Vocab questions from Xiao Hong's Tales from Hulan River

[kawaiikitty]

What is a "团圆媳妇"? I'm guessing that it means something like newly-arrived daughter-in-law. Is that correct? The term was used in Xiao Hong's

Tales from Hulan River

:

等我睡醒了，回到屋里去，老厨子第一个就告诉我：

“老胡家的

团圆媳妇

来啦，你还不知道，快吃了饭去看吧！”

老厨子今天特别忙，手里端着一盘黄瓜菜往屋里走，因为跟我指手划脚地一讲话， 差一点没把菜碟子掉在地上，只把黄瓜丝打翻了。

我一走进祖父的屋去，只有祖父一个人坐在饭桌前面，桌子上边的饭菜都摆好了，却没有人吃，母亲和父亲都没有来吃饭，有二伯也没有来吃饭。祖父一看见我，祖父就 问我：

“那

团圆媳妇

好不好？”

大概祖父以为我是去看

团圆媳妇

回来的。我说我不知道，我在草棵里边吃天星星来 的。

祖父说：

“你妈他们都去看

团圆媳妇

去了，就是那个跳大神的老胡家。”

[kawaiikitty]

What does it mean to "出马"? Does it mean "go free"? The term was used in Xiao Hong's

Tales from Hulan River

in connection to the 团圆媳妇's exorcism ceremonies:

虽然不哭了，那西南角上又夜夜跳起大神来，打着鼓，叮噹叮噹地响；大神唱一句，二神唱一句，因为是夜里，听得特别清晰，一句半句的我都记住了。

什么“小灵花呀”，甚么“胡家让她去

出马

呀”。

...

...

说那小团圆媳妇若再去让她

出马

，她的命就难保了。所以请了不少的二神来，设法从大神那里把她要回来。

[kawaiikitty]

What is a "帖儿" and "帖法"? I'm guessing that it relates to predicting the future, but I don't understand the technique described. Again, this is from an episode in Xiao Hong's

Tales from Hulan River

:

他还有一个别号，叫云游真人，他说一提云游真人，远近皆知。无管什么病痛或是吉凶，若一抽了他的

帖儿

，则生死存亡就算定了。他说他的

帖法

，是张天师所传。

他的

帖儿

并不多，只有四个，他从衣裳的口袋里一个一个地往外摸，摸出一

帖

来是用红纸包着，再一

帖

还是红纸包着，摸到第四

帖

也都是红纸包着。

他说

帖

下也没有字，也没有影。里边只包着一包药面，一包红，一包绿，一包蓝，一包黄。抽着黄的就是黄金富贵，抽着红的就是红颜不老。抽到绿的就不大好了，绿色的是鬼火。抽到蓝的也不大好，蓝的就是铁脸蓝青，张天师说过，铁脸蓝青，不死也得见阎王。

[skylee]

團圓媳婦 = 童養媳

出馬 in that context seems to be some sort of superstituous rites. I have not read the book and do not know what it is.

I think 帖/帖兒 = 神帖 = 神符. 帖法 is the way to administer 帖.

[Kobo-Daishi]

According to the Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (found in the GoldenDict dictionary app as a StarDict format file), 出馬(马) means 出診 in some dialects,

And 出診(诊) has a definition of

1.(of a doctor) to pay a home visit; to make a house call; to visit; to go out to see a patient

2.a house call

Is the exorcist in the story a woman?

A shamaness?

I believe they practice(d) shamanism in the Heilongjiang region that the story takes place in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilongjiang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism Amazing, how these people look so much like native Americans (or American Indians) even with teepees and all. Just as the native aborigines of Taiwan.

Perhaps, this shaman(ess), "witch doctor" is making a "house call"?

What Kobo wrote at the thread titled "Difference Between Mod. Stand. Chinese in Mainland, HK & TW"

I remember reading in the Chinese-English Dictionary of Colloquial Terms Used in Modern Chinese Literature put out by the Yale University Press that the Xiandai "took special note of colloquialisms and regionalisms"

It seems that following the May 4th movement and the change from literary Chinese to vernacular that a lot of writers were throwing in bits and pieces from common speech of particular regions to spice up their writing. To make it sound more authentic but it was difficult for readers not from those regions to pick up so a bunch of dictionaries sprung up to meet the need.

http://www.chinese-f...tw/#comment-289434

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiao_Hong

Xiao Hong came out of the May 4th movement, perhaps she peppered her novel with heilongjiang regionalisms to make the story more "real".

But then they don't say that the regionalism is a Heilongjiang regionalism in the Xiandai. For all we know it could be from the south in Fujian or Guangdong and not the northest.

Kobo.