Hard & soft G (ambivalence)

硬和軟G

硬軟 Yìngruǎn G

"Impassibles sous les injures, les bœufs tiraient à hue et à dia en même temps, maltraitant le joug comme s’ils voulaient le casser."

— (Alain Fisnot, Le Secret d’Antonin, Clermont-Ferrand : Éditions de l’Écir, 2006)

Cette locution se compose des termes dont se servent les charretiers: hue (pour faire avancer les chevaux et particulièrement pour les faire tourner à droite) et dia (pour faire aller les chevaux vers la gauche). En effet, tous les outils agraires à traction animale (brabants, charrues ou instruments à disques) ne peuvent sortir de la terre que si le cheval en bout de ligne tourne en direction de la terre labourée donc alternativement à droite et à gauche (à hue et à dia).

道 德 經 Dao De Jing – The Way and Its Power

第 七 十 六 Section 德 – Chapter LXXVI

人之生也柔弱，其死也堅強。

萬物草木之生也柔脆，其死也枯槁。

故堅強者死之徒，柔弱者生之徒。

是以兵強則不勝，木強則共。

強大處下，柔弱處上。

Man, at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong.

(So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.

Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.

Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer, and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.)

Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.

—  James Legge (A warning against (trusting in) strength)

When he is born, man is soft and weak; in death, he becomes stiff and hard.

The ten thousand creatures and all plants and trees, while they are alive, are supple and soft, but when and dead they become brittle and dry.

Truly, what is stiff and hard is a “companion of death”; what is soft and weak is a “companion of life”.

Therefore “the weapon that is too hard will be broken, the tree that has the hardest wood will be cut down”.

Truly, the hard and mighty are cast down; the soft and weak set on high.

— Arthur Waley, 76

A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead.

Grass and trees are pliant and fragile when living, but dried and shrivelled when dead.

Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death;

The supple and the weak are the comrades of life.

Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish;

A tree that is strong will suffer the axe.

The strong and big takes the lower position,

The supple and weak takes the higher position.

— Lau 76

Quand l'homme vient au monde, il est souple et faible ; quand il meurt, il est roide et fort.

Quand les arbres et les plantes naissent, ils sont souples et tendres ; quand ils meurent, ils sont secs et arides.

La roideur et la force sont les compagnes de la mort ; la souplesse et la faiblesse sont les compagnes de la vie.

C'est pourquoi, lorsqu'une armée est forte, elle n'emporte pas la victoire.

Lorsqu'un arbre est devenu fort, on l'abat.

Ce qui est fort et grand occupe le rang inférieur ; ce qui est souple et faible occupe le rang supérieur.

— Stanislas Julien 76

When a wo/man is born, s/he is tender and weak;

At death, s/he is hard and stiff.

When the things and plants are alive, they are soft and supple;

When they are dead, they are brittle and dry.

Therefore hardness and stiffness are the companions of death,

And softness and gentleness are the companions of life.

Therefore when an army is headstrong, it will lose in battle.

When a tree is hard, it will be cut down.

The big and strong belong underneath.

The gentle and weak belong at the top.

— 林語堂 Línyǔtáng: page 305, Chapter 76 from Lao Tzu: The Wisdom of Laotse by Lin Yutang

Men at birth are weak and tender;

Men in death are rigid and hard.

All creatures, trees and plants are soft and tender in their early growth,

And in dying become withered and dry.

Thus we may say that rigidity and hardness are related to death,

While weakness and tenderness are related to life.

Therefore, the soldier who depends on strength will not conquer;

The tree that has grown too hard will be felled.

For the tree that has grown too hard will be felled.

For the place of the strong and mighty is below,

And the place of the weak and tender is above.

— Herman Ould, 76

軟硬體 (Taiwan, computing) software and hardware, a blend of 軟體／软体 (ruǎntǐ, “software”) and 硬體／硬体 (yìngtǐ, “hardware”).

*ga- From Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (*ḱóm “with, near, by, along”). Cognate with Latin cum (“with”) prefix that indicates association or togetherness; co-, & indicates completeness or wholeness. In verbs, also indicates perfectivity (a finished action).

Descendants:

• West Germanic: *ga-
• Old English: ġe-
• Middle English: ȝe-, i-, y-
• English: a-, y-, i- (obsolete)
• Old Frisian: ge-, e-
• Old Saxon: gi-, ge-, ga-
• Middle Low German: ge-
• Low German: e-, ge-
• Old Dutch: gi-, ge-
• Middle Dutch: ghe-, ge-, (West-Flanders) i-, y-
• Dutch: ge-
• Afrikaans: ge-
• West Flemish: ge-, e-
• Old High German: gi-, ga-, ki-, ka-
• Middle High German: ge-
• Alemannic German: g- or ge- (euphonic)
• German: ge-
• Luxembourgish: ge-
• Vilamovian: gy-
• Yiddish: גע־‎ (ge-)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰- (ga-) Indicates completeness or wholeness. In verbs, also indicates perfectivity (a finished action). Indicates togetherness or association: co-

γᾰ́μος • (γᾰ́μος, gámos) m (genitive γᾰ́μου); second declension (Epic, Attic, Ionic, Koine) marriage, wedding, bridelock; matrimony, the state of being married, wedlock; from Proto-Indo-European *ǵem- (“to marry”).

In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages, the letter ⟨g⟩ is used in different contexts to represent two distinct phonemes that in English are called hard and soft ⟨g⟩. The sound of a hard ⟨g⟩ (which often precedes the non-front vowels ⟨a o u⟩ or a consonant) is usually the voiced velar plosive [ɡ] (as in gangrene or golf) while the sound of a soft ⟨g⟩ (typically before ⟨i⟩, ⟨e⟩, or ⟨y⟩) may be a fricative or affricate, depending on the language. In English, the sound of soft ⟨g⟩ is the affricate /dʒ/, as in general, giant, and gym. A ⟨g⟩ at the end of a word usually renders a hard ⟨g⟩ (as in "dog"), while if a soft rendition is intended it would be followed by a silent ⟨e⟩ (as in "change").