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ArchivesWell, if your mother was Chinese...
in reply to a message by Sean
her family name was probably the character yi (first tone), written 
. The first part of the character is a radical which comes from the word for "person". It designates something to do with humans. The second part is a phonetic element. Together it doesn't really have a meaning other than a surname, although it can be used as an unusual form of "he" or "she". I've never seen it used that way, though.
Usually it's either a surname, or a phonetic part of translating foreign names. For example, it is the first character in the Chinese translation of "Iraq", "Iran", and "Islam".
Alternatively, it could come from yi (second tone) which is written
. It is a surname, but it also means "a sacrificial vessel", and is also the name of an ethnic minority (the Yi people) in China.
Jae mentioned in her reply that it can mean happy. Indeed, yi (second tone) can mean happy, but it is written with this character:
In Chinese, everything depends on the character and tone a particular syllable has. You'll have to find out what character the name came from if you want to know the meaning of the surname.
~ Caitlín
"Blue tinted individuals who go about armed to the teeth and quoting twelfth-century poetry are not easy to comprehend." ~ Lloyd Alexander
. The first part of the character is a radical which comes from the word for "person". It designates something to do with humans. The second part is a phonetic element. Together it doesn't really have a meaning other than a surname, although it can be used as an unusual form of "he" or "she". I've never seen it used that way, though.Usually it's either a surname, or a phonetic part of translating foreign names. For example, it is the first character in the Chinese translation of "Iraq", "Iran", and "Islam".
Alternatively, it could come from yi (second tone) which is written
. It is a surname, but it also means "a sacrificial vessel", and is also the name of an ethnic minority (the Yi people) in China.Jae mentioned in her reply that it can mean happy. Indeed, yi (second tone) can mean happy, but it is written with this character:
In Chinese, everything depends on the character and tone a particular syllable has. You'll have to find out what character the name came from if you want to know the meaning of the surname.
~ Caitlín
"Blue tinted individuals who go about armed to the teeth and quoting twelfth-century poetry are not easy to comprehend." ~ Lloyd Alexander
This message was edited 2/10/2005, 11:59 AM
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