上山去采的野菜
Gathered on the hill
陟彼南山,言采其薇。
I climb that southern hill to pick the vetch.
诗经 · 草虫
· our translation
The 薇 here is a wild green you climb a hill to gather: in a name it is the thing that grows on its own, not the flower in a garden bed.
「薇」在这里是上山去采的野菜——名字用「薇」,取的是这个「野地里自己长出来的」,不是园林里的花。
In a name
薇 is a wild green, not a cultivated bloom: it lends a name the air of having grown on its own.
「薇」是野菜,不是名花——它给名字的是「自己长出来的」那口气。