A Chinese idiom(or a sentence)

Sep 10, 2005 22:28


三个臭皮匠,抵个诸葛亮
sān gè chòu pí jiàng, dǐ gè zhū gě liàng

三 Three
个 [Quantifier] Entries
臭 Smell, stink(noun). Smelly, stinking(adjective). Very(Adverb). Here means smelly as an adjective.
皮 Skin, hide, cover, surface, fur in 皮毛, leather in 皮革(noun). Can be used as an adjective in localisms, means naughty.
匠 A skilled manual worker, a craftsman(noun).
皮匠 Leather worker, tanner, cobbler.
抵 Be equal to, count as(verb).
抵个 is often replaced by 顶个(dīng gè) or 胜过一个(shèng guò yi gè). 顶 has almost the same meaning as 抵 when being used as a verb. 胜过 means have the advantage of something. Or, in my opinion, 胜 equals better, 过 equals than.
诸葛亮 A name. 诸葛 is the family name, 亮 is the first name. 诸葛亮 is the prime minister of 蜀(Shu Han, 221-263 AD), a kingdom of ancient China. He is a main character in the novel 三国演义(Romance of the three kingdoms), and the symbol of wisdom and knowledge, and devotion to his people.

The Chinese scholar 钱钟书(Qián Zhōng-shū) has translated this sentence as:

Three cobblers with their wits combined, equal Zhu-ge Liang the master mind.

Or Simplified like:

Three cobblers' wits combined, equal the master mind.

Or, say, two heads are better than one.
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