The Fur Connection

First read this post, then read this one.  From the second:

[O]n Saturday night there were three of us lao wei talking to one of my friends’ Chinese girlfriend.  Somehow the term Mogwai from the film Gremlins came up, and we asked if this meant anything in Chinese.  There are a few possible answers, but here’s the one I think makes the most sense.

魔, or mó, meaning “demon, spirits, or magic power.”
鬼, or guǐ, meaning “ghost.”

So, whether it’s intentional or a coincidence, Mogwai generally translates to “demon ghost.”

I mention this because last night I went out to dinner with some Chinese coworkers, and somehow—again—the subject of the word “Mogwai” came up, and I told them this story.  One of them suggested that a much better translation would be 毛鬼, or máo guǐ.  The word máo refers to the hair all over the body (fur, in other words), and while guǐ literally means “ghost” it could also refer to a magical monster.  So the word “Mogwai” may come from the Chinese words máo guǐ, which mean “furry magical monster.” And the first syllable of the word Mogwai is exactly the same character in the family name of Chairman Mao.

Who’da thunk it that there would be a literal connection between this little thing…

… and The Chairman?

So I guess the Mogwai’s name should be “Gizmao” instead of “Gizmo.” See the useless-but-fascinating stuff you learn here?

Update: And just in case anyone is curious, Mao is a proper family name in Chinese.  When a local hears the name Mao they view it in terms of the name, not in its literal meaning as “fur.” For example, when you meet someone whose last name is Cooper you don’t think “barrel-maker” even though that’s what a cooper is.  (Or, was, I suppose.) The same goes for other languages.  For example, the Scandinavian name Erickson literally means “Son of Erick” but nobody thinks that when they hear it said.  My name, Lee (or Li in Chinese) is one of the three most common family names in China and it literally translates to “plum.”

When I hear “cooper” I think “barrel-maker;” also “expensive.” It may make a difference that we’re partial owners of a winery. You wouldn’t believe what a good french-oak wine barrel costs; I think they toast the inside by burning dollar bills.  The “son of Eric” thing is also very much on people’s minds in places like Iceland; it’s how they determine last names for each generation. You can end up with a whole line of people named Sven Ericsson and Eric Svensson in alternating generations. And they do the same thing for daughters: Katrin Svensdóttir.  Even worse, sometimes the last name is formed with the father’s middle name and sometimes with the mother’s last or middle name. It’s a genealogist’s nightmare.

Oh sure, absolutely.  I know the etymology.  I just meant that they don’t think about the meaning of a word that they understand is a family name.  When I hear the name “Johnson” I don’t think “Son of John,” even though that’s clearly the word’s etymology.  In a similar manner, when the Chinese hear Mao said as a family name they don’t think “fur,” they just think of it in terms of it being a name.

I used “Cooper” because it was a word with a specific meaning.  When I hear someone say their name is Bill Cooper I don’t think “barrel maker,” I just think of it in terms of a name.  But if someone says “What does cooper mean?” I can say “Someone who makes barrels.” Same with Mao, it’s only a family name until someone has reason to think of the word in terms of its meaning.