南蠻鴃舌

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Chinese

the "Southern Barbarians", a catch-all term for the Yue and other peoples living south of the Chinese cultural sphere in Antiquity cry of a shrike; barbarian gibberish; incomprehensible language or dialect of southern China
trad. (南蠻鴃舌) 南蠻 鴃舌
simp. (南蛮𫛞舌) 南蛮 𫛞舌

Etymology

From Mencius:

今也南蠻鴃舌之人，非先王之道，子倍子之師而學之，亦異於曾子矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
今也南蛮𫛞舌之人，非先王之道，子倍子之师而学之，亦异于曾子矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Mencius, c. 4th century BCE
Jīn yě nánmánjuéshé zhī rén, fēi xiānwáng zhī dào, zǐ bèi zǐ zhī shī ér xué zhī, yì yì yú Zēngzǐ yǐ.
Now here is this shrike-tongued barbarian of the south, whose doctrines are not those of the ancient kings. You turn away from your master and become his disciple. Your conduct is different indeed from that of the philosopher Zeng.

Note that in the pre-Qin period when this term was coined, the Chinese language was not spoken in the area known as South China today. See Old Yue language.

Pronunciation

Idiom

南蠻鴃舌

  1. (derogatory) to speak the language of the southern barbarians or a dialect of southern China
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