The Sunken Moon - Translator's notes
Translating the terms gave me a bit of a headache- I've tried my best to convey the difference between Eastern/Western terminology and to make things as self-explanatory as possible :/
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Phantasm (幻世)
Literally translated, it means 'world of illusions/dreams/ghosts/fantasy'.
Fan Tong (范統)
The character’s name is a homonyn for ‘worthless trash’ (飯桶), and is commonly used in scolding someone for being useless.
I'd thought about translating this as Euceles ('useless'), but the series makes clear references to Chinese/English culture, so...
Shi (侍)
The word means 'attendant' or 'servant'.
Corporeal body (軀體)
Actually just means 'body', but it is not the usual word we use when describing human bodies in Chinese.
Moonfall (落月)
Eastern City's name for Western City, named thus because the moon sets in the West
Night's End (夜止)
Western City's name for Eastern City, named thus because the sun rises in the East, which puts an end to the night
Tassels
a symbol of rank within Eastern City. Explained in the pr.
Different colours indicate different ranks, and the order from lowest to high is: white, green, blue, red, purple, black. Except for white (only 1 shade) and black (2 shades), all other colours are divided into three shades: light, normal, dark.
Citizens (新生居民) and natives (原生居民)
Citizens (or ‘new citizens’) are from souls from other worlds, natives (or ‘native citizens’) are born in Phantasm.
Magic and combat
Each city has three kinds of arts: one for combat, two for magic/spells. I've included the Western arts for the sake of completeness.
Eastern arts:
術法 - spell arts
It's not too clear in the novels, but the user uses his/her imagination and power to perform spells. Similar to magic.
符咒 - seal arts
First, the user must write seals on paper talismans. Then, to use them, the user throws them and shouts the spell's name.
武術 - martial arts
Self-explanatory, combat with/without weapons.
Western:
魔法 - Magic
邪咒 - Curses
劍術 - Swordsmanship
Fan Taisui (範太歲)
Ill fortune. To be precise, this is the ill fortune that occurs when the zodiac cycle clashes with your zodiac animal. Naturally Fan Tong uses it as a pun to his surname.
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Phantasm (幻世)
Literally translated, it means 'world of illusions/dreams/ghosts/fantasy'.
Fan Tong (范統)
The character’s name is a homonyn for ‘worthless trash’ (飯桶), and is commonly used in scolding someone for being useless.
I'd thought about translating this as Euceles ('useless'), but the series makes clear references to Chinese/English culture, so...
Shi (侍)
The word means 'attendant' or 'servant'.
Corporeal body (軀體)
Actually just means 'body', but it is not the usual word we use when describing human bodies in Chinese.
Moonfall (落月)
Eastern City's name for Western City, named thus because the moon sets in the West
Night's End (夜止)
Western City's name for Eastern City, named thus because the sun rises in the East, which puts an end to the night
Tassels
a symbol of rank within Eastern City. Explained in the pr.
Different colours indicate different ranks, and the order from lowest to high is: white, green, blue, red, purple, black. Except for white (only 1 shade) and black (2 shades), all other colours are divided into three shades: light, normal, dark.
Citizens (新生居民) and natives (原生居民)
Citizens (or ‘new citizens’) are from souls from other worlds, natives (or ‘native citizens’) are born in Phantasm.
Magic and combat
Each city has three kinds of arts: one for combat, two for magic/spells. I've included the Western arts for the sake of completeness.
Eastern arts:
術法 - spell arts
It's not too clear in the novels, but the user uses his/her imagination and power to perform spells. Similar to magic.
符咒 - seal arts
First, the user must write seals on paper talismans. Then, to use them, the user throws them and shouts the spell's name.
武術 - martial arts
Self-explanatory, combat with/without weapons.
Western:
魔法 - Magic
邪咒 - Curses
劍術 - Swordsmanship
Fan Taisui (範太歲)
Ill fortune. To be precise, this is the ill fortune that occurs when the zodiac cycle clashes with your zodiac animal. Naturally Fan Tong uses it as a pun to his surname.