Yin Yang - Androgynum

[Quadrivium]

Hi

I'm looking for a Latin word that is as close to meaning "Yin Yang" as possible. The closest I can find is Androgynum. Ideally, I’m looking for a neuter word, hence the "um" ending. Please can someone tell me if this is correct, or, perhaps suggest a better word that means masculine and feminine.

 

[Quasus]

"Yin Yang" does not mean "masculine and feminine".

 

[Quadrivium]

Yeah, I know it doesn’t directly mean masculine and feminine, and only that. It has a much broader meaning, of two complimentary halves. So, in a truer sense it can apply to a lot of things, and of course, does.

 

[Quadrivium]

In the context of my book, choosing an alternative to Yin Yang works, and with the illustrations it will appear obvious.

 

[Tlepolemus]

(Societatis Jesu, 1877): mas et femina, materia et forma



(Schott, 1844): imperfectio et pefectio



Update: Links were made more visible.

 

[Quadrivium]

Hi tlepolemus

Thanks for the scans. From the little I’ve seen, it looks an interesting book. I see there’s mention of sol and luna and three of the four classical elements. Is it an alchemy book? The numbers are intriguing too. So is there an element of numerology too. I'd very much like to see the book. Do you know if it’s online as a pdf file.

 

[Quadrivium]

Hi tlepolemus

Thanks for the scans. From the little I’ve seen, it looks an interesting book. I see there’s mention of sol and luna and three of the four classical elements. Is it an alchemy book? The numbers are intriguing too. So is there an element of numerology too. I'd very much like to see the book. Do you know if it’s online as a pdf file.

 

[EstQuodFulmineIungo]

I almost asked the same question, then realized Ptolemaeus has embedded the link in the picture i.e. if you click with your mouse on the picture, the link to the book opens. I don't know how he did that.

 

[Quadrivium]

I found that link too, but only by accident.

 

[Tlepolemus]

I found that link too, but only by accident.

I'm very sorry to mislead you. These numbers are a standard way of referencing characters in Chinese dictionaries, such as radical 阝 is 170. Elements and planets mentioned in the text are ordinal words made by combining 阴 [yin] or 阳 [yang] with other characters, such as 太阳 [tàiyáng] means "sun".

Also, I can say that all Latin books about Chinese/Japanese languages were written by Jesuit priests and they never ever talk about local philosophy, religion, and only rarely about culture, so chances to find discussion of Yin-Yang in Latin are very low. You could coin your variant freely.

 

[Quasus]

Claim: yin and yang are untranslatable.

 

[Quadrivium]

Wow! Thanks for the follow up interesting stuff. I wasn’t expecting a direct latin translation of Yin Yang, as I’ve read before, there isn’t one. Just a close approximation will suffice, and one that makes sense. So, you think I should get away with Androgynum okay. Unless you can think of something more apt.

 

[Tlepolemus]

Vicipaedia: "unitas Yin et Yang, binarum polaritatum complementariarum".

 

[Agrippa]

Yin et Yang] Unum quiddam ex duabus partibus inter se contrariis factum.

'Yin et Yang' imagine significatur unum eminentiusque quiddam ex duabus partibus inter se contrariis factum.
(Eadem ratione synthesis fit e thesi et antithesi.)

Yin et Yang > E contrariis unum (cf. "E pluribus unum")

 

[Quadrivium]

Ideally, I’m just looking for the one word

 

[Agrippa]

Equidem timeo ne non sit verbum simplex...

 

[Tlepolemus]

Ideally, I’m just looking for the one word

Quid non diceremus "duālitas"? Est vocabulum post-classicum et rarum, sed puto, quod romani id intellegeremus.

 

[Quasus]

Si nomen dualitatis audirent, quid sint yin & yang, non intellegerent.

Haec quaestio vana est. Unde enim sermo Romanorum habeat verbum quod essentiam designet doctrinae orientalis, quae Romanis omnino aliena erat? Ne nos quidem proprias voces habemus quibus illam notionem exprimamus, vero Sericis utimur.