<p>Here 啁 is a phonetic loan for 嘲, 'to mock', as in 嘲笑, so the phrase 或啁之曰could be translated "Someone mocked him, saying..." Using one character for another because they are pronounced similarly is common in older works.  You could compare it to the situation in earlier English works where the same word is often spelled different ways, even in the same sentence.  </p>

<p>I doubt there is any regular semantic relationship between 啁 in the sense of 嘲, and 啁 in the sense of 'noisy'. As the comment by nee.wong notes, although phonetically similar, they are still pronounced differently. In fact, 啁 meaning 'noisy' usually occurs only in onomatopoeic phrases such as 啁啾 zhoujiu or 啁哳 zhouzha.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-15T03:00:38.113Z
2015-10-15T03:00:38.113Z
wpt
<p>A random phrase from Lun-Heng begins with 或啁之曰, </p>

<p>as far as I understand its parts mean:</p>

<ul>
<li>或 someone</li>
<li>啁 to chirp, to twitter</li>
<li>之 objectpronoun "it,him,her" as in "I like him, I talk about it"</li>
<li>曰 to say (stands right before a verbatim quotation)**</li>
</ul>

<p>rendered into one sentence: </p>

<p><strong>someone twittered it saying: "..."</strong></p>

<p>I do not understand how 啁 to twitter fits into it, because if one twitters one makes sounds of a bird and does not speak to convey a contend. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-14T15:07:48.830Z
and he tweeted saying....
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-14T15:13:55.780Z
could it be used to express that a bird was talking to a human or that a human could understand the meaning of a bird chirping ?
Abdul Al Hazred
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-14T15:30:51.983Z
like twitter [dot] com
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-14T15:51:28.287Z
you mean twitter is used in literary chinese similar to the english figurative meaning as in "spreading a rumour" ?
Abdul Al Hazred
<translation><meaning-in-context><literary-chinese>
what is the translation for 或啁之曰 ?
# what is the translation for 或啁之曰 ?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-14)

A random phrase from Lun-Heng begins with 或啁之曰,

as far as I understand its parts mean:

* 或 someone
* 啁 to chirp, to twitter
* 之 objectpronoun "it,him,her" as in "I like him, I talk about it"
* 曰 to say (stands right before a verbatim quotation)\*\*

rendered into one sentence:

**someone twittered it saying: "..."**

I do not understand how 啁 to twitter fits into it, because if one twitters one makes sounds of a bird and does not speak to convey a contend.

**Tags:** translation, meaning-in-context, literary-chinese
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: and he tweeted saying....  
> **username_0**: could it be used to express that a bird was talking to a human or that a human could understand the meaning of a bird chirping ?  
> **username_1**: like twitter [dot] com  
> **username_0**: you mean twitter is used in literary chinese similar to the english figurative meaning as in "spreading a rumour" ?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-10-15. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Here 啁 is a phonetic loan for 嘲, 'to mock', as in 嘲笑, so the phrase 或啁之曰could be translated "Someone mocked him, saying..." Using one character for another because they are pronounced similarly is common in older works. You could compare it to the situation in earlier English works where the same word is often spelled different ways, even in the same sentence.

I doubt there is any regular semantic relationship between 啁 in the sense of 嘲, and 啁 in the sense of 'noisy'. As the comment by nee.wong notes, although phonetically similar, they are still pronounced differently. In fact, 啁 meaning 'noisy' usually occurs only in onomatopoeic phrases such as 啁啾 zhoujiu or 啁哳 zhouzha.


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