犬儒? What 犬儒?

choi

长平观察：三院长辞职？一碗鸡精汤. Mar 29, 2018.
http://www.dw.com/zh/%E9%95%BF%E ... E6%B1%A4/a-43176777
("在中文世界广泛使用的 '犬儒，' 和源于古希腊哲学的犬儒主义意思关联，却并不等同。它同样头脑清醒，看穿一切，却未必同样精神超然，睥睨一切。恰恰相反，中国犬儒者怯懦卑微，精心算计。李 [沉简] 教授在文章中说，'不仅民间 "人在屋檐下不得不低头，" "好死不如赖活着" 之类犬儒的生活教条深入人心，高级知识分子里的无耻之徒丝毫不比普罗大众少' ")

My comment:
(a) The subtitle of this essay is
网传北大三院长拒做犬儒，集体辞职。时评人长平认为，这起社交网络事件本身就是一个犬儒典范。
(b) To be frank, from the start I have not paid any attention to it. But reading 拒做犬儒 at the outset, I could sense that the use of 犬儒 might mean different things in China -- People Republic of China. 犬儒 itself was not used in Taiwan when I was there (I left in 1984); 犬儒主義 was frequently mentioned in the newspapers (written by elites -- not used in daily language among ordinary people), to mean "cynicism" in modern English (that is the translation of cynicism in Taiwan). Back in Taiwan, I did not understand what 犬儒主義 meant. I came to US, quickly learned the world cynicism -- and years later, put two and two together, realized 犬儒主義 WAS its translation in Taiwan. (I do not know about China.)  Now  长平 points out in this essay, that indeed 犬儒 has a different definition than in cynic in modern English (he does not mention 犬儒主義).

It is incumbent upon Chinese, from PRC, to track the origin of 犬儒 deviation. My speculation is the divergence occurred after 1949, because it is not found in Taiwan (and has never been) -- I just search tw.yahoo.com for 犬儒 and yielded nothing, not even the recent uproar in Peking University; tw.yahoo.com shows 犬儒主義 still means cynicism in Taiwan.

(c) etymology of modern English noun "cynic":
(i) Oxforddictionaries.com says it came "from Latin cynicus, from Greek kunikos."
(ii) cynic (n):
"mid-16c [time first found in English], in reference to the ancient philosophy, from Greek kynikos 'a follower of Antisthenes,' literally 'dog-like,' from [Ancient Greek noun] kyon (genitive kynos) 'dog' (from PIE [Proto-Indo-European] root *kwon- 'dog'). Supposedly from the sneering sarcasm of the philosophers, but more likely from Kynosarge 'Gray Dog,' name of the gymnasium outside ancient Athens (for the use of those who were not pure Athenians [supposedly pure Athenians had their own gyms]) where the founder, Antisthenes (a pupil of Socrates [and a contemporary of Plato]), taught. Diogenes was the most famous. Popular association even in ancient times was 'dog-like' (Lucian has kyniskos 'a little cynic,' literally 'puppy'). Meaning 'sneering sarcastic person' is from 1590s."
https://www.etymonline.com/word/cynic
(A) Lucian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian
( "(about 125 AD – after 180 AD) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist and rhetorician")
(B) Samosata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosata
(map; "was an ancient city on the right (west) bank of the Euphrates, whose ruins exist at the previous location of the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey but are no longer accessible as the site was flooded by the newly constructed Atatürk Dam")
(C) Lucian had a work titled The Ferry, where one of the character was Kyniskos. See

Emily James Smith (translator), Selections from Lucian. Harper & Brothers, 1892.
https://books.google.com/books?i ... yniskos&f=false
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