(no subject)
Feb. 12th, 2009 07:07 pmSpent some time today at Harvard's Yenching library. Among other discoveries, I found that a documented use of Oranda/阿蘭陀 (i.e., Holland) spelled with 蘭/ran/orchid that my mom wants to cant with is in the following poem (a tanka), published in a collection in 1675.
何国迄
これはつつくそ
霧の海
阿蘭陀よりも
かよふ秋風
As far as what country
does this continue?
The sea of mist.
Even from Holland
autumn winds go and return.
(The translation's a best guess, because I don't actually know classical Japanese. Mainly, I don't know what つつくそ is really supposed to be.) Rather marginal, but seems plausible that they'd have used the same spelling 75 years earlier.
何国迄
これはつつくそ
霧の海
阿蘭陀よりも
かよふ秋風
As far as what country
does this continue?
The sea of mist.
Even from Holland
autumn winds go and return.
(The translation's a best guess, because I don't actually know classical Japanese. Mainly, I don't know what つつくそ is really supposed to be.) Rather marginal, but seems plausible that they'd have used the same spelling 75 years earlier.