挎着短枪

[Lu]

I'm translating a novel. The story takes place in Southern China, around 1920, although I suspect that's not actually important for my question.

Two bandits show up: 一个背着长枪，一个挎着短枪. My question: what does 挎 mean here? How is the man actually holding the gun? Does he hold it in his hand, is it in a shoulder holster?

 

Many thanks for anyone who knows! I think the answer must be simple, except I don't know it.

[abcdefg]

I might be able to help with this. Think about a 挎包, a purse or bag slung over one shoulder instead of carried in the hand. 

 

 

I think his gun is probably a short-barreled shotgun, not a rifle, pistol or revolver, and it has a sling (attached to it at the butt and at the end of the wooden forearm.) I think he is carrying it slung over one shoulder, 挎着, Sicilian bandit style. Not in a shoulder holster. These short shotguns are called "lupara" in Italian and were popularized in the Godfather movies (when Michael was in exile in Sicily.)

 

Something like this, with much shorter barrels, usually double-barreled. Sometimes the stock has been shortened, too. It's not very difficult to conceal (helpful if you're a bandit.)

 

 

 

[Tomsima]

Interesting question, answer seems correct, caption of what it looks like here: https://item.btime.com/35qmt5b01fc8qvaks2u53nc0q6o

Seems to specifically mean carrying the gun on the chest with it looped over the shoulder and neck. So one bandit has a bigger gun located on his back, the other a shorter gun located on his front. 

[TheBigZaboon]

Second the two previous answers, and add: shotguns, as referenced above, can be (and often were) shortened. Rifles had much harder steel barrels, and casual sawing would leave burrs and defects that made the weapon dangerous to the shooter. So the proffered explanation is very plausible.

 

Another alternative is a weapon popular in China at the time, but too elaborate a choice without being specifically referenced in the description:

 

 

 

 

Obviously not a good idea to ask older boys about their toys...

 

TBZ

[Lu]

Thank you all! I hadn't thought of a gun with a shoulder strap, now it makes total sense. And now that I know what I'm looking at, the images google gives me for 挎着枪 also make sense and support your answers.

[TheBigZaboon]

I don't know which language you're translating into, but I'll risk life and limb, and impertinently suggest the common English phrase, "slung across his chest" as a candidate for the English version... If you're stuck for phrasing as to how to manage short versus long weapons, and on the back versus "slung across his chest" in close proximity, I can make suggestions, but obviously only in English.

 

But I'll keep the final portion of my two cents in my pocket until I have permission to speak...

 

TBZ

[Lu]

I translate into Dutch, but I'll keep your suggestion in mind.

[EnergyReaper]

On 3/27/2023 at 3:55 PM, TheBigZaboon said:

"slung across his chest" as a candidate for the English version

It's suitable, just like how we use a submachine gun (冲锋枪).

二战时期，一名苏联女红军的照片，身材壮硕高大挎着波波沙冲锋枪

[骏马的丕沿?]

Here is my method. First, look up “挎” in a (real) dictionary. I recommend 现代汉语词典, which is very authoritative, and can be purchased for extremely little money on the App Store. Then, optionally, go to Google Images (or Baidu Images), search “挎枪”, and inspect some images to consolidate the information you had just learned from the dictionary.

 

This method may be employed on any character/word whose meaning is obviously an “action”/“motion”, and is both more effective and more simple than any other method by extremely large margins.

 

Why did you not use this method in the first place?

[Lu]

I tried these methods and they didn't tell me what I needed to know. That's why I asked here.

 

Try searching "挎枪" on Google Image, it doesn't yield any useful results. Baidu is much better, but those results only start to make sense with the explanation I got here. I even tried one of the AI image generators, but that only gave me drawn portraits of ancient Chinese-looking people, even when I just typed 枪. The 现代汉语词典 doesn't have 挎枪 and the explanation for 挎 didn't tell me what I needed to know. I guess I should have explained all that in my post, but I trusted the commentariat here to know that I do my homework before I ask things here. You should also have done your homework and tried the methods you advise here. That way, you would have found out they don't help in this case and you wouldn't have needed to make that condescending post.