This poem uses an EO-rhyme, which consists of certain words ending in EO and IO. I think these words probably ended in a rising diphthong, such as [əw], and therefore do not rhyme with other words ending in -o, which fall into the E rhyme.
It seems likely that the poet chose the EO-rhyme because it rhymed with the theme, but interestingly the author of the first weiqi poem I looked at chose an E rhyme, suggesting that tonio could have been pronounced in two different ways, perhaps as [tɔɲɔ] at some times, and [tɔɲəw] at others.
tonio [碁], | Weiqi | |||
Staatsbibliothek 11.22 (View Online) | ||||
yacin šanyan juwe siden, | Black and white, the two sides, | |||
maka kimun binio, | I wonder, is there some enmity? | |||
arga bodon unenggio, | Are the plans and calculations genuine? | |||
etehe seme, | Suppose you win, | |||
5 | aibe bahambio, | what do you get? | ||
galai afambi seci, | When you say you’re making an attacking move, | |||
yala bucunuheo, | aren’t you actually fighting? | |||
wara deribun sureo, | Is it wise to begin killing? | |||
efin dabala, | It is only a game. | |||
10 | batai adalio. | Are you like enemies? |
Translation Difficulties
bucunuheo. I don’t find this in my dictionaries. I initially read it as *bucenuheo, from *bucenumbi, “to die together,” but I agree with the feedback in the comments below that it is probably becunumbi, and I have updated my reading to reflect that.
'bucunuheo' probably stands for 'becunuheo' from 'becunumbi', 'to fight, to quarrel'.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. I've updated my reading. Thanks!
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