Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- proper noun Japanese counterpart of the Chinese Kuan Yin.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun Japanese counterpart of Chinese Kuan Yin
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Hence she is called the Kwannon of the fish basket, in honour of the aid she brought the people of this village and land.
The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2)
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Irving Sandler with Ibram Lassaw's "Kwannon" (1952)
Mark Wiener and Linda DiGusta: Reunion -- "Abstract Expressionist New York" Opens @ MoMA Mark Wiener 2010
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Irving Sandler with Ibram Lassaw's "Kwannon" (1952)
Mark Wiener and Linda DiGusta: Reunion -- "Abstract Expressionist New York" Opens @ MoMA Mark Wiener 2010
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I know, of course, that "Kwannon" is pronounced Kannon in Japanese, but I don't think I've ever seen anything but the "old historicizing spelling"; as far as I know, Kwannon is the English name for the referent, and therefore an appropriate graphic version of the source of Canon.
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Who knew that Apache got its name because its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon, resulting in "a patchy" server, or that Canon is from Kwannon, the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy?
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A cursory inspection of the first page suggests there are more businesses etc. named Kannon than Kwannon, but I suspect the majority in both cases derive from the same source.
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I suppose that there would be a Japanese referent if one took the view that the concept of Avalokitesvara in each culture is different, so that Kwannon is not the same entity as Guan Yin.
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There isn't any entity Kwannon for English to refer to.
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I believe that in more recent scholarly writing about Japan one will find "Kannon", but it is probably true that "Kwannon" is entrenched in the literature in some areas.
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But Kannon's triumph doesn't invalidate my argument that Kwannon is a perfectly good representation of the Japanese word (and I thank Bill for the excellent example of (y)en).
Comments
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