【翻譯練習】打開字典，一覽古埃及世俗生活
Dictionary Translates Ancient Egypt Life
日期：September 17, 2012
作者：JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
來源：http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/science/new-demotic-dictionary-translates-lives-of-ancient-egyptians.html?ref=science
Ancient Egyptians did not speak to posterity only through hieroglyphs. Those elaborate pictographs were the elite script for recording the lives and triumphs of pharaohs in their tombs and on the monumental stones along the Nile. But almost from the beginning, people in everyday life spoke a different language and wrote a different script, a simpler one that evolved from the earliest hieroglyphs.
古埃及並非只透過象形文字傳述他們的歷史。精巧繁複的象形文字屬於貴族字型，記述法老王生平與戰果，使用於法老王墓室、以及尼羅河沿岸的紀念碑石。但自有古埃及文明之始，平凡百姓所言、所書者，是為另種不同的語言文字，較為精簡，由早期象形文字發展而來。
These were the words of love and family, the law and commerce, private letters and texts on science, religion and literature. For at least 1,000 years, roughly from 500 B.C. to A.D. 500, both the language and the distinctive cursive script were known as Demotic Egyptian, a name given it by the Greeks to mean the tongue of the demos, or the common people.
此種文字的使用場合，包括情書，家族通信，法律文書，商業交易，私人信件，以及科學、宗教、文學等著述。使用期間約從西元前500年至西元後500年、至少一千年間。如此的語言及其易認的草體字型，希臘人將之名為｢世俗語/體｣(Demotic Egyptian)，意思是平凡人(demo)的語言。
Demotic was one of the three scripts inscribed on the Rosetta stone, along with Greek and hieroglyphs, enabling European scholars to decipher the royal language in the early 19th century and thus read the top-down version of a great civilization’s long history.
世俗體是勒於羅塞塔石碑上的三種字型之一，另二種字型為希臘文及象形文。19世紀歐洲學者利用石碑上並存的三種字型，釋辨古埃及皇室文字，並以層級由上至下的眼光，解讀古埃及偉大文明的悠久歷史。
Now, scholars at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago have completed almost 40 years of research and published online the final entries of a 2,000-page dictionary that more than doubles the thousands of known Demotic words. Egyptologists expect that the dictionary’s definitions and examples of how words were used in ancient texts will expedite translations of Demotic documents, more of which are unpublished than any other stage of early Egyptian writing.
如今，芝加哥大學東方研究所學者耗時將近40年的世俗語研究已告一段落，成果發布於網路上，字典條目占二千餘網頁，文字數目比先前已知的世俗語文字多出一倍以上。埃及研究學者期望，字典中的字詞定義及字詞使用範例，能夠加速世俗語文書的翻譯。畢竟，與其他時期的古埃及文書相比之下，許多世俗語文書內容仍未公諸於世。
A workshop for specialists in Demotic research was held at the university last month as the dictionary section for the letter S, the last of 25 chapters to be finished, is being posted on the Oriental Institute’s Web site, where the dictionary is available free. Eventually a printed edition will be produced, mainly for research libraries, the university said.
上個月，世俗語研究專家於芝加哥大學舉辦一場研討會，主題為S開頭的字詞表已上傳至東方研究所網站的世俗語字典。S字詞表是25個字詞表之中，最後完成的章節。上網查詢字典，完全免費。芝加哥大學並表示，將來可能推出紙本字典，主要提供予研究型圖書館使用。
Janet H. Johnson, an Egyptologist at the university’s Oriental Institute who has devoted much of her career to editing the Chicago Demotic Dictionary, called it “an indispensable tool for reconstructing the social, political and cultural life of ancient Egypt during a fascinating period,” when the land was usually dominated by foreigners — first Persians, then Greeks and finally Romans.
芝加哥大學東方研究所的古埃及研究學者珍娜‧強森，投入大半職涯，勉力編輯這本古埃及世俗語字典。她將這本字典譽為｢不可或缺的工具｣，｢善加利用字典，以重建古埃及迷人的社會、政治、文化面向｣。古埃及輝煌文明之後，埃及這塊土地屢遭外族強占，先是波斯人統治，又遇希臘人奪取，最後連羅馬人也不放過埃及。
“It’s really huge what a dictionary does for understanding an ancient society,” said Gil Stein, director of the institute. “This will lead to mastering texts from the Egyptians themselves, not their rulers, at a time the country was becoming absorbed increasingly into the Greco-Roman world.”
東方研究所所長吉兒‧斯坦因說：｢字典有助於認識、了解古代社會，令我們獲益甚豐。我們掌握了古埃及本身的真正內涵，而非由統治者觀點所建構的古埃及。這時期的埃及，逐漸沒入希臘羅馬世界的浪潮中。｣
Although Egyptians abandoned Demotic more than 1,500 years ago, taking up Coptic and eventually Arabic, Dr. Johnson said the dictionary showed that the old language was not entirely dead. It lives on in words like “adobe,” which came from “tby,” the Demotic for brick. The term passed into Arabic (with the definite article “al” in front of the noun) and was introduced into Moorish Spain. From there adobe became a fixture in the Spanish language and architecture.
雖然一千五百多年前，埃及人便無使用世俗語，改採科普特語，最終歸向阿拉伯語，但強森博士說，從這本字典仍能觀察出埃及世俗語至今的殘存遺跡。例如｢泥磚｣一詞的英文｢adobe｣，來自埃及世俗語｢tby｣。｢tby｣傳入阿拉伯語(阿拉伯語定冠詞｢al-｣綴於｢tby｣前)，並前進西班牙摩爾地區。｢adobe｣成了西班牙語的固定詞彙，泥磚也是西班牙建築的標準配備。
Ebony, the name of the dark wood that was traded down the Nile from Nubia, present-day Sudan, also has Demotic origins. The word for a man from Nubia passed through Demotic by way of Hebrew and Greek as the name Phineas. The Demotic word meaning water lily, Susan, reached Europe through the Hebrew bible.
｢黑檀木｣一詞的英文｢ebony｣，也來自埃及世俗語。黑檀木是一種深色木材，當時經尼羅河水路運至努比亞(今之蘇丹)販賣。｢phineas｣原是努比亞語中｢人｣的意思，藉由世俗語傳入希伯來語(猶太語)及希臘語，成為男性名｢Phineas｣。｢睡蓮｣一詞的世俗語｢susan｣，由希伯來語聖經發揚光大，踏進歐洲領域。
For the Oriental Institute, this is the culmination of a second long-running dictionary project in little more than a year. The final installment of the 21-volume dictionary of the language of ancient Mesopotamia and its Babylonian and Assyrian(亞述) dialects was completed last year after 90 years of scholarly labor.
世俗語字典，是東方研究所近一年內第二次完成了歷時長久的字典編纂計畫。去年先推出了21冊的美索不達米亞地區及巴比倫、亞述方言的字典，學者90年心血的結晶。
The Demotic dictionary, begun in 1975, supplements and updates a more modest glossary of Demotic words published in German in 1954 by Wolja Erichsen, a Danish scholar.
世俗語字典的編纂，始於1975年。先前已有丹麥學者沃里亞‧艾瑞克森在1954年於德國出版一本世俗語字典，內容普通。而芝加哥大學的這本字典為艾瑞克森的字典補充、更新了條目。
The new Demotic-English work includes new words not in that glossary, as well as new uses of previously known words and more extensive examples of compound words, idiomatic expressions, place names, reference to deities and words borrowed from other languages. Completed chapters have been posted online from time to time in recent years.
新的世英(世俗語─英語)字典，除了加入舊字典所無的新字，並且也豐富了已知字詞的新用法，擁有範圍更廣的的複合字範例、慣用語表達形式、地名、神祇敬稱、外來語。完成的章節在這幾年間陸續上傳網路。
“What the Chicago Demotic Dictionary does is what the Oxford English Dictionary does,” said James P. Allen, an Egyptologist at Brown University. “It gives many samples of what words mean and the range and nuances of their meanings.”
布朗大學古埃及研究學者詹姆斯‧艾倫說：｢牛津英語字典有的，芝加哥世俗語字典也有。範例說明不僅講解了字詞意義，更深入意義使用場域及細微差別處。｣
Dr. Allen said the Demotic dictionary had already served as a major research source in writing his history of the Egyptian language, to be published next year by Cambridge University Press. “I could not have done what I did without the dictionary,” he said. “Or at least not as well.”
艾倫博士研究並撰寫埃及語的歷史，明年由劍橋大學出版社發行相關書籍。他說，世俗語字典提供了主要研究材料。｢如非這本字典鼎力相助，研究實無法完成。即使完成了，成果可能也不甚滿意。｣
Demotic is a hard script to read, he said, like shorthand to the uninitiated. The words have no vowels, only consonants. The difference between Demotic and early Egyptian in the age of the great pyramids (2613-2494 B.C.) is greater than between the Anglo-Saxon of Beowulf and modern English. But by computer-processed reproductions of the cursive script in photographs and facsimiles, the dictionary shows the way people wrote the language.
艾倫博士說，世俗體是硬體字，類似庶民百姓使用的速記寫法。世俗語無母音，只由子音構成。世俗語與古埃及語(存在於西元前2613至2494年間的大金字塔時期)之間的差異程度，比起盎格魯-撒克遜時期史詩《貝奧武夫》與現代英文間的差異還要大。雖如此，不過藉由電腦運作，重製照片上與臨摹的草體字，世俗語字典仍展現了當時人民書寫此種文字的方式。
The translation effort can have its rewards, including a new understanding of what Dr. Allen called an X-rated Demotic story well known to scholars. The hero in the story goes into a cave to steal a magic book. A mummy there warns it will bring him disaster. Soon he is entranced by a woman who invites him to her house for sex, but she keeps putting off the consummation with endless demands and frustrating conditions.
世俗語字典編譯工作儘管辛苦，卻不無收穫，像是對於艾倫博士形容為限制級的故事，有新一層闡述。這則故事在研究學者間眾所皆知。故事中的英雄進入一處洞穴盜取魔法書，洞穴中的木乃伊警告他，此舉將致災難臨頭。不久，英雄遇到一名女子，誘惑這位英雄與之雲雨。但是女子對英雄提出種種要求以及不合理的條件，如未達成，兩人即無法享受魚水之歡。
On the subject of sex, Demotic scholars said the lusty Cleopatra, the last of the pharaohs and presumably the only one fluent in the common speech, probably spoke only Greek in her boudoir. That was the language of the ruling class for several centuries.
世俗語學者說，埃及末代女王克莉奥佩特拉，或許是唯一一位精通世俗語的法老王；但在閨房裡，他可能只說希臘語。好幾個世紀中，埃及統治階級使用的語言是希臘語。
Dr. Johnson, who specializes in research on the somewhat more equal role of women in Egyptian society, said Demotic contracts on papyrus scrolls detailed a husband’s acknowledgment of the money his wife brought into the marriage and the promise to provide her with a set amount of food and money for clothing each year of their marriage. Other documents showed that women could own property and had the right to divorce their husbands.
強森博士專研埃及社會上相對較平等的女性角色。他談到一份以世俗語寫在莎草紙卷上的契約內容，詳細記寫一名丈夫認可妻子的嫁妝數額，且允諾婚姻關係中，每年將提供其妻定量食物以及購置布料所需金錢。其他文書亦述及女性可擁有資產，並有權休夫。
Another Chicago researcher, Brian Muhs, noted that many Demotic documents dealt with taxes, the government often leasing their collection to the highest bidder, who was required to pay the amount of the bid regardless of how much tax was collected. Individuals seemed to keep their tax receipts for years, along with other financial records, sometimes written on pottery shards.
另一位芝加哥大學研究員布萊恩‧穆斯提到，多份世俗語文件是稅務相關文書。有意向政府借貸者，政府將貸予最高出價者；無論抽多少稅，出價者需支付全額得標金。稅務收據和其他財務紀錄，人民會留存數年。有時財務紀錄是記寫在陶器碎片上的。
Since the Chicago Demotic Dictionary should lead to the publication of more texts and more new words, Friedhelm Hoffmann, an Egyptologist at the University of Munich, said that may prompt a need for updated editions — something on the order of CDD 2.0.
鑒於芝加哥大學世俗語字典將推出更多新字及文本內容，慕尼黑大學古埃及研究學者弗萊德罕‧霍夫曼表示，字典需要版本更新，像是採用Android相容性定義文件形式。
日期：September 17, 2012
作者：JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
來源：http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/science/new-demotic-dictionary-translates-lives-of-ancient-egyptians.html?ref=science
Ancient Egyptians did not speak to posterity only through hieroglyphs. Those elaborate pictographs were the elite script for recording the lives and triumphs of pharaohs in their tombs and on the monumental stones along the Nile. But almost from the beginning, people in everyday life spoke a different language and wrote a different script, a simpler one that evolved from the earliest hieroglyphs.
古埃及並非只透過象形文字傳述他們的歷史。精巧繁複的象形文字屬於貴族字型，記述法老王生平與戰果，使用於法老王墓室、以及尼羅河沿岸的紀念碑石。但自有古埃及文明之始，平凡百姓所言、所書者，是為另種不同的語言文字，較為精簡，由早期象形文字發展而來。
These were the words of love and family, the law and commerce, private letters and texts on science, religion and literature. For at least 1,000 years, roughly from 500 B.C. to A.D. 500, both the language and the distinctive cursive script were known as Demotic Egyptian, a name given it by the Greeks to mean the tongue of the demos, or the common people.
此種文字的使用場合，包括情書，家族通信，法律文書，商業交易，私人信件，以及科學、宗教、文學等著述。使用期間約從西元前500年至西元後500年、至少一千年間。如此的語言及其易認的草體字型，希臘人將之名為｢世俗語/體｣(Demotic Egyptian)，意思是平凡人(demo)的語言。
Demotic was one of the three scripts inscribed on the Rosetta stone, along with Greek and hieroglyphs, enabling European scholars to decipher the royal language in the early 19th century and thus read the top-down version of a great civilization’s long history.
世俗體是勒於羅塞塔石碑上的三種字型之一，另二種字型為希臘文及象形文。19世紀歐洲學者利用石碑上並存的三種字型，釋辨古埃及皇室文字，並以層級由上至下的眼光，解讀古埃及偉大文明的悠久歷史。
Now, scholars at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago have completed almost 40 years of research and published online the final entries of a 2,000-page dictionary that more than doubles the thousands of known Demotic words. Egyptologists expect that the dictionary’s definitions and examples of how words were used in ancient texts will expedite translations of Demotic documents, more of which are unpublished than any other stage of early Egyptian writing.
如今，芝加哥大學東方研究所學者耗時將近40年的世俗語研究已告一段落，成果發布於網路上，字典條目占二千餘網頁，文字數目比先前已知的世俗語文字多出一倍以上。埃及研究學者期望，字典中的字詞定義及字詞使用範例，能夠加速世俗語文書的翻譯。畢竟，與其他時期的古埃及文書相比之下，許多世俗語文書內容仍未公諸於世。
A workshop for specialists in Demotic research was held at the university last month as the dictionary section for the letter S, the last of 25 chapters to be finished, is being posted on the Oriental Institute’s Web site, where the dictionary is available free. Eventually a printed edition will be produced, mainly for research libraries, the university said.
上個月，世俗語研究專家於芝加哥大學舉辦一場研討會，主題為S開頭的字詞表已上傳至東方研究所網站的世俗語字典。S字詞表是25個字詞表之中，最後完成的章節。上網查詢字典，完全免費。芝加哥大學並表示，將來可能推出紙本字典，主要提供予研究型圖書館使用。
Janet H. Johnson, an Egyptologist at the university’s Oriental Institute who has devoted much of her career to editing the Chicago Demotic Dictionary, called it “an indispensable tool for reconstructing the social, political and cultural life of ancient Egypt during a fascinating period,” when the land was usually dominated by foreigners — first Persians, then Greeks and finally Romans.
芝加哥大學東方研究所的古埃及研究學者珍娜‧強森，投入大半職涯，勉力編輯這本古埃及世俗語字典。她將這本字典譽為｢不可或缺的工具｣，｢善加利用字典，以重建古埃及迷人的社會、政治、文化面向｣。古埃及輝煌文明之後，埃及這塊土地屢遭外族強占，先是波斯人統治，又遇希臘人奪取，最後連羅馬人也不放過埃及。
“It’s really huge what a dictionary does for understanding an ancient society,” said Gil Stein, director of the institute. “This will lead to mastering texts from the Egyptians themselves, not their rulers, at a time the country was becoming absorbed increasingly into the Greco-Roman world.”
東方研究所所長吉兒‧斯坦因說：｢字典有助於認識、了解古代社會，令我們獲益甚豐。我們掌握了古埃及本身的真正內涵，而非由統治者觀點所建構的古埃及。這時期的埃及，逐漸沒入希臘羅馬世界的浪潮中。｣
Although Egyptians abandoned Demotic more than 1,500 years ago, taking up Coptic and eventually Arabic, Dr. Johnson said the dictionary showed that the old language was not entirely dead. It lives on in words like “adobe,” which came from “tby,” the Demotic for brick. The term passed into Arabic (with the definite article “al” in front of the noun) and was introduced into Moorish Spain. From there adobe became a fixture in the Spanish language and architecture.
雖然一千五百多年前，埃及人便無使用世俗語，改採科普特語，最終歸向阿拉伯語，但強森博士說，從這本字典仍能觀察出埃及世俗語至今的殘存遺跡。例如｢泥磚｣一詞的英文｢adobe｣，來自埃及世俗語｢tby｣。｢tby｣傳入阿拉伯語(阿拉伯語定冠詞｢al-｣綴於｢tby｣前)，並前進西班牙摩爾地區。｢adobe｣成了西班牙語的固定詞彙，泥磚也是西班牙建築的標準配備。
Ebony, the name of the dark wood that was traded down the Nile from Nubia, present-day Sudan, also has Demotic origins. The word for a man from Nubia passed through Demotic by way of Hebrew and Greek as the name Phineas. The Demotic word meaning water lily, Susan, reached Europe through the Hebrew bible.
｢黑檀木｣一詞的英文｢ebony｣，也來自埃及世俗語。黑檀木是一種深色木材，當時經尼羅河水路運至努比亞(今之蘇丹)販賣。｢phineas｣原是努比亞語中｢人｣的意思，藉由世俗語傳入希伯來語(猶太語)及希臘語，成為男性名｢Phineas｣。｢睡蓮｣一詞的世俗語｢susan｣，由希伯來語聖經發揚光大，踏進歐洲領域。
For the Oriental Institute, this is the culmination of a second long-running dictionary project in little more than a year. The final installment of the 21-volume dictionary of the language of ancient Mesopotamia and its Babylonian and Assyrian(亞述) dialects was completed last year after 90 years of scholarly labor.
世俗語字典，是東方研究所近一年內第二次完成了歷時長久的字典編纂計畫。去年先推出了21冊的美索不達米亞地區及巴比倫、亞述方言的字典，學者90年心血的結晶。
The Demotic dictionary, begun in 1975, supplements and updates a more modest glossary of Demotic words published in German in 1954 by Wolja Erichsen, a Danish scholar.
世俗語字典的編纂，始於1975年。先前已有丹麥學者沃里亞‧艾瑞克森在1954年於德國出版一本世俗語字典，內容普通。而芝加哥大學的這本字典為艾瑞克森的字典補充、更新了條目。
The new Demotic-English work includes new words not in that glossary, as well as new uses of previously known words and more extensive examples of compound words, idiomatic expressions, place names, reference to deities and words borrowed from other languages. Completed chapters have been posted online from time to time in recent years.
新的世英(世俗語─英語)字典，除了加入舊字典所無的新字，並且也豐富了已知字詞的新用法，擁有範圍更廣的的複合字範例、慣用語表達形式、地名、神祇敬稱、外來語。完成的章節在這幾年間陸續上傳網路。
“What the Chicago Demotic Dictionary does is what the Oxford English Dictionary does,” said James P. Allen, an Egyptologist at Brown University. “It gives many samples of what words mean and the range and nuances of their meanings.”
布朗大學古埃及研究學者詹姆斯‧艾倫說：｢牛津英語字典有的，芝加哥世俗語字典也有。範例說明不僅講解了字詞意義，更深入意義使用場域及細微差別處。｣
Dr. Allen said the Demotic dictionary had already served as a major research source in writing his history of the Egyptian language, to be published next year by Cambridge University Press. “I could not have done what I did without the dictionary,” he said. “Or at least not as well.”
艾倫博士研究並撰寫埃及語的歷史，明年由劍橋大學出版社發行相關書籍。他說，世俗語字典提供了主要研究材料。｢如非這本字典鼎力相助，研究實無法完成。即使完成了，成果可能也不甚滿意。｣
Demotic is a hard script to read, he said, like shorthand to the uninitiated. The words have no vowels, only consonants. The difference between Demotic and early Egyptian in the age of the great pyramids (2613-2494 B.C.) is greater than between the Anglo-Saxon of Beowulf and modern English. But by computer-processed reproductions of the cursive script in photographs and facsimiles, the dictionary shows the way people wrote the language.
艾倫博士說，世俗體是硬體字，類似庶民百姓使用的速記寫法。世俗語無母音，只由子音構成。世俗語與古埃及語(存在於西元前2613至2494年間的大金字塔時期)之間的差異程度，比起盎格魯-撒克遜時期史詩《貝奧武夫》與現代英文間的差異還要大。雖如此，不過藉由電腦運作，重製照片上與臨摹的草體字，世俗語字典仍展現了當時人民書寫此種文字的方式。
The translation effort can have its rewards, including a new understanding of what Dr. Allen called an X-rated Demotic story well known to scholars. The hero in the story goes into a cave to steal a magic book. A mummy there warns it will bring him disaster. Soon he is entranced by a woman who invites him to her house for sex, but she keeps putting off the consummation with endless demands and frustrating conditions.
世俗語字典編譯工作儘管辛苦，卻不無收穫，像是對於艾倫博士形容為限制級的故事，有新一層闡述。這則故事在研究學者間眾所皆知。故事中的英雄進入一處洞穴盜取魔法書，洞穴中的木乃伊警告他，此舉將致災難臨頭。不久，英雄遇到一名女子，誘惑這位英雄與之雲雨。但是女子對英雄提出種種要求以及不合理的條件，如未達成，兩人即無法享受魚水之歡。
On the subject of sex, Demotic scholars said the lusty Cleopatra, the last of the pharaohs and presumably the only one fluent in the common speech, probably spoke only Greek in her boudoir. That was the language of the ruling class for several centuries.
世俗語學者說，埃及末代女王克莉奥佩特拉，或許是唯一一位精通世俗語的法老王；但在閨房裡，他可能只說希臘語。好幾個世紀中，埃及統治階級使用的語言是希臘語。
Dr. Johnson, who specializes in research on the somewhat more equal role of women in Egyptian society, said Demotic contracts on papyrus scrolls detailed a husband’s acknowledgment of the money his wife brought into the marriage and the promise to provide her with a set amount of food and money for clothing each year of their marriage. Other documents showed that women could own property and had the right to divorce their husbands.
強森博士專研埃及社會上相對較平等的女性角色。他談到一份以世俗語寫在莎草紙卷上的契約內容，詳細記寫一名丈夫認可妻子的嫁妝數額，且允諾婚姻關係中，每年將提供其妻定量食物以及購置布料所需金錢。其他文書亦述及女性可擁有資產，並有權休夫。
Another Chicago researcher, Brian Muhs, noted that many Demotic documents dealt with taxes, the government often leasing their collection to the highest bidder, who was required to pay the amount of the bid regardless of how much tax was collected. Individuals seemed to keep their tax receipts for years, along with other financial records, sometimes written on pottery shards.
另一位芝加哥大學研究員布萊恩‧穆斯提到，多份世俗語文件是稅務相關文書。有意向政府借貸者，政府將貸予最高出價者；無論抽多少稅，出價者需支付全額得標金。稅務收據和其他財務紀錄，人民會留存數年。有時財務紀錄是記寫在陶器碎片上的。
Since the Chicago Demotic Dictionary should lead to the publication of more texts and more new words, Friedhelm Hoffmann, an Egyptologist at the University of Munich, said that may prompt a need for updated editions — something on the order of CDD 2.0.
鑒於芝加哥大學世俗語字典將推出更多新字及文本內容，慕尼黑大學古埃及研究學者弗萊德罕‧霍夫曼表示，字典需要版本更新，像是採用Android相容性定義文件形式。