Chinese Jian sword

KuKulzA28 · 23rd January 2012, 06:51 PM

This 饕餮 is pronounced tāo tiè with T sounds.
It is the name of a mythical monster.

the "tao" you are referring to is more properly spelled as dào. Different methods, Wade-giles, pinyin, etc. have different spellings. This makes it much more confusing. The tao like in taoism is a D

Dào, or 道, is like Daoism (Taoism), direction, way, path, method, etc. It is pronounced with a D sound.

In Indonesia and Philippines, there is the name "kuntao" which is the Fujianese/Hokkien way of saying 拳道, or kun tao a.k.a. Quan Dao / Chuan Dow... which literally means "Fist Way" or "Boxing Method". Remember, tone makes all the difference, this is not the same dao as knife/saber. I think in normal Chinese grammar this (kuntao) is awkward as Dao implies a philosophy or spiritual way like in Daoism/Taoism. But perhaps the Hokkien in maritime SE Asia has changed somewhat from its Fujianese/Taiwanese roots. Or perhaps it's a local "bastardization"?? Also notice Aikido, or Taekwondo (Japanese & Korean which have linguistic similarities to Chinese)... the "do" seems to be used the same way kuntao uses "tao" - aka Way of the Fist or whatever... This makes it more confusing because different dialects of Chinese languages have their own sounds, and Mandarin is considered relatively simple, normally having only 4 tones. Cantonese and Taiwanese/Fujianese/Hokkien have 8+ I think....

I hope this helps you.
Speaking Mandarin as your 1st language is useful sometimes.

23rd January 2012, 06:51 PM	#22
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	This 饕餮 is pronounced tāo tiè with T sounds. It is the name of a mythical monster. the "tao" you are referring to is more properly spelled as dào. Different methods, Wade-giles, pinyin, etc. have different spellings. This makes it much more confusing. The tao like in taoism is a D Dào, or 道, is like Daoism (Taoism), direction, way, path, method, etc. It is pronounced with a D sound. In Indonesia and Philippines, there is the name "kuntao" which is the Fujianese/Hokkien way of saying 拳道, or kun tao a.k.a. Quan Dao / Chuan Dow... which literally means "Fist Way" or "Boxing Method". Remember, tone makes all the difference, this is not the same dao as knife/saber. I think in normal Chinese grammar this (kuntao) is awkward as Dao implies a philosophy or spiritual way like in Daoism/Taoism. But perhaps the Hokkien in maritime SE Asia has changed somewhat from its Fujianese/Taiwanese roots. Or perhaps it's a local "bastardization"?? Also notice Aikido, or Taekwondo (Japanese & Korean which have linguistic similarities to Chinese)... the "do" seems to be used the same way kuntao uses "tao" - aka Way of the Fist or whatever... This makes it more confusing because different dialects of Chinese languages have their own sounds, and Mandarin is considered relatively simple, normally having only 4 tones. Cantonese and Taiwanese/Fujianese/Hokkien have 8+ I think.... I hope this helps you. Speaking Mandarin as your 1st language is useful sometimes. Last edited by KuKulzA28; 23rd January 2012 at 07:35 PM.