English word for “孝”
Many years ago, while our children were still at home, my wife
and I once raised a question: “Is there a single English word for the
Chinese word “孝” ?” We could not find one.
As having been raised in the traditional Chinese culture and society
during our childhood, we know well there are multiple meanings for
the Chinese word “孝”.
What I have come up , at least, include “be good”, “be courteous”,
“care”, “love”, “serve”, “obey”, “respect”, “sacrifice”, “support”,
and ?
In the United States, the word “love” is more than enough for the
children to be good to their parents.
More importantly, as the parents of American children, never
try to tell them the Chinese “二十四孝” stories. As a matter of fact,
there were many cases of what I consider to be "child abuse” in
that "fairy tale" book.
Yeh Tze
Try filial, filiation ( for son to father ) ?
ReplyDeletetl
Dictionary.com:
ReplyDeletefil⋅i⋅al
/ˈfɪliəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [fil-ee-uhl] Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or befitting a son or daughter: filial obedience.
2. noting or having the relation of a child to a parent.
3. Genetics. pertaining to the sequence of generations following the parental generation, each generation being designated by an F followed by a subscript number indicating its place in the sequence.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < LL fīliālis, equiv. to L fīli(us) son + -ālis -al 1
Merriam-Webster:
ReplyDeleteMain Entry:
fil·i·a·tion Listen to the pronunciation of filiation
Pronunciation:
\ˌfi-lē-ˈā-shən\
Function:
noun
Date:
15th century
1 a: filial relationship especially of a son to his father b: the adjudication of paternity2 a: descent or derivation especially from a culture or language b: the act or process of determining such relationship
I think we can look what we want, and as hard as we want. There will never be a perfect substitution for the word.
ReplyDeletetl