Why Dao and not Tao?

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by AliceShiki, Mar 19, 2022.

  1. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Just a honest question... Isn't the Dao just a concept of Taoism? Why is it translated as Dao instead of Tao then? It's even listed as Tao in Wikipedia... >.>

    I've also seen Daoism at times, which just confuses me more, because like... Isn't Taoism the official terminology for it?

    I dunno, it's confusing, I got curious and figured I'd ask.
     
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  2. Baldingere

    Baldingere Roseau pensant

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    I think you can translated it as both
     
  3. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Yeah, that seems like the most sensible explanation (on the Wikipedia entry the first line does say it's "Tao or Dao" after all).

    It's still confusing to me though, like... Why would basically every webnovel translator use Dao when the more common translation (at least before Webnovel translations became a big thing) is Tao?
     
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  4. Nefasdetestasti

    Nefasdetestasti ❄️Wɪɴᴛᴇʀ's Sᴏɴɢ❄️ ||| [Schrödinger Pantsu]

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    Maybe becuz the word "Dao" is much cooler than Tao?
     
  5. Gandire Alea

    Gandire Alea [Wicked Awesome Translator]

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    it's the same, just an issue of how the word is translated. I recall trying to look it up a long time ago and used the one that wiki wasn't using. I ended up finding nothing as a result/
     
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  6. Deleted member 314196

    Deleted member 314196 Guest

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    "Tao" in Hanyu Pinyin is "Dao" I believe... my Chinese isn't perfect
    It's the difference between Traditional Chinese and the now Simplified Chinese
     
  7. Baldingere

    Baldingere Roseau pensant

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    I vaguely remember that in french they translated it tao and used it when orientalism was the big mode in France, and they kept using that, even if a different writing could be closer to the phonetic of the chinese word. Nowadays you can use dao and tao in French but I don't know which is closer
    https://personaltao.com/taoism/daoism-vs-taoism/ Dao is the official translation by the Chinese government apparently
     
  8. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Oh, this one was interesting~

    So it's essentially an issue of the romanization changing over time, creating two distinct official translations for the term~

    That was nice to know. Thanks for sharing~
     
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  9. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    so basically how western (english speaker) use it then it become common use~
    there term for such event on linguistic iirc, about how translation become common use become synonym ~

    like Chi and Qi.... hehehe
     
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  10. Guan Zhong

    Guan Zhong Well-Known Member

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    They are the same thing and pronounced the same (dao). Tao is the way the early term was written back when the Wade-Giles romanization system was in popular use. Now, Hanyu pinyin is the official romanization system of China and used by just about everyone the world over, and in that system, it's written Dao. So that's why, because "dao" is the way the currently en vogue romanization system writes it. "Tao" is common because it appeared earlier and was used when Taoism spread to and became popular in the West, so many Westerners still use "tao".

    But whether you use "tao" or "dao", know that they are both pronounced with a "d" sound.
     
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  11. aegis062

    aegis062 Chaotic Demon Emperor

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    The biggest difference between the Taoist in novels is that Taoist tend to fight evil ghost and they don't go against the heavens while Daoist usually fight agaisnt the heavens to gain immortality.

    They have many similarities when it comes to history, but they have diverging stories just like Cristian and Catholic believes even tho they believe in the same Jesus Christ many of their rules and stories diverge.
     
  12. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    This comparison doesn't make much sense... Christianity is a broader faith, Catholicism is a subfaith of Christianity... Sure, the most popular subfaith of Christianity, but still just one of many.

    Tao and Dao on the other hand are the same word, just translated differently due to changes on romanization norms, as pointed out by Guan Zhong and Baldingere.
     
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  13. aegis062

    aegis062 Chaotic Demon Emperor

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    it was just and example of two faiths that are similar, but different. I don't think any catholic thinks himself sub faith of Christianity. and if you read their bibles they are so similar in many things you would think it was basically copy paste in many aspects.

    Taoism and Daoism does have it's differences mostly the system they use, one uses the Wade–Giles system the other uses pinyin system, but I think most of their differences are how they depict Tao and Dao in both novels and movies.
     
  14. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    No, seriously, Christianity really is the broader term... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity#Churches_and_denominations
    Ah, yeah, Baldingere's post mentioned that~
     
  15. aegis062

    aegis062 Chaotic Demon Emperor

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  16. Baldingere

    Baldingere Roseau pensant

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    ?
    Christianity is the name of the religion. It's the faith.
    Catholicism is one of the Churches that promote this faith, one of christianity's institutions
    The different christian Churches have their quirks and traditions, but they share the same faith and for the most part, the same roman bible from the 3rd century
    Generally differences between the bibles just depend on which translation it's based on and editing choices (it does play a role, as a protestant bible for example only has 39 books of the old testament and a catholic has 46)
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2022
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  17. aegis062

    aegis062 Chaotic Demon Emperor

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    While I know this I also know the ppl who follow the bible aren't exactly the most accepting and logical type. <--- I have asked them before.
     
  18. aShinyVaporeon

    aShinyVaporeon Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, but...that doesn't make Christian and Catholic a good analogy for Daoist and Taoist. Because Daoist and Taoist mean exactly the same thing, while the terms Christian and Catholic have legitimately different definitions. Daoist and Taoist are practically different spellings of the same word, like yogurt and yoghurt. To say yogurt and yoghurt have different histories doesn't make sense, because they refer to the same thing.

    Or are you saying that people out there think that Christian and Catholic are the same thing? I'm confused.
     
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  19. aegis062

    aegis062 Chaotic Demon Emperor

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    My example was that they are the same thing, but have minor differences. and are depicted as different in novels and movies.
     
  20. aShinyVaporeon

    aShinyVaporeon Well-Known Member

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    But, Daoist and Taoist are the same??? How are they depicted differently in novels and movies???