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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep thanks to my supervisor, MA.Lê đình
Thảo, who has helped me a lot with his advice, directions, comments,
criticism and encouragement for the accomplishment of this study.

I am also grateful to all teachers in the foreign languages department
for their helpful advice and valuable lectures from which I benefited a lot
in writing this study.
I also really want to express my profound thanks to my family, my
friends whose ideas, support and sourrce of materials were great
importance to me in carrying out this study.Many thanks to all of them.

Vinh, M ay 2003

Ha Thi Thanh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

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Acknowledgement

1

Table of contents

2
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

4

I. Reasons for choosing the subject

4

II. Objects of the study

5

III. Aims of the study

5

IV. Methods of the study

5

V. Design of the study


5
PART TWO: CONTENTS

6

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL PREMILINARIES

6

I. Background information

6

1. Lexical meaning of word

6

2. The components of lexical meaning

6

2.1. The denotational meaning

6

2.2. The connotational meaning

6


II. Euphemism

7

1. Definition

7

2. Usage of euphemism

8

III. Religional views of death

9

CHAPTER 2:THE DIFERENT WAYS TO EXPRESS THE DEATH
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
11
I.Words express the death in English and in Vietnamese:

11

1.Verb

13

2.Noun

14


3.Adjective

16

II.Ways expressing the death:

17

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1.In the neutral way

17

2.In the way with love, respect

22

3.In the way with dislike, contempt, humour

22


III. The DEATH in literature:

25

1. Cases using euphemism

25

2. Cases without euphemism

27

3. Change of meaning

28

4. Metaphor

30

IV. Idioms consisting the verb TO DIE, the adjective DEAD, the noun
DEATH in English and Vietnamese

32

1.Table of similar English and Vietnamese idioms

33


2.Table of English idioms and theirs equivalents in Vietnamese

36

CHAPTER 3: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TRANSLATING AND
LEARNING THE WAYS TO EXPRESS THE DEATH
39
PART THREE: CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

42
43

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PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
I. Reasons for choosing the subject:
Up to now, in theory, the problem of contrastive analysis of single
verbs or verb groups among the languages hasn’t been studied much and
systematically. There appears, perhaps, to be generally studied and
mentioned to any aspect of verb such as: Verbs: Patterns and Practice

(Collin Cobuild); Meaning and the English verbs (Geoffrey N.Leech)
Death is considered inevitable in one’s cycle of life. People are born,
live and die. Death is the end of one’s life and it is such a great fear to talk
about death because to die means to stop existing. Different people creat
different ways to mention about death; it might be a direct way: to die, to
perish…. Or might be a round-about way by using euphemism:to pass away,
to go to Heaven, to close one’s eyes, to breath the last, to lose one’s
life…..Euphemism is used for beloved or respected people whereras slangs
are used when the dead is a disliked or contempted one: to kick the bucket,
to pop off, to croak, to peg out…
In Vietnamese, words expressing death is numerous, too.Word is
chosen differently depending on the speaker’s attitude and emotion towards
the dead. MA Nguyen Kim Than - a Vietnamese linguist - has collected
more than 100 ways of expressing death. Similarly, the chosen words are
depedent on the speaker, it might be euphemism: qua đời, tạ thế, từ trần, hy
sinh… or slangs: ngủm, ngoẻo, ngủ với giun, đi đời nhà ma…
In addition, there exist various ways in which death is mentioned with
a view to lessen the grief and sorrow especially in literature. Many rhetotical
means are used to imply the death such as: metaphor, change of meaning,
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euphemism....

This interests me very much and urges me to choose the subject:''The
different ways to express the death in English and in Vietnamese'' with a
hope that this study will also contribute a small part in teaching and learning
English.
II. Aims of the study:
The aims of the study may be listed herebelow:
- Helping Vietnamese learners or users of English (intemediate to
advanced students) produce language, in other words, to use suitable words
to express one’s death.
- Giving out some ways to express the death in the 2 languages, aimed
at improving the knowledge of culture for Vietnamese users of English:
students, translators, learners..
- Creating condition for later study
III. Objects of the study:
- Words expressing the death
- Diffferent ways to express the death
- The meaning of English idioms relating to the verd TO DIE, the noun
DEATH, the adjective DEAD and theirs equivalents in Vietnamese.
IV. Methods:
1. Contrastive and comparative method
2. Statistic method
3. Analysis and systematic method
V. Design of the study:
This study consists of 3 main parts:
- In troduction
- Contents
- Conclusion
Part One: The''Introduction'' outlines the reasons, aims and the
methods of the study
Part Two: The ''Contents'' includes 3 chapters:

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- Chapter I: Theoretical premilinaries such as: lexical meaning of word,
euphemism, slang, different religional views of death…
- Chapter II: The different ways to express the death in English and in
Vietnamese
- Chapter III: Some suggestions for translating and learning the ways to
express the death.
Part Three: The''Conclusion''
PART TWO
INVESTIGATION
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES
I.BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. Lexical meaning of words: is defined as the individual meaning
that each word has in the system of language. This meaning brings together
the different forms of one and the same word, whereas the grammartical
meaning ditinguishes between them.
(line15, page30 An Introduction to Semantics-Nguyen Hoa)
When we see or hear the word ''house'', the picture or image of a house
occurs to our mind: It’s a building made for people to live in, ussually for
one family.
The basic lexical meaning of a word is retained in all its forms

Student – student’s – students – students’
Go – goes – went- gone – going
2.The components of lexical meaning:
We may distinguish between two components of lexical meaning:
denotation an connotation
2.1. The denotational meaning(denotation):
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The denotational meaning indicates(denotes) or points out things,
concepts,etc. For example:''bird'' denotes an animal that can fly.''Father, dad,
daddy'' denote the male parent.''Rain, shine'' denote phenomena of
nature.When the referent is a concept, an abstract thing, we have
significative denotation and when it is an individual object we have
demonstrative denotation.
2.2. The connotational meaning:
The connotational meaning shows us how things, concepts, etc. are
indicated (denoted). It conveys the speaker’s attitude, emotions and so
on.''Father, dad, daddy'' as mentioned above, have the same denotational
meanings but different connotational meanings.
Connotation may consist of emotive change(emotion), evaluation,
intensity and stylistic colouring. Stylistic colouring means that a word may
be colloquial, bookish, slangy, etc.

For example, there are many words to indicate the death and each
carries different connotational meaning:
To die: familiar/colloquial
To pass away: euphematic
To kick the bucket: slangy
To be gone: rhetorical
To rest in peace: literary
Connotation plays an important role in such spheres of life as
advertising, politics,literature. Many synonyms differ greatly due to their
favourable and unfavourable connotations.
II EUPHEMISM:
1.Definition:
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There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid
because they are considered indecent, rude, too direct or impolite.Those
words are described in a round-about way by using substitutes called
euphemisms.
Euphemisms, which literally means ''speak well''. In using euphemisms,
a less unpleasant or offensive effect is achieved.
The word ''lavatory'' has naturally produced many euphemisms. Here
are some of them:powder room, wash room, rest room, retiring room, watercloset(w.c)

Or when we talk about a delicate topic ''pregnancy'', we can use some of
the euphemisms for the adjective ''pregnant'':

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- in an interesting condition

- in the family way

- in a delicate condition

- with a baby coming
- big with child

2. Usage of euphemism
All the euphemisms that have been described so far are used to avoid
the so-called social taboos.Their use, as has already been said, is inspired
by social convention.
Supertitious taboos gave rise to the use of other type of
euphemisms.The reluctance to call things by their proper names is also
typical of this type of euphemisms, but this time it is based on a deeply-rooted
subconcious fear. Therefore, all the words denoting evil spirits, dangerous

animals or the power of nature were taboos. If uttered, it was believed that
unspeakable disasters would result not only for the speaker but also for the
people near him. That’s why all creatures, objects and phenomena threatening
danger were referred to in a round-about descriptive way. So, a dangerous
animal might be described as the one- lurking-in- the- wood and a mortal
disease as the black death.
Even in our modern emancipated times, old supertitious fears still lurk
behind words associated with death and fatal diseases. People are not
supertitious nowadays and yet they are surprisingly reluctant to use the
verb TO DIE which has a long chain of both solemn and humorous
substitutes:
Solemn

Humorous

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To pass away

To go West


To be taken

To kick off

To breathe one’s last

To check out

To depart from this life

To kick the bucket

To close one’s eyes

To take a ride

To yield(give) up the ghost

To hop the wig

To go the way of all flesh

To join the silent majority

The slang substitutes seem to lack any proper respect, but the joke is a
sort of cover for the same old fear, speak of death and who knows what
may happen.
III. RELIGIONAL VIEWS OF DEATH:
Nowadays, there exist thousands of religions on the world and each

religion owns a different view of death so it’s easy to find similar as well
as opposite opinions towards death.
One of the biggest religions is Buddhism. A Buddhist looks at death as
a breaking part of the material of which we are composed. However,
Buddhism does not look death as a continuation of the soul but as a
awakening. Dying and being reborn has been compared by some Buddhists
as a candle flame. When the flame of one is lit, candle is touched to the
wick of an unlighted candle. The light passes from one candle to another.
The actual flame of the first candle does not pass over but is responssible
for lightening the second candle. Nirvana, a state in which there is an
extinction of desire and suffering is an absence of self. Buddhism views
ignorance rather than sin as the roadblock of Nirvana.
When preparing for death, Buddhist generally agrees a personal state
of mind while dying is of great importance. While dying the person can be
surrounded by friends, family and monks who recite Buddhist scriptures
and mantras to help the person achieve a peaceful state of mind. Buddhists
believe that to die is to go to Nirvana(về cõi Phật) or to come to the
elysium( chốn bồng lai tiên cảnh).
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Example:
-''Ông nội cuả em,nàng tiếp, như anh thấy cũng khơng cịn bao lâu nữa
thì về trời''
(dịng 25, trang 16 - Tỳ vết tâm linh - Bình Ngun Lộc)
-''Thơi thế là hết những lần gặp nhau và hát cho nhau nghe!Anh Trúc
Phương đã đi trên chuyến đò chiêù của mỗi đời người về cõi Phật''
( dòng 15, trang21 - Trúc Phương đi chuyến đò chiều -Vũ Đức - Báo
Kiến Thức Ngày Nay số 187, 1995)
-''Đức Pháp chủ về Tây phương cực lạc
Con chí thành niệm Phật Di Đà…''
( dịng 40, trang 154 - Thi ca văn hoá Việt - Minh Thông)
Meanwhile, death is viewed differently by Christians. According to
Christianism, human beings are born from dust and therefore eventually
return to dust. After death people are believed to go to Heaven where their
souls are saved by God- the Creator.Bad people are paid off for the sins
that they committed while they were living on the earth, those people will
go to Hell. Furthermore, a non-Christian person is said to go to Hell after
death because they do not follow Christianism.''If you are born Christian,
you will go to Heaven;if you are following another religion, then by default
you will go to Hell''.
Example:
-''Thank you! That’s very good of you, even in Heaven I never quite
got out of my old military habits of speech''
( line16, page210 -A History of English and American Literature)
-''I have a wife, whom I love very much''he said'' but I wish that she
were dead and in Heaven, then she would be able to ask God to help
Antonie''

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(line9, page10 - The Merchant of Venice - Stories from Shakespeare)

-''I wondered if she was now''beyond us all'',as she had said and hoped
that her soul had found a home with God''
(line34, page98 - Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte)
In short, due to the different religions the European have a different
view of death from that of the Orientals. This is also the cultural difference
between the two countries.

CHAPTER 2:THE DIFFERENT WAYS TO EXPRESS THE DEATH
IN ENGLISH AND IN VIETNAMESE
I.WORDS EXPRESSING THE DEATH IN ENGLISH AND IN
VIETNAMESE:
Words expressing the death in English belong to different part of
speech. They are noun, verb, phrasal verb, adjective....
1.Verbs:
Verbs expressing the death in English are plentiful, some of them are:

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To die

To join the angles

To perish

To take the last sleep

To pass away

To lose somebody

To expire

To kick the bucket

To be at rest

To pop off


To rest in peace

To drop dead

To lose one’s life

To snuff it

To lay down one’s life

To give up the ghost

To depart from this life

To go West

To go to Heaven/Hell

Example:
-''Mrs Harris’ husband died when she was forty-five years old.She
had a son,who was eighteen years old at that time''
(line 10, page 124 - English Smiles - L.A.Hill)
-''Thousand of people perished in the earthquake''
(line46, page 861 - Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary - 1995)
-''Her last scene is difficult to be portrayed as a shipwreck, where the
victims depart from this life along a desolate sea, and a shpeless mass of
agony is all that can be brought home to the imagination''
(line 18, page 21-The Hollow of the Three Hills - Nathaniel Hawthorne)
-''Was the old woman dying or was she already dead? Had the doctor
said that there was nothing to be done at her tremendous age but to let her

quietly pass away? Or had he simply annouced with a look a little more
conventional that the end of the end had come?''
( line 17, page 117 - The Aspern Papers and the Turn of Screw - Henry
James)
-'' No, it is not decent''I replied gravely''Let the poor lady rest in peace
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and the words on my lips, were not hypocritical for I felt reprimanded and
shamed.''
( line 21, page 120 - The Aspern Papers and the Turn of Screw - Henry
James)
In Vietnamese, the death is denoted by these following verbs:
Chết

Lìa đời

Ngoẻo

Qua đời


Quy tiên

Ngỏm củ tỏi

Tạ thế

Từ trần

Đi đời nhà ma

Hy sinh

Về cõi Phật

Toi

Ra đi

Về nơi chín suối

Ngủ với giun

Yên nghỉ

Tịch

Về chầu Diêm Vương

Mất


Khuất núi

Đi tàu suốt

Example:
-''Chàng chết oan ức, chết khi chưa gặp bạn, hồn chàng hố thành con
chim quốc.''
(dịng 28, trang 72 - Truyện cổ tích dân gian Việt Nam - Cao Huy
Đỉnh sưu tầm - NXB thanh niên 2000)
-''Lúc ấy, qn lính lại dùng câu liêm móc cổ Quận Huy kéo xuống.
Rồi họ thi nhau ra sức đấm đá, giây lát Quận Huy tắt thở''
(dòng 14, trang 12 - Hồng Lê Nhất thống chí - Ngơ Gia Văn PháiSách văn 11- NXBGD)
- ''Xưa có hai cha con tiều phu nghèo xơ xác, cha già bị bệnh khônbg
tiền lo thuốc thang nên lìa đời''
(dịng 4 trang8 -Truyện cổ tích dân gian Việt nam - Cao Huy Đỉnh
sưu tầm -NXB Thanh niên)
-''Những ngày này, người mẹ thân yêu khuất bóng từ lâu thường
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xun hiện ra trong chiêm bao của tơi''

(dịng 23, trang 189 - Một nửa đàn ông là đàn bà - Phan Văn Các dịch)
-''Đánh thành Hà Nội lần thứ hai năm 1882, Tây lại ngoẻo nốt chủ
tướng Henry Rivière''
(dòng 17, trang 96 - Chuyện nghề- Nguyễn Tuân - NXB Văn Học)
2. Nouns
Nouns expessing the death in English are:
Death

Demise

Decease

End

Example:
-''Hamlet is instinctively aware of his duty as a son to revenge his
father’s death and purify the amoral atmosphere''
(line 9, page 40 - A History of English and American Literature)
-''In 1905, after her father’s demise, she and her sister Vanessa
established a household in the Boombury section of London, which
became a gathering place for former university colleagues of their older
brother''
( line 9, page 186 - A History of English and American Literature)
-''Oh! She loves them too much''
''Even now, when she is near her end''
( line30, page100-The Aspern Papers and the Turn of Screw- Henry
James)
In Vietnamese, nouns expressing the death can be found as:
Cái chết


Sự ra đi

Sự qua đời

Sự hy sinh

Example:
-''Sáu năm về trước, Nga đã đột ngột ra đi và Lâm đã chọn đồi Cam
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làm nơi yên nghỉ cuối cùng cho nàng. Phải khơng có một nơi nào xứng
đáng với nàng hơn nơi ấy. Sự ra đi của nàng là một câu chuyện đau
lòng…''
(dòng 14, trang 63 - Truyện ngắn hay trên Tạp chí QĐND 1997 -Nhiều
tác giả)
-''Sự hy sinh của chiến sỹ phi công dũng cảmTrần Quốc Dũng là một
tấm gương sáng để cho tồn qn chủng chúng tơi học tập, noi theo''
(dòng 3, trang 228 - Truyện ngắn hay trên Tạp chí QĐND 1997 - Nhiều
tác giả)
-''Tiểu đồn có q nhiều người hy sinh, cái chết trở nên quá bình

thường, chẳng ai trong chúng tơi có đủ thời gian và tiền bạc để tính tới
chuyện ‘đi tìm đồng đội’’
(dịng 14, trang 266 - Truyện ngắn hay trên Tạp chí QĐND 1997 Nhiều tác giả)
3. Adjective:
In English, there exist adjectives indicating the death and we can find
equivalent ones in Vienamese.
English

Vienamese

Dead

Chết

Expired

Quá cố

Deceased

Thiên cổ

Example:
-''Mr Johnson was a rich old man. His wife was dead and he did not
have any children''
(line 10, page 30 - English Smile - L.A.Hill)
-''Try not to think too much about your expired father''said Hamlet’s
mother ''you know that everything that lives and must die sometime.why
do you still seem so sad?''
( line 20, page 29 - Hamlet - Stories from Shakespeare)

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-''These gentlemen, like their deceased friend, were sombre humorist,
who made it their principal occupation to number the sable threads in
the web of human life, and drop all the golden ones out of the
reckoning''
( line 4, page 296 - Selected Tales and Sketches - Nathaniel
Hawthorne)
-'' Thì ra ơng Nam Cư đã hố ra người thiên cổ, cơng trình sưu tập và
chú thích của ơng đành phải bỏ dở giữa chừng''
( dòng 15, trang 66 - Đồng Nai văn tập -Nguyễn Văn Y)
-''Như vậy là trên đại thể, giữa Bộ Quốc Phịng và Hội nhà văn có sự
đánh giá tương đối thống nhất về chất lượng sáng tác ở một số tác
phẩm.Hai trong số các tác giả khi tác phẩm được giải thưởng đã là người
quá cố: Nguyễn Minh Châu và Lê Tri Kỷ''
(dòng 15, trang 14 - Chiến tranh qua những tác phẩm văn xuôi được
giải - Tô Phương Lan - Tạp chí Văn học - số 12, 1994)
As a Chinese - rooted language, Vienamese has a quite abundant
amount of Chinese borrowed words. Therefore, it is very rich in the stock
of vocabulary in general and in the number of words expressing the death

in particular. Borowed words expressing the death are: tử, từ trần, thất lộc,
tựu nghĩa, tuẫn tiết, quyên sinh, băng hà, mãn phần, tạ thế,
tịch…Generally, Chinese - rooted words are very formal. They are used to
denote the death of people in high position, old aged, respectable and
beloved ones.
Example:
-''Chú đâu?
Dạ! Nhà tơi đã mãn phần ba năm nay rồi''
( dịng 18, trang 166 - Đồng quê - Phi Vân)
-''Đến đầu mùa xuân năm 665, Huyền Trang đi ngang qua một cái cầu,
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rủi vấp té bị thương nơi cẳng. Bịnh càng ngày càng nặng vì ngài già rồi,
sức lực kém. Đến nửa đêm mồng năm tháng hai thì Ngài tịch. Lúc ấy Ngài
đặng 65 tuổi''
(dịng 5, trang 369 - Nói chuyện Tây Du - Bạch Liên - Niết Bàn Tạp
Chí - số 10, 1934)
-''Nhà triết học Việt Nam Trần Đức Thảo đã tạ thế tại Pa-ri ngày thứ
bảy 24-4-1993, thọ 76 tuổi''
(dòng 18, trang 24 - Nhà triết học chiến đấu - Giăng- Pôngiu-A-ri –

Xuân Lộc dịch - Báo Văn nghệ số 37, 1993)
In conclusion, words expressing the death in both English and
Vietnamese

belong

to

different

parts

of

speech: noun,

verb,

adjective…However, thanks to the borrowed words from Chinese
Vietnamese is richer in vocabulary in general and in the number of words
expessing the death in particular than English. This is the reason why we
come arcoss various ways to express the death in Vietnamese.
II.DIFFERENT WAYS TO EXPRESS THE DEATH IN ENGLISH
AND IN VIETNAMESE:

In both English and Vietnamese, there is a great number of ways to
express this verb. Only in Vietnamese, linguist Nguyen Kim Than has
collected more than 100 ways of expressing death.
As mentioned above, DEATH is a particular event of one’s life-the
end of life. Thus one’s death has different influences on other people’s

thought and emotion. A beloved person’s death is said to bring an extreme
grief and sorrow to the others,However,if the dead person is a disliked one,
his death makes no difference to the listeners or even sometimes it is
seemingly regarded as a satisfaction. Therefore, the language used to
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express one’s death is quite different in stylistic aspect, this is blamed for
the speaker’s emotion and attitude towards the dead person.
There may be 3 different ways in which one’s death is mentioned as
follow:
+In the neutral way
+In the way with respect, love
+In the way with dislike, contempt or humour
1.In the neutral way:
In this case, the dead person is a common one. His death is known as a
casual event to the speaker. The words that are used in this case may be:
To die
Death
To perish
To be dead

To depart from this life
To lose one’s life
Example:
-''Hindy only had room in his heart for two people: himself and his
wife so when she died, he was in despair
(line25, page19 - Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - Oxford
Bookworms)
-''Thousand of people perished in the earthquake''
( line 46, page 861 - Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
-''Her last scene is difficult to be portrayed as a shipwreck, where the
victims depart from this life along a desolate sea, and a shapeless mass of
agony is all that can be brought home to the imagination''
(line 18, page21 - The Hollow of the Three Hills - Nathaniel
Howthorne)
-''There have been six rebellions raise on that account wherein one
Emperor lost his life, another his crown''
( line 16, page 73 - A History of English and American Litearture)
-''Mr Johnson was a rich old man.His wife was dead and he did not
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have any children''
(line 10, page 730 - English Smile - L.A.Hill)
In Vietnamse, in order to express one’s death in the neutral way,
people ussually use verbs like:
Chết
Chê cơm
Lìa đời
Về già
Tắt nghỉ
Đi Văn Điển
Mất
Hoàn vũ rồi
Nhắm mắt
Đã vuốt mắt rồi...
Tắt thở
Nằm dưới đất

Example:
-''Chàng chết oan ức, chết khi chưa gặp bạn, hồn chàng hố thành con
chim quốc.''
(dịng 28, trang 72 - Truyện cổ tích dân gian Việt Nam - Cao Huy
Đỉnh sưu tầm - NXB Thanh niên 2000)
-''Lúc ấy, quân lính lại dùng câu liêm móc cổ Quận Huy kéo xuống. Rồi
họ thi nhau ra sức đấm đá, giây lát Quận Huy tắt thở''
(dịng 14,trang 12 - Hồng Lê Nhất thống chí - Ngơ Gia Văn PháiSách văn 11 - NXBGD)
- ''Xưa có hai cha con tiều phu nghèo xơ xác, cha già bị bệnh khơng
tiền lo thuốc thang nên lìa đời''
(dịng 4, trang 8 -Truyện cổ tích dân gian Việt nam - Cao Huy Đỉnh
sưu tầm - NXB Thanh niên)
-''Khi sao đông đúc vui cười

Mà khi nhắm mắt không người nhặt xương''
(dòng 20, trang 188 - Chiêu hồn thập loại chúng sinh - Nguyễn Du Sách văn 10 - NXBGD)
2. In the way with love , respect:
When the dead people is a beloved/close
ones like relatives,
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friends… or people who are famous or are respected for their great
contributions to the society such as: soldiers, scientists, talented
figures…Their death appear to be an extreme shock to the listener. In
order to calm down the grief of those peopls’s death, the speaker mentions
it in a round-about way, often in this case euphemism is used because in
using euphemism, a less unpleasant or offensive effect is achieved.
In English euphemism for death can be found as:
To pass away
To be near one’s end
To decease/deceased
To lay down one’s life
To be gathered to one’s fathers
To lie/ to be at rest

To rest in peace

To go to glory/Heaven
To join the angles
To take the last sleep,
To close one’s eyes
To be taken
To go the way of all flesh
To lose somebody…

Example:
-''Meanwhile the whole population of Parker’s Fall rushed into the street
and kept us such a terrible loquacity, as more than compensated for the
silence of the cotton- machines, which refrained from their usual din out of
respect to the deceased''
(line 4, page 96 - Selected Tales and Sketches - Nathaniel Hawthorne)
-''Was the old woman dying or was she already dead? Had the doctor said
that there was nothing to be done at her tremendous age but to let her
quietly pass away? Or had he simply announced with a look a little more
conventional that the end of the end had come?''
(line 17, page 117 - The Aspern Papers and the Turn of Screw-Henry
James)
-'' No, it is not decent''I replied gravely'' Let the poor lady rest in peace
and the words on my lips, were not hypocritical for I felt reprimanded and
shamed.

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( line 21, page 120 - The Asperns Papers and the Turn of Screw - Henry
James)
-''Oh! She loves them too much,
''Even now, when she is near her end''
( line17, page 100 - The Asperns Papers and the Turn of Screw - Henry
James)
-''I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous
and happy, in that England which I shall see no more''
( line 8, page10 - Chapter 1 - A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens)
-''Who could say his mother had lived and did not live? She has been in
one place and was in another, that was all. And his soul could not leave
her, wherever she was. Now she was taken abroad into the night and he
was with her still''
(line13, page 56 - Sons and Lovers - David Herbert Lawrence)
-''In a little time also, she lost her husband, who is mentioned in history
only as attending her footsteps and whom we may conclude to have been a
mere insignificant appendage of his mightier wife''
( line 24, page 20 -Mr Hutchison - Nathaniel Hawthorne)
-''What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I
thought she was going to Heaven! Is that any reason why I should quit my
dear Faith and go after her?''
( line 9, page 139 -Young Goodman Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne)

-''How many a woman , eager for widow’s weeds, has given her
husband a drink at bed-time, and let him take his last sleep in her bosom,
how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their father’s weath''
( line11, page 145 - Young Goodman Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne)
-''I trod out his accused soul, and knew that he joined the angles for
my spirit bounded as if a chain had fallen from it and left''
(line 6, page 116 - Alice Doane’s Appeal - Nathaniel Hawthorne)
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-''No sooner than had he breathed his last, the whole county united to
honour him. Ten thousand people were said to have followed him to his
grave at Dumfries''
( line 30, page 70 - A History of English and American Literature)
-''Shakespeare left London in 1612 to spend the last years of his life
retirement at Stratford, his hometown.He died on April 23rd,1616 and was
buried in the Straford church.''
(line 14, page 36 - A History of English and American Literature)
-''Try not to think too much about your expired father''said Hamlet’s
mother'' you know that everything that lives and must die sometime.Why
do you still seem so sad?''

(line 20, page 29 - Hamlet - Stories from Shakespeare)
In Vietnamese euphemisms used for death are abundant.They are
used with a view to express their unspeakable grief, respect to the dead
person.We may easily find those words:
Quy tiên
Lên thiên đàng
Trăm tuổi
Về suối vàng
Từ trần
Trịn quả phúc
Tạ thế
Về tiên giới
Hy sinh
Hố
Về cõi Phật
Tịch
Về Tây Trúc
Ra đi
Về nơi cực lạc
Nhắm mắt xuôi tay
Về với Chúa
Khuất núi
Về nơi chín suối
Khuất bóng
Example:
- ''Đức Pháp chủ về Tây Phương cực lạc
Con chí thành niệm Phật Di Đà…''
( dịng 40,trang 154 - Thi ca văn hố Việt- Minh Thơng)
- ''Thằng bé khơn lớn thì người mẹ cũng theo chồng về bên kia thế
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giới''
( dòng 25, trang 270 - Kho tàng truyện cổ tích Việt Nam - Nguyễn
Đổng Chi)
-''Những ngày này, người mẹ thân yêu khuất bóng từ lâu thường
xuyên hiện ra trong chiêm bao của tơi''
(dịng 23, trang 189 - Một nửa đàn ông là đàn bà - Phan Văn Các
dịch)
-''Hồi xưa có người đi làm ăn, về tới nhà thì cha mẹ đã khuất núi, đau
xót vơ cùng, ngâm lên hai câu thơ này:
Cây muốn lặng mà gió chẳng ngừng
Muốn ni cha mẹ mà trời chẳng cho''
( dịng 15, trang170 - Một quan niệm về sống đẹp - Lâm Ngữ Đường)
-''Anh nằm đó giữa gị cao n nghỉ
Dưới chân anh bát ngát ruộng đồng
Anh nằm đó hai mươi liệt sĩ
Rực rỡ đài tổ quốc ghi cơng''
(dịng18, trang 36 - Phù sa quê mẹ - Viễn Phương - NXB Văn học)
-''Bà Quan Âm Thị Kính tắt thở mới gỡ được oan, chứ ơng có nhắm mắt
xi tay cũng mang mãi tiếng xấu, bỏ cách mạng, bỏ làng chạy theo bợ đít Mĩ

Diệm''
(dòng 28, trang 24 - Truyện ngắn Miền Nam -Nhiều tác giả)
-''Câu đầu nói về tích Lã Vọng câu cá bên sơng Vị chờ thời. Câu sau
nói về Gia Cát Lượng khi về chín suối vẫn ơm mộng chiếm đoạt Kỳ Sơn''
(dịng18, trang 46 - Chuyện Đơng chuyện Tây - An Chi - Báo Kiến
Thức Ngày Nay, số 171 -1995)
-''Không một tấm hình, khơng một dịng địa chỉ
Anh chẳng để lại gì cho riêng anh trước lúc lên đường
Chỉ để ại cái dáng đứng Việt Nam tạc vào thế kỷ!
Anh là chiến sĩ giải phóng qn''
(dịng12, trang45 - Dáng đứng Việt Nam - Lê Anh Xuân)
-''Nhà văn cộng sản lỗi lạc, nhà văn mà sách đã từng giáo dục hàng
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triệu nam, nữ thanh niên Xô-viết, nhà văn ấy đã từ giã cuộc đời''
(dòng 18, trang 13 - Thép đã tơi thế đấy - N.A Xtơ rơp xki)
-'' Thì ra ơng Nam Cư đã hố ra người thiên cổ, cơng trình sưu tập và
chú thích của ơng đành phải bỏ dở giữa chừng''
(dòng 15, trang 66 - Đồng Nai văn tập - Nguyễn Văn Y)
-''Vì tiên đã khơng rõ ngọn nguồn nên tiểu thần đã ngậm cười chín

suối''
(dịng 21, trang 146 - Lịch sử văn học Việt Nam - Nhiều tác giả)
-''Nhất là chọn các bác,các chú, những người sắp lần lượt chia tay với
cuộc đời, để đi trước''
(dòng 18, trang 264 - Cù lao tràm - Nguyễn Mạnh Tuấn)
3. In the way with dislike, contempt or humour:
The language used for a disliked person’s death is usually slang in
order to make jokes or to show the speaker’s comtempt towards the death
person.In English, slangs for death can be found as:
To die

To give up the ghost

To pop off

To go West

To croak

To hop the wig

To kick the bucket

To peg out

To drop dead

To kick one’s heels

To snuff it


To go off the hooks

Example:
-''Immediately, I stood against in the lonesome road, no more a sinless
child, but a man of blood, whose tears were falling fast over the face of his
disgusting enemy who has just died''
(line 18, page117 - Alice Doane’s Appeal - Nathaniel Hawthorne)
-''She said she had no intention of poping off for sometime yet''
(line 26, page 896, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
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