苍润轩碑跋

English translation: Postcript on the Steles of the Cangrun Pavilion

09:21 Nov 5, 2014
Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - History
Chinese term or phrase: 苍润轩碑跋
Book by 盛时泰. But what does the title mean?
I need to know exactly what it means, please, no pinyin. My best guess at the moment is: postscript (跋) about steles (碑) written in the office (轩) of classic style (苍润). But I have no idea if that's right.
Phil Hand
China
Local time: 18:14
English translation:Postcript on the Steles of the Cangrun Pavilion
Explanation:
From what I can understand from my (less than perfect) 古文 reading of the introduction to this book on google, 苍润 is an adjective to describe a work of calligraphy (苍劲滋润)which is both vigorous and fluid, but 苍润轩 was a particular place named as such by the painter 文徵明 because of its visual appeal. As such it could be taken as a proper name and simply rendered 'Cangrun Pavilion'.
Alternatively if you wanted to translate the meaning of 苍润, I might suggest 'Proud and Vivacious Pavilion'; 'Bold and Flowing Pavilion'; 'Grand and Fluent Pavilion' or somesuch.

To be honest I think the meaning is so difficult to encapsulate in a few words that I would tend towards leaving Cangrun in Pinyin, and since the origin of the name appears to be addressed in the work itself rely on that to communicate the meaning.

When it comes to 碑跋, I think it is the steles which are contained within the pavilion rather than the book which was written in the pavilion, but I have only read a little of the book so I can't be certain.
Selected response from:

psgolf
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Grading comment
Thanks, that's useful. I'm still not sure it's the position of the steles. It seems to be Sheng's office. Pinyin is definitely a reasonable option for Cangrun, but at the moment I'm going with "Afterword from Carved Stones from the Study of Masterful Inspiration"
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Postcript on the Steles of the Cangrun Pavilion
psgolf


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Postcript on the Steles of the Cangrun Pavilion


Explanation:
From what I can understand from my (less than perfect) 古文 reading of the introduction to this book on google, 苍润 is an adjective to describe a work of calligraphy (苍劲滋润)which is both vigorous and fluid, but 苍润轩 was a particular place named as such by the painter 文徵明 because of its visual appeal. As such it could be taken as a proper name and simply rendered 'Cangrun Pavilion'.
Alternatively if you wanted to translate the meaning of 苍润, I might suggest 'Proud and Vivacious Pavilion'; 'Bold and Flowing Pavilion'; 'Grand and Fluent Pavilion' or somesuch.

To be honest I think the meaning is so difficult to encapsulate in a few words that I would tend towards leaving Cangrun in Pinyin, and since the origin of the name appears to be addressed in the work itself rely on that to communicate the meaning.

When it comes to 碑跋, I think it is the steles which are contained within the pavilion rather than the book which was written in the pavilion, but I have only read a little of the book so I can't be certain.


    Reference: http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E8%8B%8D%E6%B6%A6%E8%BD%A9%E7%A2%...
    Reference: http://baike.baidu.com/view/1804458.htm
psgolf
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks, that's useful. I'm still not sure it's the position of the steles. It seems to be Sheng's office. Pinyin is definitely a reasonable option for Cangrun, but at the moment I'm going with "Afterword from Carved Stones from the Study of Masterful Inspiration"

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Aaron Gilkison (X)
1 hr

agree  Sharon Toh, MITI MCIL: Right, to my understanding, it is parsed this way: 苍润轩/碑/跋, i.e. 跋 on/about 碑 of/in/at 苍润轩. A 碑 located at some place is almost always called {name of place}碑.
10 hrs

neutral  tomhmeng2008: As a native Chinese speaker, from my understanding of traditional Chinese literature, 轩 seems to be a small house and 苍润轩 is such a small house named by 文徵明. It's possible that this house is the study of the author, 盛时泰.
1 day 1 hr
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