right hand, one between the fore-finger and thumb; the other between the middle-finger and fore-finger..they are called by the English seamen Chopsticks.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bolton (2003<\/a>:139) provides an even earlier attestion from the journals of Peter Mundy, who went to China in 1637 on a British navy expedition commanded by Captain John Weddell. Mundy uses the word chopstickes<\/i> (sic.) to describe the Chinese eating utensils.<\/p>\n

Bolton (2003<\/a>:139) suggests that chopsticks<\/i> may in fact be derived from the English word chopstick<\/i>, which the Oxford English Dictionary<\/i><\/a> defines as ‘[t]he cross-stick (of iron wire, whale-bone, etc.) attached to a deep-sea fishing-line a short distance from the sinker, from which the short lines bearing the hooks are hung.’ The word chopsticks<\/i> that relates to fishing is attested as early as 1615, while chop-chop<\/i> is only attested in 1834 according to the Oxford English Dictionary<\/i><\/a>, although Bolton (2003<\/a>:149) has an earlier attestation from 1793 from the journals of Anderson, who was part of Macartney’s mission to China.<\/p>\n

Although the dates of the attestations do not match up, it is quite likely that chop-chop<\/i> was already current as an expression meaning ‘hurry up’ in the contact language(s) spoken between Europeans and Chinese in the 17th century. There is not a great deal of material that records Chinese Pidgin English as it was spoken in the early days of contact so it would be quite easy for an expression like chop-chop<\/i> not to be recorded in writing until a long time after it first appeared. Even if chop-chop<\/i> was not involved in the coining of the word chopsticks<\/i>, the parallels between these two words and their Chinese equivalents are noticeable and probably would have helped to reinforce the term chopstick<\/i> in the minds of later speakers of Pidgin English. Bolton’s theory does deserve some attention, however. It would be interesting to know if fishing chopsticks look like the eating utensils or are similar to them in some other way that would allow them to serve as the source of an analogy. So far I have not been able to find any further information about fishing chopsticks. Readers’ contributions are most welcome.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nNotes<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n1<\/sup>\u7b77\u5b50 ku\u00e0izi<\/i>, in its various cognate pronunciations, is the usual word for chopsticks in Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese. Southern Min retains the earlier word \u7bb8 zh\u00f9<\/i>.\n<\/p>\n

\nPrinted References<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u5e94\u7528\u6c49\u8bed\u8bcd\u5178 Y\u00ecngy\u00f2ng H\u00e0ny\u01d4 c\u00eddi\u01cen<\/i>. 2000. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan.\n<\/p>\n

\nBolton, Kingsley. 2003. Chinese Englishes: a sociolinguistic history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinese Pidgin English is most certainly a transient language \u2014 it arose from contact between English and Chinese traders in the late 17th century and ceased to be spoken by the early 20th century. During its short life Chinese Pidgin English donated several expressions to standard varieties of English, where they live on. Among these … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4097,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3517\/revisions\/4097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}