The Titles of Magical Books in Harry Potter
Numerology and Grammatica
Shùzì-xué hé yǔfǎ-xué
Shùzì-zhànbǔ yǔ túxíng
= 'numeral + -ology'.
和 hé = 'and'.
语法学 yǔfǎ-xué = 'grammar + ology'.
数字占卜 shùzì--zhànbǔ = 'numeral + divining'.
与 yǔ = 'and' (written).
图形 túxíng= 'diagrams, pictures'.
|Numerology and Grammar-ology
Numeral divining and Diagrams
Mìnglǐ yǔ cèzì
= 'principle of fate'.
與 yǔ = 'and' (written).
測字 cèzì = 'fortune-telling by analysing the parts of Chinese characters (glyphomancy)'.
|Principles of Fate and Glyphomancy|
Sūmitsu-gaku to bunpō-gaku
sūmitsu-gaku = 'number-secret-ology'.
と to = 'and'.
文法学 bunpō-gaku = 'grammar-ology'.
|Secret-numerology and Grammar-ology|
|Vietnamese||Thuật Số Và Ngữ Pháp
Lượng Số Học Và Ngữ Pháp
'art/technique of numbers' = divination'.
và = 'and'.
ngữ pháp (語法) 'grammar'.
lượng số học
|Divination and Grammar
Subjects of Western Magic:
Very difficult to translate are these rather abstruse subjects of Western magic.
Numerology purports to divine a person's fate from numbers -- by using the date of a person's birthday, the number of strokes used to write their name, etc.
Grammatica is nothing more than the study of grammar, although to the ancients it was an essential subject of higher learning.
The Mainland translator follows the English quite closely, using the suffix 学 -xué ('study of, -ology') to convey an academic tone. But the content of these 'ologies' is nothing more than 'numbers' and 'grammar'.
In Book 7, the translators change numerology to the more accurate 数字占卜 shùzì-zhànbǔ 'divining by numbers' (which is an advance), but grammatica somewhat inexplicably changes into 图形 túxíng 'diagrams or pictures'.
The Japanese translator adopts a similar strategy, using the same suffix 学 -gaku. 'Numerology' goes by the dictionary translation: the study of the secrets of numbers.
The Taiwanese translator adopts the most interesting solution by substituting two Chinese subjects related to the study of personal fate. 命理 mìnglǐ refers to the 'principles of fate'. 測字 cèzì is a traditional Chinese method of fortune-telling by analysing the parts and number of strokes in Chinese characters of personal names. (If the fortune-teller finds that the combination of characters, number of strokes, etc. used in your name is unlucky, then you should think of changing it!). Of course, the Taiwanese title sacrifices grammatology, but the loss is not great.
The Vietnamese translator uses thuật số, meaning 'divination'. It is related to the Chinese term 術數 shùshù, which is a cover term for traditional methods of divination such as 命理 mìnglǐ and 測字 cèzì above.
Category: Theory of Magic