Thursday May 24, 2007
Open Channel
Translation of ‘pak kum’ is incorrect
I READ your discussion about “white gold” (May 16) and would like to offer some correction.
The translation of “white gold” is completely wrong, but the mistake is an understandable one.
In the original Chinese word, there are two characters. The problem lies in the first character. Its pronunciation is close to that of “white” in Mandarin. When used in dialect, they could well be pronounced the same.
That character by itself means silk; however, in ancient Chinese writing, it sometimes could also mean money, depending on the context.
Although the second character also means money or gold, it would certainly cause confusion if one tried to explain the two characters in the traditional way, that is, to lay out their meaning one by one and then join them to see what you get.
However, this is an exceptional case and the combination of these two must be understood collectively, i.e. they only have one distinctive meaning, that is the money given to the bereaved family to help them with the cost of the funeral, and to show the donor’s sympathy.
There is an Internet link you can refer to, but if you do not read Chinese, it will not be of help: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B8%9B%E9%87%91
– Liyue
‘Condolence gift’ or ‘condolence money’
WITH reference to the question on whether “white gold” is a suitable English equivalent for the gift one gives to the relatives of a newly deceased person according to Chinese custom (May 16), I think “condolence gift” or “condolence money” are acceptable English equivalents, at least in meaning, for the Chinese term pak kum. – Meng2
It started with incense paper and joss sticks
THE Chinese in olden days used to give incense paper and joss sticks to the bereaved family as offerings to the deceased. I do not know the significance of burning the incense paper and joss sticks but this is a topic for another day.
Over the years, as people came to have less time on their hands, this tradition started to die off and people just started giving money to the bereaved family to buy the incense paper and joss sticks.
I hope this information is helpful. – Goh Aik Liang
How about ‘token of condolence?
MAY I suggest the term “token of condolence” or “condolence offering”? – Karen
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