魯魚亥豕
Chinese edit
crass; place name | fish | 12th earthly branch; 9–11 p.m. | hog; swine | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (魯魚亥豕) | 魯 | 魚 | 亥 | 豕 | |
simp. (鲁鱼亥豕) | 鲁 | 鱼 | 亥 | 豕 |
Etymology edit
Confusing the character 魯 with 魚, and 亥 with 豕.
- 書字,人知之,猶尚寫之多誤。故諺曰,「書三寫,魚成魯,虛成虎,」此之謂也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: Ge Hong, c. 4th century, Baopuzi (《抱朴子》)
- Shū zì, rén zhī zhī, yóu shàng xiě zhī duō wù. Gù yàn yuē, “shū sān xiě, yú chéng lǔ, xū chéng hǔ,” cǐ zhī wèi yě. [Pinyin]
- Written characters, they are widely known to people, yet errors abound in written texts. Referring to this, an idiom goes: "After many rounds of copying, a fish (魚) gets foolhardy (魯), but the empty (虛) one becomes a tiger (虎)."
书字,人知之,犹尚写之多误。故谚曰,「书三写,鱼成鲁,虚成虎,」此之谓也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
- 嘗返衛,見讀史志者云:「晉師伐秦,三豕渡河。」子夏曰:「非也,己亥耳。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: The School Sayings of Confucius, c. 206 BCE– 220 CE
- Cháng fǎn Wèi, jiàn dú shǐ zhì zhě yún: “Jìn shī fá Qín, sān shǐ dù Hé.” Zǐ Xià yuē: “Fēi yě, Jǐ Hài ěr.” [Pinyin]
- Zi Xia, back in Wey, met someone reading historical annals aloud as such: "The armies of Jin attacked Qin; three pigs crossed the Yellow River." On hearing this, he said: "That's wrong. The text should read 'on the day of Ji-Hai' ."
尝返卫,见读史志者云:「晋师伐秦,三豕渡河。」子夏曰:「非也,己亥耳。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation edit
Idiom edit
魯魚亥豕
- typographical errors caused by similar-looking characters