红楼梦中英文翻译

大卫·霍克斯（David Hawks），英国人，生于1923年，1945至1947年间于牛津大学研读中文，1948至1951年间为北京大学研究生，1959至1971年间于牛津大学担任中文教授，1973至1983年间成为牛津大学All Souls学院的研究员。曾为此学院的荣誉研究员。霍克斯，1923年7月6日——2009年7月31日，享年86岁。 

1970年代开始翻译《红楼梦》。霍克斯用了10年的时间，翻译了前80回，分别在1973、1977、1980年出版了英文版《红楼梦》分册，最后四十回，由霍克斯的女婿汉学家闵福德完成。由此，西方世界第一部全本120回的《红楼梦》便诞生了。 

 

霍克斯对非地主阶级人名的翻译是意译，颇有趣味，摘录如下，以供品评。 

人名 译名 大意 

 

警幻仙姑 the fairy Disenchantment disenchantment觉醒 

晴雯 Skybright 天晴 

袭人 Aroma 芳香,香味 

麝月 Musk 麝香（让我联想到风湿膏之类的东西） 

秋纹 Ripple 波浪,涟漪 

茜雪 Snowpink 

芸香/蕙香/四儿 

Soldanella/Citronella/Number Four 

高山钟花/亚香茅/四号 

碧痕 Emerald 祖母绿,翠绿色 

小红 Crimson 深红色（乍一看还以为和crime什么的相关） 

佳蕙 Melilot 草木樨 

坠儿 Trinket 小装饰物 

春燕 Swallow 

柳五儿 Fivey 老五？ 

茗烟 Tealeaf 茶叶？ 

 

雪雁 Snowgoose 雪雁,雪鹅 

紫鹃 Nightingale 夜莺,歌鸲 

 

香菱 Caltrop 蒺藜,矢车菊 

莺儿 Oriole 黄鹂,金莺 

宝蟾 Moonbeam 月光 

靛儿 Prettikins ？ 

 

翠缕 Kingfisher 翠鸟 

 

素云 Candida （英语词典中找不到对应的。拉丁语candidus白,纯洁） 

 

妙玉 Adamantina 金刚（妙姐就是与众不同） 

 

鸳鸯 Faithful 忠诚的 

琥珀 Amber 琥珀 

傻大姐 Simple 愚蠢的？ 

 

平儿 Patience 容忍,耐心（夹缝中生存） 

丰儿 Felicity 巨大幸福 

兴儿 Joker （的确很逗乐） 

旺儿 Brightie ？ 

彩明 Sunshine 

秋桐 Autumn 

善姐 Mercy 

彩云 Suncloud 太阳云？ 

彩霞 Sunset 日落,晚霞 

金钏 Golden 金的 

玉钏 Silver 银的（为什么不是玉的） 

 

抱琴 Lutany ？（lute鲁特琴） 

司棋 Chess 

侍书 Scribe 抄写员 

入画 Picture 

绣桔 Tangerine 柑橘 

翠墨 Ebony 乌黑色 

 

琪官 Bijou 珠宝首饰（这些X官的名字好像都是法语词） 

文官 Elegante 优雅 

宝官 Trésor ？（和英语的treasure相似） 

玉官 Topaze 黄玉 

龄官 Charmante 迷人 

芳官/耶律雄奴/温都里纳/玻璃 

Parfumée/Yelu Hunni/Aventurin/Glassy or Glass-eyes 

香/耶律匈奴/金星玻璃/玻璃 

蕊官 Etamine 纱罗 

藕官 Nenuphar 睡莲 

葵官/大英 

Althee/Valiant 

蜀葵属？/英勇的 

荳官 Cardamome 豆蔻 

艾官 Artemisie 蒿属植物？ 

茄官 Aubergine 紫茄子 

菂官 Pivoine 牡丹？（“菂”是莲子的意思） 

 

卍儿 Swastika 卍字符（会不会让西方人联想到SS） 

瑞珠 Gem 宝石 

宝珠 Jewel 宝石 

云儿 Nuageuse 云（法语） 

娇杏 Lucky 侥幸 

智能 Sapientia 智慧？ 

多浑虫 "Droopy Duo" 萎靡多？ 

多姑娘 "the Mattress" 床垫（这个真邪恶） 

 

其他只露脸没台词的就不收录了 

 

宝玉给袭人改名的一节中英对比： 

 

宝玉因知她本姓花，又曾见旧人诗句上有"花气袭人"之句，遂回明贾母，更名袭人。 

It was Bao-yu who was responsible for the curious name "Aroma".Discovering that Pearl's surname was Hua,which means "Flowers",and having recently come across the line 

 

The flowers' aroma breathes of hotter days 

 

in a book of poems,he told his grandmother that he wanted to call his new maid "Aroma". 

 

宝玉给四儿改名的一节中英对比： 

 

宝玉拿一本书，歪着看了半天，因要茶，抬头只见两个小丫头在地下站着，一个大些的生得十分水秀。宝玉便问："你叫什么名字？"那丫头便说："叫蕙香。"宝玉便问："是谁起的？"蕙香道："我原叫芸香的，是花大姐姐改了蕙香。"宝玉道："正经该叫'晦气'罢了，什么蕙香呢！"又问："你姊妹几个？"蕙香道："四个。"宝玉道："你第几？"蕙香道："第四。"宝玉道："明儿就叫'四儿'，不必什么'蕙香''兰气'的。哪一个配比这些花，没的玷辱了好名好姓。" 

In the inner room Bao-yu took up a book and reclined on the kang to read.For a considerable while he remained engrossed in his reading.When eventually he did look up,intending to ask some one for some tea,he saw two little maids waiting there in silence,one of whom-evidently the older by a year or two -was an attractive,intemgent looking girl.He addressed himself to her:"Isn't your name 'Nella' something or other?" 

"Citronella." 

"Citronella?Who on earth gave you that name?" 

"Aroma,sir.My real name is 'Soldanella',but Miss Aroma altered it to 'Citronella'." 

"I don't know why she didn't call you 'Citric Acid' and have done with it,"said Bao-yu."Citronella! -How many girls are there in your family,Citronella?" 

"Four,"said Citronella. 

"And which of the four are you?" 

"I'm the youngest." 

"Right!"said Bao-yu."in future you will be called Four.We're not going to have any more of these floral fragrances around here.It's an insult to decent scents and flowers to give their names to you lot." 

 

芳官与野驴的一节中英对比： 

 

一时到了怡红院，忽听宝玉叫"耶律雄奴"，把佩凤、偕鸾、香菱三个人笑在一处，问是什么话，大家也学着叫这名字，又叫错了音韵，或忘了字眼，甚至于叫出"野驴子"来，引得合园中人凡听见无不笑倒。宝玉又见人人取笑，恐作贱了她，忙又说："海西福朗思牙，闻有金星玻璃宝石，他本国番语以金星玻璃名为'温都里纳'。如今将你比作它，就改名唤叫'温都里纳'可好？"芳官听了更喜，说："就是这样罢。"因此又唤了这名。众人嫌拗口，仍翻汉名，就唤"玻璃"。 

Presently,when they were visiting Green Delights,Caltrop,Lovey and Dove were very much amused to hear Bao-yu addressing Parfumee as "Yelu Hunni".Having elicited from her how she came to have acquired so extraordinary a name,they began to try using it themselves;but in their unpractised mouths the foreign sounds soon degenerated into "Yellow Honey";and even this was soon abandoned in favour of "Yellow Belly".The maids,hearing them call her this,were all in stitches.Bao-yu feared that Parfumee would be wounded by their hilarity and proposed yet another change of name. 

"There is a land in the West called 'Fran-see-ya' where they make a kind of golden glitter-glass called 'aventurin'.You are such a bright and glittering person yourself: I think the name Aventurin would suit you very well." 

Parfumee was delighted with it.But it was still no good:the others found "Aventurin" too difficult;and having established that it was the name of some kind of foreign glass,soon took to calling her "Glassy" or "Glass-eyes" instead.