Confuci-us

Prerequisite: none

As a Chinese, the translation of "孔夫子" (kongˇ-foo-zhi˙) to "Confucius" (kon-fyoo-shus) has always been somewhat confusing.. very kon-fyoo-sing indeed! The last syllable has puzzled many a Chinese. Why would "zhi˙" become "shus"?

I thought this quirky translation was unique to Confucius until I found out yesterday that 孟子 (mengˋ-zhi˙) is also known as "Mencius" (men-shus). It finally clicked when I searched "Suncius" (孫子, author of The Art of War) and it showed up in "Vicipaedia".

Latin.

The "-us" at the end is a masculine suffix. Julius. Marcus. Brutus. Confuci-us. As for pronounciation in Ecclesiastical Latin:

1) C before O is a hard C (as in k)

2) U is pronounced "oo"

3) C before I is a soft C (as in ch)

The last U is probably a short "oo". So instead of "kon-fyoo-shus", it should be:

"kon-foo-chi-us"

And leads me to wonder.. what is my Latinized Archaic name?

First of all, Archaic Chinese. Females more commonly used "氏" (shiˋ), which they attached to their father's or husband's surname. Problem is, my last name is from my mother's side (special case) and I am not married yet. "子" (zhi˙) was used for respected or scholarly people, although the fact that it was more explicitly used for males was due to the lack of female scholars.

There are more choices but they get very specific about status and age, and are not convenient for public use. For my case I better use "子".

My surname is 孫, so 孫子.

I wrote The Art of War, whoopee~

On the Latin part, pick any female Latin suffix of choice. Let me see..

Suncia

Suncilla

Suncilia

Suncilea

Suncina

Suncilina

Suncianna

Suncissa

Suncietta

Sunciella

I would not go for more than three syllables because that just sounds too princess-like.

Suncia

Suncilla

Suncina

Suncissa

Maybe something not so "flowery".

Suncia

Suncissa

Ehh.. I would rather not name myself after some furniture. "Cissa" is actually a genus of magpies, but preferable.

Suncissa