More translations: the bird edition

[rushthatspeaks]

This is the third update in my ongoing series of translations of a Sui Dynasty sexual practices manual found in a mid-20th century academic text by my friend telophase. I'm translating from the Latin produced by the author of the book, since I am nearly fluent enough in Chinese to ask the way to the train station, as long as I am also allowed to use hand gestures. The previous two updates are in one entry, which may be found here (NB: explicit material); images of the pages of the text are here. My usual caveat applies-- the Latin is very beautiful and uses grammatical structures which are awkward and wordy when translated into English, so I'm going for readability rather than literalism here, although I'm sorry to deprive you of the author's plethora of perfect passive participles.



Pair of Swallows: The woman lies on her back and stretches her legs apart. The man straddles her widely, bending over so that she may put her arms about his neck. Then she, with his body clasped close to her, may insert the Jade Stalk in the Cinnabar Crevice.

[Ed. note: I suspect that this takes its name from the distinctive appearance of the wingbeats of swallows. Certainly I can see the movement of their legs here suggesting the beating of wings. Well, as much as I can see any of these metaphors: if I squint and perform a clean-and-jerk on my disbelief.]

Mandarin Ducks: The woman lies on her side with both legs bent and places her left thigh over the man's left thigh. Then, when he is lying on his back, he can put his left calf over the woman's right calf. Then his left knee elevates her left thigh and the Jade Stalk can be inserted.

[And for the dismount, a triple salchow. This seems to me unnecessarily complicated. I should note that all usages of the word 'left' in the text are in parentheses and may have been added in the Latin to aid clarity. Mandarin ducks are a symbol used in Chinese weddings and denote a very loving couple. I'm not sure what about them specifically applies to this position.]

Reversed Flying Ducks: The man lies flat on his back and spreads his legs. The woman sits on his abdomen straddling him, her face turned toward his feet. She may then incline her head to the Jade Stalk before placing it in the Cinnabar Crevice.

[No, there is no position called 'Flying Ducks'. Also no word on duck species this time.]

Flying Sea Gulls: The man props his forehead on the bed and spreads his legs over the woman; thus the Jade Stalk may enter the Precious Portal [her mouth].

The Jungle Fowl: The man sits on the bed with his legs crossed. One girl sits near his lap and puts the Jade Stalk into her Precious Portal. Another woman crouches behind the first woman's back and helps her friend by moving and stroking along with the first's lips. This position brings one to the summit of voluptuousness.

[Although the word 'mulier' is used throughout to denote woman, the word 'puella' is used for one of the two involved here. 'Puella' literally means girl, but I think it's simply a noun switch so that the reader can more easily tell the women apart, instead of a reflection on the age of the participant.]

The Rukh Bird Soaring Over The Sea: The woman lies on her back and the man places around her both his legs and his arms. His lower arms should hold the woman's body up against him while the Jade Stalk enters.

[The Rukh is another name for the Roc, which is famously able to pick up entire elephants in its talons, although one hopes it was not amorously entangled with them at the time.]


As always, many thanks to telophase, and I hope you've all found this enjoyable. Next time: mythological creatures.

Comments

[sovay]

Mandarin ducks are a symbol used in Chinese weddings and denote a very loving couple. I'm not sure what about them specifically applies to this position.

I don't know: if you're willing to puzzle out instructions that complicated, you must really love someone . . .

This position brings one to the summit of voluptuousness.

May I get that in Latin?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I don't know: if you're willing to puzzle out instructions that complicated, you must really love someone . . .

I honestly suspect the author of the Latin of adding 'left' every so often simply because there is no hope at all otherwise. I had to draw little scribbly diagrams.

Also: "Quod quidem summan voluptatem afferre potest." As I said, I'm going for comprehensibility with the English, rather than literalism, but I think it's a reasonable interpretation.

[sovay]

I had to draw little scribbly diagrams.

Isn't that why these things are supposed to come with illustrations?

"Quod quidem summam voluptatem afferre potest."

Thanks . . . (Your interpretations, so far as I can tell, are quite good.) Did this person ever do translations from Latin? Because by all rights, they should have rocked.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I really don't know much about the author of this book. I may have to look him up, because I agree, that would rock. Frankly, his Latin has been the thing that makes me admire him the most as a scholar so far. I mean, it's got to be hard enough to translate the things out of Chinese to begin with, let alone into a second foreign language, let alone that prettily.

[sovay]

I admire Robert van Gulik for that reason (as well as the fact that I imprinted on his Judge Dee mysteries at a young and impressionable age): he was translating from Chinese prototypes and writing in English, and his native language was Dutch.

So far, my most complicated attempt at translation into Latin has been the children's book Guji Guji. It had its tricky points (you try naming ducklings "Crayon" or "Zebra" in Latin), but I've still got a ways to go . . .

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

I still can't figure out what's going on in that one — is the woman on her right side or her left, and is she on the man's right or his left? My best guess is that she's on her right side, on the man's right, and with her torso roughly perpendicular to his, but there may be several other possibilities given how much information is left out.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

His lower arms should hold the woman's body up against him while the Jade Stalk enters.

i would like to know what his upper arms are doing, and where a person has to sign up to get multiple sets of arms.

also, any thoughts on the difference between the cinnabar crevice and the precious portal?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think he's propped on his elbows.

The Cinnabar Crevice is definitely the vulva; I'd heard that metaphor well before I started on this project. I conclude that the Precious Portal is the mouth mostly because there's this one bit somewhere in the earlier translations where that's really the only thing that is anatomically possible. Also, the author of the manual seems to be sticking to one epithet/euphemism per body part, which is why we get Jade Stalk over and over and over and bloody well over again...

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

my thought, as someone who has slept with, not a statistically valid sample size of men, but, you know, a few, IT SHOULDN'T BE GREEN.

i'm just sayin'.

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

Jade is presumably the metaphor of choice for its culturally-salient preciousness... and hardness. It also comes in a variety of colors.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Hmm — in Fluttering Butterflies, though, the Precious Portal is clearly the vulva. And Jade Portal is used elsewhere as well, while Chorded Lute is used for the mouth. I think that in Jungle Fowl, given the relative positions of the two women (the second behind the back of the first), it makes more sense for it to be the vulva.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I think the swallow reference may be more fom the distinctively splayed wings and tail of the barn swallow. Although I'm now picturing the woman splayed out staring at the ceiling corpse-style.

Good job, and thanks again! XD

[papersky.livejournal.com]

The "mandarin ducks" one is actually a very comfortable position when heavily pregnant.

Just as a point of information.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

[No, there is no position called 'Flying Ducks'. Also no word on duck species this time.]

Interesting that the same position is called 'Reverse Cowgirl' in English. Given that 'Cowgirl' is more commonly referred to as just woman on top, a similar situation may exist in Chinese; or, it may be that it was simply thought too basic to bother including in the manual in the first place.

[lnhammer]

Regarding those Mandarin Ducks, I'm pretty sure I've seen that described in Victorian porn (in almost the same complicated way) as a position good for extending copulation.

---L.