Chinese Tuesdays: Cars and Horses

When giving cars Chinese names, many brands opt for 马 (mǎ), the character for horse, such as the well-known 宝马 (bǎomǎ – BMW or "treasure horse"), Mazda (马自达 – mǎzìdá), whose use of 马 seems to be phonetic, and Aston Martin 阿斯顿·马丁 (āsīdùn·mǎdīng). 马 also appears as a meaning radical in the second character of the name for Mercedes Benz, 奔驰 (bēnchí) – which is, appropriately, a word meaning “to run quickly, speed, or gallop”.

Other brands, such as Maserati 玛莎拉蒂 (mǎshālādì), have chosen a different mǎ, 玛, which literally means "agate", but is most often used in the transliteration of foreign words, such as Mary (玛丽 mǎlì) and Walmart (沃尔玛 wò'ěrmǎ).

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Every Tuesday on the Anthill, Sam Duncan posts a langauge titbit from his blog. Read them all here