2021年11月30日火曜日

Explanation of the herb tea “Dropping letters” #haiku

 Please read this first → Explanation of the herb tea “A hand turning a page” #haiku

This time I would like to introduce the haiku originated of the herb tea "Dropping letters" which is the second tea of the “Herb Tea of Savoring the Books” series.


The writing desk
drops letters -
a bit chilly
          Ayaka Satō

文机のひやりと文字をこぼすなり  佐藤文香
Fudzukue no hiyari to moji wo kobosu nari 

文机 fudzukue [ɸɯdzɯkɯe]
the writing desk (a little old-fashioned)

no [no]
(particle; express the subject in this case)

ひやり hiyari [çʲijaɾʲi]
mimetic word (onomatopoeia)
It has double meanings like "chill(y)" in this case.
It means both "feel like a chill" and just "feel chill".
For example, "A cold chill came over me when I lost my footing on the stairs" and "A chilly wind is blowing".

to [to]
(particle)

文字 moji [moʤi]
characters/letters

wo [o]
(perticle)

こぼす kobosu [kobosɯ]
drop

なり nari [naɾʲi]
(auxiliary verb; express the conclusion)

I chose the following words carefully when I translated. 
・It is a personification that "the desk drops" letters. In fact, a notebook or something which has characters falls from the desk, but it is like a desk's mistake I think. And characters are twinkling for me, so I chose "drop" because its meaning as a noun "drop".
・At first, I selected "characters" since I use Japanese and Chinese characters more than alphabets. But "characters" has some meanings unrelated to the books. On the other hand, "letters" has two major meanings which are "mails" and "alphabets", and both of them relate to the books or the study room. So, I chose the word "letters" in this case.
・"Chilly" relates to "drops" and "letters". When the letters drop, we feel chilly. And we feel the letters a little cold because it's autumn now. "ひやり hiyari [çʲijaɾʲi]" comes from "冷える hieru [çʲieɾɯ]" means "Get cold" which is an autumn seasonal word in haiku. I try to cover this translated English haiku with chill, so I put "a bit chilly" at last.

I felt that this tea' flavor is intelligent. Please try it.

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