Advances in Language and Literary Studies

ISSN: 2203-4714
www.alls.aiac.org.au

On Translation of Nicknames in Chinese Classic Novel Outlaws of the Marsh

Xiuqing Zhang*
Business College of Beijing Union University, Yanjingli Road, Beijing, China
Corresponding Author: Xiuqing Zhang, E-mail: [email protected]

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Article history Chinese great classic novel Shui Hu Zhuan, also known as The Outlaws of the Marsh translated
Received: June 06, 2017 by a famed U.S.-born translator Sidney Shapiro, is rich in nicknames. In this paper, nicknames
are divided mainly into five groups according to different standards. Then the author comments
Accepted: August 09, 2017
on Shapiro’s translation in great details and draws a conclusion that Shapiro’s translation is quite
Published: Septmeber 01, 2017
successful and he has made a great contribution in spreading Chinese culture to the Western
Volume: 8 Issue: 4 world.
Advance access: August 2017

Conflicts of interest: None

Funding: None

Key words:
Nickname,
Shui Hu Zhuan,
The Outlaws of the Marsh,
Sidney Shapiro

INTRODUCTION culiar nicknames respectively. It is also characterized by its

Shui Hu Zhuan, written by Shi Nai’an, a writer in Ming Dy- colorful collection of nicknames. The Outlaws of the Marsh
nasty (1368-1644) in ancient China, is one of the Four Great is a must for people to mention and quote as long as they
Classic Novels of Chinese literature. It has been translated talk about nicknames. The author Shi Nai’an used nick-
into different English versions by different translators from names to reflect the then reality and shape heroes’ images,
different angles. The Outlaws of the Marsh was translated by which achieved great breakthroughs in artistic style. Here I
a famed U.S.-born translator Sidney Shapiro, other popular must make clear that the same nickname may also belong to
versions are as follows: All Men Are Brothers was translat- different groups according to different standards. Based on
ed by American famous writer Pearl S. Buck, Water Margin
their typical characteristics, I classify them roughly into five
was translated by J. H. Jackson, while the most recent trans-
groups as follows:
lation, titled The Marshes of Mount Liang was translated by
Alex and John Dent-Young. This paper mainly discusses The first group is classified based on the heroes’ appear-
translation of nicknames in Shapiro’s version. ance seen in table 1
Nickname is a name used informally instead of a person’s The second group is connected with their personali-
own name, usually a short form of the actual name or a name ties:(see table 2)
connected with one’s character or history. It usually employs The third classification is based on some arms or ob-
the most concise and exact words to describe and indicate a jects:(see table 3)
person’s appearance, personalities, anecdotes, personal en- Nicknames connected with animals
counters, hobbies or special skills. By using nicknames, au- Some names of beasts such as dragon, tiger, snake, ape,
thors are able to create a three-dimensional effect on readers panther, snake, scorpion, turtle, rat, dog, flea and unicorn
and add some color to the heroes’ self-image.
are used to show their worship, bravery, peculiarity, skill
or to protect themselves from enemies’ attack. Here I’d like
Classifications of Nicknames in The Outlaws of the Marsh to mention two large groups connected with brave and fe-
The Outlaws of the Marsh has been famous for its success- rocious dragon and tiger. The following two tables are ar-
ful and vivid portrayal of the 108 heroes who have their pe- ranged in the same order as the above three tables:

Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

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On Translation of Nicknames in Chinese Classic Novel Outlaws of the Marsh 123

Table 1. Heroes’ appearance Table 5. Nicknames connected with tiger

Chinese names Chinese English translation Chinese names Chinese English translation
nicknames of the nicknames by nicknames of the nicknames by
Shapiro Shapiro
林冲 豹子头 The Panther Head 雷横 插翅虎 The Winged Tiger
杨志 青面兽 The Blue –Faced Beast 燕顺 锦毛虎 The Elegant Tiger
鲁智深 花和尚 The Tattooed Monk 龚旺 花项虎 The Flowery‑Necked Tiger
宣赞 丑郡马 The Ugly Son‑in‑Law 丁得孙 中箭虎 The Arrow‑Struck Tiger
皇甫 端紫髯公 The Purple Beard 李忠 打虎将 The Tiger‑Fighting General
王英 矮脚虎 The Stumpy Tiger 朱富 笑面虎 The Smiling Tiger
郑天兽 白面郎君 The Fair‑Faced Gentleman 薛永 病大虫 The Sick Tiger
杜兴 鬼脸儿 The Demon Face 顾大嫂 母大虫 The Tigress
刘唐 赤发鬼 The Red‑Haired Demon 李云 青眼虎 The Black‑eyed Tiger

Table 2. Personalities Table 6. Some nicknames based on Chinese

Chinese names Chinese English translation ancient heroes, religion or allusions
nicknames of the nicknames by Chinese names Chinese English translation
Shapiro nicknames of the nicknames by
秦明 霹雳火 The Thunderbolt Shapiro
索超 急先锋 The Urgent Vanguard 花荣 小李广 The Lesser Liguang
石秀 拼命三郎 The Rash 吕方 小温侯 The Little Duke
周通 小霸王 The Little King 郭盛 赛仁贵 The Second Rengui
燕青 浪子 The Prodigy 项充 八臂哪吒 Eight‑Armed Nezha
李逵 黑旋风 The Black Whirlwind 李衮 飞天大圣 The Flying Divinity
孙立 病尉迟 The Sickly General
孙新 小尉迟 The Junior General
Table 3. Arms or objects
杨雄 病关索 The Pallid
Chinese names Chinese English translation of the
nicknames nicknames by Shapiro
关胜 大刀 The Big Halberd
and I notice that Shapiro mainly adopted literal translation in
呼延灼 双鞭 Two Rods dealing with these names. As a result, most of his translation
张清 没羽箭 The Featherless Arrow was able to convey the basic ideas of the source nicknames.
欧鹏 摩云金翅 Golden Wings Brushing the I summarize his translation into three groups:
Clouds
孟康 玉竿 The Jade Flagpole Good Translation
蔡庆 一枝花 The Single Blossom
Take some translation as an example: he translated “鬼脸
儿”as The Demon Face, “赤发鬼”as The Red-Haired De-
Table 4. Nicknames connected with dragon mon, “没羽箭”as The Featherless Arrow, “玉竿”as The
Jade Flagpole, “一枝花”as The Single Blossom and“青眼
Chinese names Chinese English translation of the
虎”as The Black-eyed Tiger. Basically, it is word for word
nicknames nicknames by Shapiro
translation, all of which is as vivid and lively as the orig-
史进 九纹龙 Nine Dragons inal ones. When we read the Chinese nicknames, a clear
李俊 混江龙 The Turbulent River Dragon and lifelike picture will emerge in our mind, and similar-
童威 出洞蛟 The Dragon from the Cave ly, when we read the English versions, we share the same
邹润 独角龙 The One‑Horned Dragon feelings.
At the same time, Shapiro introduced and spread China’s
邹渊 出林龙 The Dragon from the Forest
culture to the Westerners. In feudal China, dragon was the
孙胜 入云龙 Dragon in the Clouds symbol of emperors. The Chinese dragon is said to have the
head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the
ears of a cow, the neck of a snake, the belly of a frog, the
An analysis of Shapiro’s translation scales of a carp, the claws of a hawk, and the palm of a tiger.
Nicknames in the first five tables are relatively easy to trans- It has whiskers and a beard, and it is deaf. It is generally re-
late, for they do not carry too many cultural connotations, garded as benevolent. As a matter of a fact, dragon is the cre-
124 ALLS 8(4):122-125

ation of our ancestors’ imagination. What the dragon is like into bullies. In short, this part of translation is translated suc-
is of little significance, but what is important is that it is now cessfully and vividly manifesting Li Kui’s true characters.
a kind of cultural phenomenon. It has become a spiritual tie
linking the whole nation. So we can say, the dragon, as the
Mistaken Translation
symbol of the Chinese nation, has become part of the Chi-
nese people (Yuan, p.298). Therefore in Chinese, the word In Table 2, “浪子”was mistakenly translated as The Prodigy.
dragon is always associated with good things and appearing I consult Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and
usually together with 凤(phoenix). We have such Chinese its explanation is a person who has unusual and very notice-
idioms as 龙飞凤舞、龙凤呈祥、龙盘虎踞、藏龙卧虎、 able abilities. So “浪子”does not mean Prodigy. I find another
龙驹风雏、龙马精神、攀龙附凤、画龙点睛,etc. Now all translation for “浪子”-----The Prodigal. In that dictionary, it
of the Chinese people claim to be the offspring of the Drag- explains that prodigal is a person who leads a life of careless
on. wasteful spending and perhaps immoral pleasure and its Chi-
On the contrary, a dragon is not popular with the West- nese equivalent is 浪子or 奢侈挥霍的人，so from my per-
erners. In Western mythology, a dragon is a large imaginary spective The Prodigal should be a proper and exact translation.
animal with wings of a bat and huge flaws. It breathes out
fire and smoke, and is so ferocious and destructive that peo- Poor or Under Translation
ple have traditionally considered it a symbol of evils fought
Some culturally-loaded nicknames were under-translated
by human beings.(Hao, p.94) In their eyes, dragon is a large
which can not express the source nicknames exactly. Take“
monster. When we call a woman a dragon, it means that she
花和尚”for an example. “花和尚” is a pun in source lan-
is fierce and unpleasant. So a dragon in Chinese and in En-
guage and has two meanings, one is that Lu Zhisheng’s back
glish is quite different. When we translate the dragon, we
was tattooed and the other is that he did not observe the dis-
should pay more attention to its connotations in these two
ciplines of Buddhism which required that monk should be a
languages. Let’s turn back to Shapiro’s translation. Evident-
reverent Buddhist and practice vegetarianism, and not drink
ly, he adopted the auspicious meaning of dragon in Chinese
any wine, kill people or set fire. But Lu Zhisheng did all
and translated“出洞蛟”as The Dragon from the Cave and“
of the things above out of various reasons. So The Tattooed
独角龙”as The One-Horned Dragon which was fit for Chi- Monk only translated its Chinese literal meaning instead of
nese people’s habit and simultaneously opened a new hori- its connotations. Here I try translating “花和尚” as The Un-
zon for the Westerners. disciplined Tattooed Monk.
Such nicknames as“小李广”, “赛仁贵”and “八臂哪 Nicknames in Table 6 are closely related with some an-
吒”were translated with Chinese characteristics. They are cient heroes, religion or allusions which are the most diffi-
good except when the target readers read such translation for cult to translate, for they carry too much information. For
the first time, they may not know who Liguang, Rengui and example, “小温侯”吕方 was translated as The Little Duke,
Nezha are, so I suggest that some explanations and allusions here Duke confused readers. “温侯”was Lü Bu’s（吕布,a
should be added to these Chinese famous names to make figure in the novel Three Kingdoms）literary name given
them clear and easily acceptable. by Wang Yun（王允）after Lü Bu helped assassinate Dong
In my opinion, “小霸王”and“黑旋风”are best translated. Zhuo(董卓). Lü Fang liked to imitate Lü Bu including us-
When it comes to TheLittle King, we can’t help thinking of ing the same weapon-----halberd,what’s more, Lü Fang had
“the little emperor” which is a household word in China. the same surname as Lü Bu, hence his nickname was 小温
The Black Whirlwind first appeared in chapter 38 from 侯.When it was translated as The Little Duke, the social
page 779 to 799 of the English Version(Note 1). Here Black background reflected in the name completely disappeared.
was used to describe Li Kui’s complexion (facial features), I translate it as The Little Wen Hou.
while Whirlwind showed that, on the one hand, he was as Sunli and Sunxin’s nicknames are taken from a famous
fast and violent as a whirlwind, and on the other hand, he general of Tang Dynasty----Yu Chigong(尉迟恭) who led his
swept across everything like a whirlwind. For example, army to defeat the uprising of Wang Shichong (王世充)and
when he had some wine with Dai Zong and Song Jiang, he Dou Jiande(窦建德),etc and rendered outstanding service for
said “All right, but none of those piddling little cups for me. the Emperor Li Shiming(李世明). When “病尉迟”and “小尉
I want a large bowl.” When they ate fish, he pulled the fish 迟”were translated as The Sickly General or The Junior Gen-
out of his bowl with his hand and ate it, bones and all. Com- eral,the basic meaning of 尉迟 did not exist, nor did Chinese
pared with him, Song Jiang ate with elegance. Considering historical culture hidden in their nicknames. Here I translate
the fish was not fresh, Song Jiang took two sips of soup and them as The Sickly Yuchi and The Lesser Yuchi respectively.
stopped eating. Dai Zong didn’t like salted fish either. Li Kui When the two English versions appeared for the first time in
who had finished his own bowl said: “If you brothers don’t the novel, the translator should explain Yuchi in great details.
want yours, I’ll eat it for you.” He scooped the fish out of Similarly,杨雄’s nickname“病关索”was translated as
Song Jiang’s bowl with his fingers and consumed it, then did The Pallid, which described only his complexion instead of
the same with Dai Zong’s. He spattered the whole table with the allusion about Guan Suo (关索). It is said that Guan Suo
soup(Note 2). From his speech and manners we can see that was a young and handsome man with weapons and the third
Li Kui was a straight-forward loyal fellow, but he was rude son of Guan Yu (关羽) (a figure in another Chinese classical
and rash. The slightest injustice drove him wild, and he tore novel Three Kingdoms). But病关索means that杨雄’s com-
On Translation of Nicknames in Chinese Classic Novel Outlaws of the Marsh 125

plexion is rather pale and he is like Guan Suo in some aspect. REFERENCES
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