Chapter 25: The Egg and the Eye

Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China)
金蛋和魔眼 Jīndàn hé móyǎn	金 jīn = 'gold'. 蛋 dàn = 'egg'. 和 hé = 'and'. 魔 mó = 'magic'. 眼 yǎn = 'eye'.	Golden Egg and Magic Eye
Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan)
金蛋與魔眼 Jīndàn yǔ móyǎn	金 jīn = 'gold'. 蛋 dàn = 'egg'. 與 yǔ = 'and'. 魔 mó = 'magic'. 眼 yǎn = 'eye'.	Golden Egg and Magic Eye
Japanese
玉子と目玉 Tamago to medama	玉子 tamago (written 'ball + child') = 'egg'. と to = 'and'. 目玉 medama = 'eyeball'.	The Egg and the Eyeball
Korean
황금 알과 눈 Hwanggeum al-gwa nun	황금(黃金) hwanggeum = 'gold'. 알 al = 'egg'. 과 -gwa = 'and'. 눈 nun = 'eye'.	The Golden Egg and the Eye
Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology)
Cái trứng và con mắt	cái = counter/classifier trứng = 'egg'. và = 'and'. con = counter/classifier mắt = 'eye'.	The Egg and the Eye
Mongolian (new)
Алтан өндөг ба шидэт нүд Altan öndög ba shidet nüd	алт alt = 'gold' (-n form). өндөг öndög = 'egg'. ба ba = 'and'. шидэт shidet = 'magic' (having magic). нүд nüd = 'eye'.	The Golden Egg and the Magic Eye

The egg in this chapter title is the golden egg given to the contestants as a clue for their next task. The eye is Moody's magical eye.

How are 'Egg' and 'Eye' translated?

What makes the English title effective is the use of two single-syllabled words, both beginning with 'e': 'egg' and 'eye'. (Quite irrelevantly, ey is actually the Old English word for 'egg'.)

• This doesn't work in Chinese. For a start, it is normal to specify in Chinese the kind of egg involved — 蛋 dàn 'egg' is not usually found on its own. A normal hen's egg is the wholly inappropriate 鸡蛋 jī-dàn in Chinese. Since we are told that it is a 'golden egg', the obvious choice is to call it a 'golden egg' (金蛋 jīn-dàn).

  The ordinary word for 'eye' in Chinese is 眼睛 yǎnjìng, but something fancier is needed after 'golden egg'. Since the eye is Moody's magical eye, the two translators naturally call it 'magic eye' — 魔眼 mó-yǎn.
  
  The result is a very attractive Chinese title, 'Golden Egg and Magical Eye'. This is particularly attractive in Chinese because it is composed of two-character compounds: 金蛋 jīn-dàn and 魔眼 mó-yǎn.
  

• The Mongolian translator follows a similar strategy, using 'golden egg' (алтан өндөг altan öndög) and 'magical eye' (шидэт нүд shidet nüd).
  
  
• The Vietnamese translation, on the other hand, uses everyday words for 'egg' and 'eye' (trứng and mắt). In Vietnamese these two nouns require classifiers or measure words, which happen to be different (cái and con respectively). Thus cái trứng and con mắt.
  
  
• The Japanese version also translates 'egg' and 'eye' with ordinary everyday terms but manages to make it interesting in a different way. Tamago 'egg' can be written in Japanese either as 玉子'jade/ball + child' or 卵 'egg'. In fact, the very first sentence of this chapter uses 卵 to write tamago 'egg'. However, the Japanese translator expressly uses 玉子 in the chapter title. The result is a symmetrical arrangement starting and ending with the character 玉 tama 'ball, sphere' (玉子 tamago 'egg' plus 目玉 medama 'eyeball'). Coincidentally, 目玉焼き medama-yaki (literally 'eyeball-fry') means 'fried egg' thanks to its resemblance to an eye.
  
  
• The Korean translator is possibly the least artful of the six, translating 'egg' as 황금 알 hwanggeum al 'golden egg' but leaving 'eye' as 눈nun 'eye'.

The clue contained in the egg can be found at The Clue in the Egg (in Unicode).

(Korean appears thanks to "Hiro".)

(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)

⇚ Chapter 24

Chapter 26 ⇛