Di4 Dao4

[Frenchhistorian]

Hello,

I'm a French historian, specialist in the field of tunnel war In France. Following some discussions on this forum (History), I guet interesting informations about the use of tunnels durinig the anti-Japanese war.

But I do not read Chinese, so today I have some specific questions in the field of vocabulary, regarding the wording "Di4 Dao4".

What is the history of this wording "Di4 Dao4"?

Is it a specific wording for war tunnels?

With Chinese origins?

Its use began during anti-Japanese war or before?

Thanks a lot for any information

[frankso]

Di4 Dao4 地道 is the chinese word for tunnel, and "地道战" is the chinese word for tunnel warfare。

you can refer to http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/146-beijing-chinese-language-and-culture-college2 for more information about that.

[jbiesnecker]

I'm not sure of its historical origin, but today it simply has the generic meaning of "tunnel." The characters that make it ("ground", "path, way") make me think that it probably always had that sort of generic meaning, not specifically relating to anything from the war.