herb translations

[andygodwin]

hi all, wonder if anyone can help,

i'm currently studying chinese herbal medicine and as a study aid need to imagine some 'mind picture associations' could anyone give me literal translations of the following. eg Tu Si Zi rabbit silk seed

Gan Cao... sweet plant?

Bai Zhu... white ?

Shan yao...mountain?

Dang shen...?

Huang Qi...yellow (i think)

ding xiang..?

rou gui...?

Gan Jiang...?

Du Zhong...?

Dang Gui...?

Bai Shao...?

he Shou Wu...?

shu di Huang...?

Gou Qi Zi....? seed

Thanks in Advance

andy

[trevelyan]

Can you post the actual chinese characters? It's difficult to map the pinyin onto non-common characters....

[skylee]

Gan Cao... 甘草 (sweet grass)

Bai Zhu... 白朮 (white method)

Shan yao... 山藥 (mountain medicine)

Dang shen... 黨參 (The party's ginseng)

Huang Qi... 黃耆 (yellow old guy)

ding xiang... 丁香 (Grade D fragrance / lilac)

rou gui... 肉桂 (meat laurel)

Gan Jiang... 乾薑 (dry ginger)

Du Zhong...杜仲 (??)

Dang Gui... 當歸 (should return)

Bai Shao... 白芍 (white peony)

he Shou Wu... 何首烏 (Whose head is black?)

shu di Huang... 熟地黃 (mature land that is yellow)

Gou Qi Zi.... 枸杞子 (??)

[andygodwin]

thanks skylee thats great..

the literal translations are so odd it makes for great association images..

do you mind if i mail you again in a couple of weeks?? i've got 7 to memorise a week?

some are a little strange... is the 'he' in 'he Shou Wu' the same as the 'he' in 'he sea' water point for LU5 chize say?? just curious

regards andy

[skylee]

is the 'he' in 'he Shou Wu' the same as the 'he' in 'he sea' water point for LU5 chize say??

I don't think I understand the question. The "he" in heshouwu is usually a question word which can mean "what", "who", "how" etc depending on the context. It is also a surname.

If you need help on other terms, post them here and most probably someone (me or others) would help you. By the way, are you not learning Chinese at the same time? (as you did not post any chinese characters) I would think that it would be so difficult to study Chinese medicine based on pinyin only.

Also, you can check out the Chinese names of the herbs using this website.

[studentyoung]

Dear Andygodwin

Please check as below:

Gan Cao... 甘草 (liquorice)

Bai Zhu... 白朮 (Rhizoma)

Shan yao... 山药 (yam)

Dang shen... 党参 (root of Co donopsis Pilosula)

Huang Qi... 黃芪 (astragalus ;milk vetch）

ding xiang... 丁香 (clove)

rou gui... 肉桂 (cinnamon)

Gan Jiang... 乾薑 (dry ginger)

Du Zhong...杜仲 (eucommia)

Dang Gui... 当归 (Angelica)

Bai Shao... 白芍 ( white peony root )

he Shou Wu... 何首乌 (tuber fleeceflower)

shu di Huang... 熟地黃 (prepared rehmannia root)

Gou Qi Zi.... 枸杞子 (medlar)

I remember that a very famous Chinese female botancial professor in Harvard has written a book about the Chinese names of Chinese herbs and their English names. I can't remember the name. I only remember that the professor's surname is Hu (胡).

If anyone is still interested in Chinese herbs, please check this web http://cb.kingsoft.com/.

Thanks for your attention!