班馬

班馬

1. (literary) stray horse

   • 邢伯告中行伯曰：「有班馬之聲，齊師其遁。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     邢伯告中行伯曰：「有班马之声，齐师其遁。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Xíng bó gào Zhōngháng bó yuē: “Yǒu bānmǎ zhī shēng, Qí shī qí dùn.” [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 失羣班馬，迷輪亂轍。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     失群班马，迷轮乱辙。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 6th century, 庾信 (Yu Xin), 哀江南賦

     Shīqún bānmǎ, mí lún luàn zhé. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 揮手自茲去，蕭蕭班馬鳴。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     挥手自兹去，萧萧班马鸣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 8th century, Li Bai, 送友人

     Huīshǒu zì zī qù, xiāoxiāo bānmǎ míng. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 背櫪嘶班馬，分洲叫斷鴻。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     背枥嘶班马，分洲叫断鸿。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 8th century, 李嶠 (Li Jiao), 送光祿劉主簿之洛

     Bèi lì sī bānmǎ, fēn zhōu jiào duànhóng. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

班馬

1. (literary) Ban Gu and Sima Qian (two great historians, used to be reckoned as greatest of all time)

   • 譬如罷，作文論秦朝事，寫一句“秦始皇乃始燒書”，是不算好文章的，必須翻譯一下，使牠不容易一目了然纔好。 […] 改成“政俶燔典”，那就簡直有了班馬氣，雖然跟着也令人不大看得懂。 [MSC, trad.]
     譬如罢，作文论秦朝事，写一句“秦始皇乃始烧书”，是不算好文章的，必须翻译一下，使它不容易一目了然才好。 […] 改成“政俶燔典”，那就简直有了班马气，虽然跟着也令人不大看得懂。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1933 November 10, 魯迅 (Lu Xun), 《作文秘訣》 (The Key to Doing a Composition)

     Pìrú ba, zuòwén lùn Qíncháo shì, xiě yījù “Qínshǐhuáng nǎi shǐ shāo shū”, shì bùsuàn hǎo wénzhāng de, bìxū fānyì yīxià, shǐ tā bùróngyì yīmùliǎorán cái hǎo. […] gǎichéng “Zhèng chù fán diǎn”, nà jiù jiǎnzhí yǒule Bān-Mǎ qì, suīrán gēnzhe yě lìngrén bùdà kàndedǒng. [Pinyin]

     For instance, when writing about the Qin dynasty, a straightforward sentence like ‘First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty began to burn books’ would be considered poor style. One must instead render it in archaic language to obscure immediate comprehension. [...] By changing it to 政俶燔典 (“‘Zheng [the name of Qin Shi Huang] chu [started] fan [burning] dian [the classics]’”), the phrasing suddenly carries the classical gravitas of historians like Ban Gu or Sima Qian—though admittedly, this also renders it nearly incomprehensible to modern readers.

班⫽馬 (verb-object)

1. (Cantonese, slang) to gather subordinates