sãi

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "sai"

Vietnamese

Etymology

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 士, 仕 (“literati”, SV: sĩ, sỹ)?”

Pronunciation

Noun

sãi • (𪧸)

  1. Buddhist monk, bonze
    sãi chùa ― Buddhist monk (literally, “Buddhist temple's monk”)
    • 16th century, Nguyễn Thế Nghi's (attributed) Tân biên Truyền kỳ mạn lục tăng bổ giải âm tập chú (新編傳奇漫錄增補解音集註), giải âm/translation of “The Tale of the Abandoned Pagoda in Đông Triều” in Truyền kỳ mạn lục ("Casual Record of Transmitted Strange-Tales") by Nguyễn Dữ.
      仕娓𨪷𩯀共民平㐌姅
      Sãi vãi gọt tóc cùng dân bình đã nửa.
      Those who cut their hair and became Buddhist monks and nuns constituted half of the common populace.
  2. Short for sãi chùa (“Buddhist temple's warden”).
    Lắm / Nhiều sãi không ai đóng cửa chùa.
    Everybody's business is nobody's business (literally, “ many wardens none closes the temple's door”).
    Con vua thì lại làm vua;
    Con sãi ở chùa lại quét lá đa.
    A monarch's son shall become a monarch;
    A son of a warden shall sweep banyan leaves.
    1. (by extension, obsolete) warden, caretaker (in general)
      sãi nhà thờ ― church's warden
      sãi mõ ― wooden fish striker, temple block striker
      1. Short for sãi đò (“pilot, riverboatman, ferryman (possibly obsolete)”).

See also

References

  • “sãi” in Hồ Ngọc Đức's The Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project
  • “sãi” in Chữ Nôm Việt Nam
  • “sãi đò” in Chữ Nôm Việt Nam
  • J.F.M. Génibrel (1898) “sãi”, in Dictionnaire Annamite-Français, page 679
  • Jean Bonet (1899) “sãi”, in Dictionnaire Annamite-Français – Langue officielle et langue vulgaire, volume 2, page 194
  • Nguyễn Dư (2021) “Số phận của ông sãi, bà vãi”, in Chim Việt Cành Nam [Viet Birds, Southern Branches]‎
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