| Change log entry 41249 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2012-05-09 01:09:56 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 39356 - submitted by 'alanwatson' >> The blurb for my recent trip to Vietnam praises Halong Bay thus: 下龍灣在東京灣250哩的海面上，散落著千餘座獨立島嶼，蔚成海上石林齊奇 觀，又名『海上桂林』自然氣勢有過之！ I freely confess to being unhappy with my definition for 蔚成. I know that translating other dictionaries' Chinese definitions is not the right approach and I am sure that my definition lacks something. I hope the editors can improve on it. Editor: Here are some of the contexts in which I encountered 蔚成 ~ 蔚成大观 蔚成风气 蔚成主流 蔚成风尚 蔚成风潮 蔚成大器 蔚成时尚 蔚成大國 蔚成壮观 蔚成熱潮 and here are a few related expressions ~ 蔚为大观 蔚为奇观 蔚为壮观 蔚然成风 I imagine that 蔚成 was originally used to describe the way a plant grows luxuriantly to form an impressive sight, one that is made up of a multitude of leaves or flowers. That usage can be seen in these examples ~ > 大片的黄菊，蔚成金黄世界，煞是好看！ > Every June the great mass of leaves and shoots still broke out into a passionate splendour of scent and crimson color. 每逢6月到来，浓碧的枝叶丛中，猩红馥郁，蔚成一派情如火灼的奇观。 And just as 石林 is a *geological* formation which is described using the forest as a metaphor, 蔚成 came to be used in contexts where the proliferation is non-vegetative -- such as the islets of Ha Long Bay, or the custom of wearing a pager. In Ha Long Bay, the scene is made up of a multitude of islets, and in society there are a multitude of instances of a fashion (such as wearing a pager). In the case of vegetative growth or karst formation, the result is visually impressive, and that's why you are right to feel that there is something like "splendidly" missing from the proposed definition "to form; to constitute". However, when the analogy is extended to the spread of fashions in society, there is no longer a visually appealing result. This all makes it difficult to come up with a short, simple definition that would apply in all contexts. I think that, as a single-word definition, you probably can't do better than "to form" or "to constitute", but of course these words lack the flavour provided in Chinese by the connotations of 蔚. In the end, I decided to retain "to constitute" and "to form" in the definition for their simplicity. My best attempt to capture the full range of senses is ~ "to proliferate and become (a prevailing trend, a magnificent spectacle etc)" Of course "proliferate and become" is virtually a direct character-by-character translation of 蔚成. (The verb 蔚起 means "proliferate" or "flourish".) I added "to consist of a profusion of similar elements which together form (an impressive whole)" mainly by way of explication, rather than as a useful idiomatic formulation (although it happens to apply quite well to the Ha Long Bay example). And finally, I added "proliferation/growth/spread" for the noun sense, seen in expressions such as > 同时丰富校园文化氛围，促进优良学风和校园文明新风尚的蔚成。 > 道德風氣的蔚成 |
| Diff: |
- 蔚 蔚 [wei4] /Artemisia japonica/luxuriant/ # + 蔚 蔚 [wei4] /Artemisia japonica/luxuriant/gorgeous/splendidly/ # As well as our original two meanings, MoE has 文采華美的樣子 (形) and 盛大的樣子(副) # + 蔚成 蔚成 [wei4 cheng2] /to form/to constitute/ # MoE gives 構成、形成 but surely 蔚 here is 'splendidly' as above. Would 'splendidly forms' be better? # But MoE's example 在現代社會裡，佩戴呼叫器已經蔚成一股風氣 is hardly splendid # Editor: + 蔚 蔚 [wei4] /Artemisia japonica/luxuriant/resplendent/impressive/ + 蔚成 蔚成 [wei4 cheng2] /to proliferate and become (a prevailing trend, a magnificent spectacle etc)/to consist of a profusion of similar elements which together form (an impressive whole)/to form/to constitute/proliferation/growth/spread/ |