The second line of 关雎
A big fat thank you to all of you commented! Thank you for your kind words! I'm honoured that people want to add me, really. But I might not add you back. I'm sorry, but I use my friend list to check my favorite fanfiction writers up. And no offence, but some of you post several times a day...
参差荇菜，左右流之；窈窕淑女，寤寐求之。
cēn cī xìng caì, zuǒ yòu liú zhī; yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ, wǔ mèi qiú zhī.
求之不得，寤寐思服。悠哉悠哉，辗转反侧。
qiú zhī bù dé, wù mèi sī fú. yōu zāi yōu zāi, zhǎn zhuǎn fǎn cè(or zhì).
...Glad to see I haven't forgotten all my pinyin yet...
参差 Irregular, uneven, ragged. Means the length of something is uneven. Think about sound wave! Often used in 参差不齐(a well used idiom), 不 means not. 齐 means level, neat, equal. 参差不齐 means (something's appearance is) irregularly notched, toothed, or indented. Used as an adjective, on shapes.
荇菜 Some aquicolous potherb. The leaves are esculent. (荇 is not used anymore. 菜 used in 蔬菜 means vegetable, 菜 used by itself means non-staple foodstuffs. )
左 Left. Left hand side.
右 Right. Right hand side.
流 Flow, stream. Here means pick the potherb in question following the stream.
之 Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here. Or maybe means it.
之 is very important in ancient Chinese. Appears most as "of" or 的 in Chinese. Then as third person and it's possessive case, i.e. 他她它（们）（的）. Then it can be used as a verb, means "go to (somewhere), leave for (somewhere)". And it can be used as an adjective, means "zigzag". I mean, look at this word, doesn't it shape like the letter Z? When it's used in this way, it usually appears in 之字形. Last, 之 can be just an interjection, without actual meaning, just make up the four syllables.
Sometimes it's hard to tell which one is the right answer. It's normal. We Chinese children were tortured by it as well, in high school.
窈窕淑女 Beautiful, slim gentlewoman. (See my post yesterday.)
寤寐 寤 means awake. 寐 means sleep. 寤寐 means at any time both when awaking and when sleeping.
求 Seek in 寻求, beg in 乞求, request in 请求. Means pursuit or court here as in 追求.
之 Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here. Or maybe means her.
求 See above.
之 See above.
不 No, not, didn't.
得 Get (something), recieve (something).
(求之不得 means "most welcome" in nowaday Chinese. For something was pressed for or a hard-won chance, or a dream finally come true. For example, you dreamed about, say, a Jaguar, and one day somebody came to ask you, "Hey! Here's a Jaguar for you and it's free! Do you want it?" What will you say?)
寤寐 See above.
思 Short of 思念. Yearn, miss (somebody).
服 Interjection. Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here.
悠 Usually means leisurely or at ease. Here means long.
哉 Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here. (Attention! 悠哉悠哉 in nowaday Chinese usually appeared as 悠哉游哉, means free from restraint. It has became an idiom, too.)
辗转 Means toss here. Can mean something got hand on or somebody abnormal (capricious, chameleonic, inconstant, moonish).
反 Turn over.
侧 Side. (So you can see 反侧 means turn over to the other side...) Don't really know if it should be read as cè or zhì, it cercainly doesn't have a latter pronunciation in dictionary! But I recall I've read it somewhere it's a 通假字 of some other word... You can just go ahead and read it as cè.
(辗转反侧 means toss about in bed, when you worried about something. Usually used in written Chinese. But a well-known idiom.)
Translation:
High and low (or long and short?), there are potherbs grow by the river. Right and left, pick them up while walk by the river; That girl slender and beautiful, kind and gentle, I think about her both awake or sleep.
I want her but I don't have her, I think about her no matter awake or sleep. Long night and long thought, I toss and turn in my bed.
参差荇菜，左右流之；窈窕淑女，寤寐求之。
cēn cī xìng caì, zuǒ yòu liú zhī; yǎo tiǎo shū nǚ, wǔ mèi qiú zhī.
求之不得，寤寐思服。悠哉悠哉，辗转反侧。
qiú zhī bù dé, wù mèi sī fú. yōu zāi yōu zāi, zhǎn zhuǎn fǎn cè(or zhì).
...Glad to see I haven't forgotten all my pinyin yet...
参差 Irregular, uneven, ragged. Means the length of something is uneven. Think about sound wave! Often used in 参差不齐(a well used idiom), 不 means not. 齐 means level, neat, equal. 参差不齐 means (something's appearance is) irregularly notched, toothed, or indented. Used as an adjective, on shapes.
荇菜 Some aquicolous potherb. The leaves are esculent. (荇 is not used anymore. 菜 used in 蔬菜 means vegetable, 菜 used by itself means non-staple foodstuffs. )
左 Left. Left hand side.
右 Right. Right hand side.
流 Flow, stream. Here means pick the potherb in question following the stream.
之 Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here. Or maybe means it.
之 is very important in ancient Chinese. Appears most as "of" or 的 in Chinese. Then as third person and it's possessive case, i.e. 他她它（们）（的）. Then it can be used as a verb, means "go to (somewhere), leave for (somewhere)". And it can be used as an adjective, means "zigzag". I mean, look at this word, doesn't it shape like the letter Z? When it's used in this way, it usually appears in 之字形. Last, 之 can be just an interjection, without actual meaning, just make up the four syllables.
Sometimes it's hard to tell which one is the right answer. It's normal. We Chinese children were tortured by it as well, in high school.
窈窕淑女 Beautiful, slim gentlewoman. (See my post yesterday.)
寤寐 寤 means awake. 寐 means sleep. 寤寐 means at any time both when awaking and when sleeping.
求 Seek in 寻求, beg in 乞求, request in 请求. Means pursuit or court here as in 追求.
之 Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here. Or maybe means her.
求 See above.
之 See above.
不 No, not, didn't.
得 Get (something), recieve (something).
(求之不得 means "most welcome" in nowaday Chinese. For something was pressed for or a hard-won chance, or a dream finally come true. For example, you dreamed about, say, a Jaguar, and one day somebody came to ask you, "Hey! Here's a Jaguar for you and it's free! Do you want it?" What will you say?)
寤寐 See above.
思 Short of 思念. Yearn, miss (somebody).
服 Interjection. Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here.
悠 Usually means leisurely or at ease. Here means long.
哉 Insignificant. Just a sound for rhyming here. (Attention! 悠哉悠哉 in nowaday Chinese usually appeared as 悠哉游哉, means free from restraint. It has became an idiom, too.)
辗转 Means toss here. Can mean something got hand on or somebody abnormal (capricious, chameleonic, inconstant, moonish).
反 Turn over.
侧 Side. (So you can see 反侧 means turn over to the other side...) Don't really know if it should be read as cè or zhì, it cercainly doesn't have a latter pronunciation in dictionary! But I recall I've read it somewhere it's a 通假字 of some other word... You can just go ahead and read it as cè.
(辗转反侧 means toss about in bed, when you worried about something. Usually used in written Chinese. But a well-known idiom.)
Translation:
High and low (or long and short?), there are potherbs grow by the river. Right and left, pick them up while walk by the river; That girl slender and beautiful, kind and gentle, I think about her both awake or sleep.
I want her but I don't have her, I think about her no matter awake or sleep. Long night and long thought, I toss and turn in my bed.