官司 guānsi and guānsī ?

[tooironic]

Wenlin gives two meanings: (guānsi) lawsuit and (guānsī) public duty. What do you think this "public duty" definition refers to? I've never heard of it before and can't find the sense any other dictionary. Cheers.

[skylee]

I've never heard of it before and can't find the sense any other dictionary.

take a look at the Lin Yutang dictionary (Words #47) -> http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/cgi-bin/agrep-lindict?query=%a9%78&category=wholerecord

You can also find it in this dictionary -> http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/

But I don't think I knew this meaning before you mentioned it. The word means "lawsuit" to me. I think it can also mean government departments - in Hong Kong the Department of Justice is called 律政司.

[anita998710]

司 means 掌管 （be in charge of somthing）.

see the following link

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?cond=%A9x%A5q&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&ukey=-571129675&serial=2&recNo=0&op=&imgFont=1

[jiangping]

The 國語詞典 describes that usage as "官吏的分職", so it would seem to refer generally to the public duties of officials.

[zhxlier]

I believe (guānsī) public duty is only used in classical Chinese.

Wenlin gives two meanings: (guānsi) lawsuit and (guānsī) public duty. What do you think this "public duty" definition refers to? I've never heard of it before and can't find the sense any other dictionary. Cheers.

[Daan]

I can't speak to whether guānsī is still in use in Mandarin, but I can confirm 官司 was used in classical Chinese in the sense of "public official" as early as the Warring States period. We have no recorded examples of this being used the Han dynasty, so any later meaning of "public duty" might not be immediately related to the Warring States word.