FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

"Firefly" character on ship

POSTED BY: REVEAL
UPDATED: Thursday, August 26, 2004 13:24
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 1913
PAGE 1 of 1

Thursday, August 26, 2004 1:17 PM

REVEAL


Here's an obscure and completely useless bit of trivia. The Pinyinary notes that the character used for "firefly" on the ship (qian-) is obscure and not commonly used. It's obscure indeed -- I have yet to find it in my dictionaries or dictionary sites. (Admittedly, I'm a long way from knowing the Yale 1,020, but I'm getting pretty good at looking characters up.) "Firefly" seems to be normally translated as "ying/ huo~ chong/" ("glowing fire bug," more or less).

It's somewhat interesting that they would use an obscure character for the ship model. Of course, it could simply be for graphics reasons, one character perhaps being better than three. But while I was looking through the various meanings of "qian-", I found some homonyms that apply rather well to the show: crime; all (together); move, migrate; and leader (in the character, a person leading a thousand).

Meaningful? Probably not. But it's amusing to me that the themes of leadership, community, migration, and crime are all encapsulated in a single name.


NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, August 26, 2004 1:24 PM

EMBERS


Thank you for that, I really found it interesting...
I'm not likely to investigate the Chinese myself, but I find it very interesting when someone else looks into it and gives us a real analysis as you have!

I just arrived in Oakland at a Buffy convention, but Jonathan Woodward will be here...one of the famous 'hat tricks' of Joss' shows.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

OTHER TOPICS

DISCUSSIONS
I have lost all faith in the Oscars!
Mon, August 26, 2024 07:47 - 38 posts
Punching somebody with a closed fist?
Sat, June 15, 2024 15:12 - 35 posts
Map of the Verse discussion
Mon, April 29, 2024 22:33 - 171 posts
Other actors on Firefly.
Mon, April 29, 2024 21:50 - 92 posts
Zoic studios best work on Firefly
Wed, February 14, 2024 07:12 - 1 posts
Firefly Honest Trailer
Tue, June 27, 2023 16:58 - 8 posts
Chronological Order of Episodes.
Sat, November 26, 2022 16:47 - 39 posts
The Unmade Episodes
Sun, June 12, 2022 14:39 - 1 posts
Episode sequence?
Wed, February 16, 2022 00:58 - 9 posts
Questions about Sound in Space
Mon, November 29, 2021 20:47 - 41 posts
Itinerary for Serenity during the 9 months of Firefly/Serenity.
Thu, June 20, 2019 20:39 - 21 posts
The Savant Crew
Wed, May 15, 2019 13:47 - 32 posts

FFF.NET SOCIAL