Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 14:42:29 +1000 Can anyone tell me when
the word `tri thuc' (intellectual) entered the Vietnamese
vocabulary? It's not in the Huynh Tinh Cua dictionary of
1895-96. Another import from Japan? If so, was it coined
specifically to translate the English `intellectual'? Dao Duy
Anh, `Han Viet Tu Dien' (1933,1936) linked `tri(acute) thuc'
with `tri (no accent) thuc' (connaissances), but then has a
separate entry for `tri(acute) thuc giai cap' (classe
intellectuelle), which he explains as "Nhung nguoi trong xa-hoi
thuoc ve hang co tri-thuc, da tung chiu giao-duc kha cao".
That's pretty bland, when other writers of the 1930s are boldly
asserting that `tri thuc' have a commitment to modernity and
progress in contrast to those still wedded to `old' ideas,
especially classically trained literati, spirit priests and
monks. That's closer to the late 19th century Russian use of
`intelligentsia'(appropriated from French?), but did Vietnamese
writers ever discuss these different meanings explicitly? And