Collarspace Discussion Forums


Home  Login  Search 

Chinese Symbol for Slave


View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
 
All Forums >> [Community Discussions] >> General BDSM Discussion >> Chinese Symbol for Slave Page: [1] 2 3 4   next >   >>
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 6:14:32 PM   
slaveforsure


Posts: 17
Joined: 5/6/2008
Status: offline 		I’ve gone back and forth on the idea of getting a tattoo for a long time and believe I’m finally ready. I know that I want the Chinese symbol for slave but I seem to be having a hard time identifying exactly what symbol that is ….

Is there anyone out there that reads/speaks Chinese that can help me out with this? Or anyone that can point me in the direction of an expert?  I'd try to share what I have found but evidently you cannot post pictures on the forums so here is the link ..... http://www.chinese-symbols.com/s-chinese-symbol-for-slave   Or i have posted the picture in my profile though it may take a few days to get approved.

Thanks for the help!!
Profile   Post #: 1
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 6:38:28 PM   
chamberqueen


Posts: 1597
Joined: 10/25/2007
From: Kalamazoo, MI
Status: offline 		I chose a modified Yin Yang symbol for my mark showing that I belonged to my Master.  Instead of having the black and white side by side I had the black put on top.  To me it symbolized the balance between Dominance/submission, black/white, and male/female.  The edges are beveled instead of a harsh division to show that we are becoming more a part of each other with time.  The dot of the opposite color on each side is to show that one can never exist completely on its own but carries a bit of the other with them.

There are many beautiful Oriental symbols that could be used.  I just wanted to share with you an example that you may not have thought of.


_____________________________



(in reply to slaveforsure)
Profile   Post #: 2
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:34:45 PM   
UmbraDomina


Posts: 491
Joined: 7/22/2008
From: SE Michigan
Status: offline 		you might want to check local colleges and such for help as well...... you don't want to just trust one source especially if you don't read the languge........ you might end up with something silly like salad fork or fish brain tattoo'ed on you instead of slave...... or even a made up character.

_____________________________

Alexandra ~

~~ And I will show you something different from either your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust..... T.S. Elliot ~~

(in reply to chamberqueen)
Profile   Post #: 3
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:36:43 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		That's not wrong, but it's written in simplified Chinese, and it's not what I'd choose anyway.  There are many different ways of saying "slave," and that combination applies historically to people who became government slaves by being convicted of a crime.  That's hardly what we mean by "slave" in the BDSM world.  (This will be news to people who know Japanese but not Chinese, since the original connotations of the Chinese word are largely lost in the Japanese equivalent, i.e. dorei.)

The traditional way of writing the combination in the link you sent would be 奴隸, not 奴隶 (again, the latter being simplified).

If you want something that CAN'T be wrong, just say nu: 奴, in other words the first character in the two-character combation you linked to.

quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveforsure

Is there anyone out there that reads/speaks Chinese that can help me out with this? Or anyone that can point me in the direction of an expert?  I'd try to share what I have found but evidently you cannot post pictures on the forums so here is the link ..... http://www.chinese-symbols.com/s-chinese-symbol-for-slave

(in reply to slaveforsure)
Profile   Post #: 4
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:40:30 PM   
mystickoolaid


Posts: 519
Joined: 11/15/2008
Status: offline 		The wikipedia article on kajira has several different symbols for slave for you to consider. Chinese symbols literally DEPICT what the word is. Like 'slave' is literally a picture of an 'M' type figure over a "slave woman" or something like that. Don't remember exactly how it was described, but I saw it in the characters when I read the literal meaning.

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 5
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:44:49 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		No, they're not pictographs.  You really need to read something other than Wikipedia.

quote:

ORIGINAL: mystickoolaid

The wikipedia article on kajira has several different symbols for slave for you to consider. Chinese symbols literally DEPICT what the word is.

(in reply to mystickoolaid)
Profile   Post #: 6
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:46:37 PM   
Naga


Posts: 147
Joined: 10/11/2008
Status: offline 		Wasn't the "original" symbology for slave something like "woman under the hand of man" or something similar?

http://www.jp41.com/kanji/slave.html

http://www.tribalshapes.com/categories/kanji/kanji-slave.html

http://www.stockkanji.com/Words/Slave+(dorei).htm

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:47:10 PM   
mummyman321


Posts: 2102
Joined: 10/31/2005
From: Dusseldorf
Status: offline 		There are many free language translators online. You could start there. But the Chinese language has many dialects and then there is the simplified and traditional versions. It would be best to find someone who spoke the language. You might search Collarme profiles for people in China and ask for some advice.

_____________________________

Life - Its not about where you are but about the journey to get there - I prefer to choose the road less traveled

(in reply to mystickoolaid)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 7:51:57 PM   
sravaka


Posts: 314
Joined: 6/20/2008
Status: offline
quote:

Instead of having the black and white side by side I had the black put on top. To me it symbolized the balance between Dominance/submission, black/white, and male/female.


Unless I'm mistaken, white (light) would be associated with the yin/male, and black (dark) with the yang/female.

But of course your tattoos can mean whatever you want them to mean.


_____________________________

Miseries hold me fixed, and I would gladly cut these roots to become a floating plant. I would yield myself up utterly, if the inviting stream could be relied upon. --Ono no Komachi

(in reply to chamberqueen)
Profile   Post #: 9
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 8:02:43 PM   
mystickoolaid


Posts: 519
Joined: 11/15/2008
Status: offline 		I do read a lot, quite frequently. It's pretty common knowledge. My mom has an OBSESSION with all things oriental.


Also, I think your translation of woman under hand of man was pretty dead on.

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 8:15:33 PM   
sravaka


Posts: 314
Joined: 6/20/2008
Status: offline
quote:

That's not wrong, but it's written in simplified Chinese, and it's not what I'd choose anyway. There are many different ways of saying "slave," and that combination applies historically to people who became government slaves by being convicted of a crime. That's hardly what we mean by "slave" in the BDSM world. (This will be news to people who know Japanese but not Chinese, since the original connotations of the Chinese word are largely lost in the Japanese equivalent, i.e. dorei.)


The "dorei" (not simplified) combination in Japanese is, according to the Japanese equivalent of the OED, a modern translation from the English word slave.  In Japanese the first character was originally applied to a word whose meaning over time has ranged from slave conscripted for labor, to servant, to underling, to retainer or courtier, to a humble first person pronoun, and so on.

::shrug::   For what it's worth. 

I wonder what the attraction is of kanji tattoos for people who don't actually read kanji?  I suspect it's related to the pictographic fallacy that Lordandmaster references above, but would be curious to hear first person reports.


_____________________________

Miseries hold me fixed, and I would gladly cut these roots to become a floating plant. I would yield myself up utterly, if the inviting stream could be relied upon. --Ono no Komachi

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 8:25:39 PM   
sravaka


Posts: 314
Joined: 6/20/2008
Status: offline
quote:

I do read a lot, quite frequently. It's pretty common knowledge. My mom has an OBSESSION with all things oriental.


It's quite possible to read frequently, particularly in a "common knowledge" vein, and end up reading crap, even if you are guided by others' obsessions with things <cough> Asian.  (To some, "common knowledge" includes an appreciation and thence circumspection about use of the term "oriental.")

Some Chinese characters have pictographic origins.  Most are at best logographic even in their origins.  It's complicated.



< Message edited by sravaka -- 11/24/2008 8:26:56 PM >

_____________________________

Miseries hold me fixed, and I would gladly cut these roots to become a floating plant. I would yield myself up utterly, if the inviting stream could be relied upon. --Ono no Komachi

(in reply to mystickoolaid)
Profile   Post #: 12
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 9:13:08 PM   
slaveforsure


Posts: 17
Joined: 5/6/2008
Status: offline 		First of – I want to thank everyone for their contributions!!

To specifically address some comments:
Thank you for the suggestions of seeking help at a local college and reaching out to members of CM from China – great ideas, thanks.

I agree with you Lordandmaster—to me “slave” is not a slave of the government. I knew there were several translations, that is why I asked for help.

What I am hoping to find are the symbols for subservient/service slave/something along those lines…or as someone else mentioned “women under the hand of man” -- Anyone have a link to that symbol for that?


Sravaka- The attraction to me of a kanji tattoo is simple… I think the script is beautiful and though I don’t read kanji, neither does anyone else I know – meaning I can wear the tattoo on the small of my back and if my shirt should ride up or my bikini bottom down neither my mother nor best friend are going to scream OMG why do you have slave written on your back. I want the word slave, as that is what I am; yes I could come up with a picture that would symbolize it but to me that’s not as meaningful.

< Message edited by slaveforsure -- 11/24/2008 9:17:17 PM >

(in reply to sravaka)
Profile   Post #: 13
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 9:17:50 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		They're talking about the one I mentioned--奴.  That's not really what it means, since the term can also refer to a male slave, but it's nice to gaze at the components of the graph and think that's the origin.

quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveforsure

What I am hoping to find are the symbols for a subservient service slave…or as someone else mentioned “women under the hand of man” -- Anyone have a link to that symbol for that?

(in reply to slaveforsure)
Profile   Post #: 14
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 9:41:16 PM   
slaveforsure


Posts: 17
Joined: 5/6/2008
Status: offline 		I'm guessing i don't have some language pack installed on my computer or something because all i see is a box. Ideas as to how to fix that?

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 15
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 9:56:29 PM   
sravaka


Posts: 314
Joined: 6/20/2008
Status: offline 		Hi Slaveforsure,

That's a wonderful reason to get a kanji, and one I hadn't thought of.  :-)
Personally?  I would probably go with　婢　(if that's not legible, you can see it here http://www.jp41.com/kanji/hi.html?start=40 about halfway down the page, glossed as "maidservant".)

If you put it together with the other one (woman + hand ) it means "slaves, male and female"  But this one is the female, where the other refers to males or both.  If you take this one apart it has a woman on the right side and the graph for "lowly" on the right.  Not sure whether it's used in Chinese or not, but it would work in Japanese.





_____________________________

Miseries hold me fixed, and I would gladly cut these roots to become a floating plant. I would yield myself up utterly, if the inviting stream could be relied upon. --Ono no Komachi

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 16
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 10:00:26 PM   
zakkan


Posts: 606
Joined: 4/15/2008
Status: offline 		You can try 奴婢, which is more female orientated. It means more of "female servant", than slave though. Its a common term used in the palace.

For something more direct, you can always have 性奴, which literally means sex slave. It looks better in traditional chinese, but the language bar won't let me switch

< Message edited by zakkan -- 11/24/2008 10:02:46 PM >

_____________________________

Silence! I keel you!

(in reply to slaveforsure)
Profile   Post #: 17
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 11:09:59 PM   
PitbullBootboy


Posts: 4
Joined: 4/23/2005
Status: offline 		I've been hangout in tattoo shops and getting tattooed for the past 20 years. Most of my body is tattooed. I have several friends who are tattoo artists and my advice is to do plenty of research. Get a Kanji book of Chinese & Japanese Characters for reference.

http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Dictionary-Chinese-Japanese-Characters-Language/dp/0486234673

My local news paper did an article on Asian character tattoos and told some horror stories, one guy thought he had "Strength" tattooed on him in Japanese. But while checking out at the local super market the cashier who was Japanese told him the character meant "Evil". When getting any tattoos in foreign languages do plenty of research because one little line can change the whole character or word in that particular language. That is the BEST advice you will get from a real tattoo enthusiast who knows the in's & out's of the tattoo subculture. I am not claiming to be a know it all, but I am only trying to make sure a person loves his/her tattoo and not have any regrets. Laser removal is expensive and if you cover it with another tattoo that's additional cash as well. Research the artist & shop ask around, the shop should be well known and clean. Good Luck....

< Message edited by PitbullBootboy -- 11/24/2008 11:11:50 PM >

(in reply to slaveforsure)
Profile   Post #: 18
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 11:15:50 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		I like 奴婢; that's a good choice for a female slave.  Even better might be 婢女, meaning simply "slave girl."

性奴 wouldn't mean "sex slave."  (And you wrote it in traditional characters; there's nothing wrong with that.)  That's a forced and fairly modern understanding; really it means something more like "someone who is a slave by her inborn nature" (which might also be a good choice).  "Bedchamber slave" would be closer to what we'd call "sex slave": 房奴.

Also, there are lots of words for "concubine" that might also be appropriate: 媵妾 ("maidservant-concubine"), 嬖妾 ("concubine whom one favors sexually"), and lots of others.

quote:

ORIGINAL: zakkan

You can try 奴婢, which is more female orientated. It means more of "female servant", than slave though. Its a common term used in the palace.

For something more direct, you can always have 性奴, which literally means sex slave. It looks better in traditional chinese, but the language bar won't let me switch

(in reply to zakkan)
Profile   Post #: 19
RE: Chinese Symbol for Slave - 11/24/2008 11:47:01 PM   
ftmyersartist


Posts: 107
Joined: 9/14/2007
Status: offline 		Try this site. His translations are very good.

http://www.chinese-word.com/data2/slave.html

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 20
Page:   [1] 2 3 4   next >   >>
All Forums >> [Community Discussions] >> General BDSM Discussion >> Chinese Symbol for Slave Page: [1] 2 3 4   next >   >>
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts




Collarchat.com © 2025
Terms of Service Privacy Policy Spam Policy

0.094