nghìn xưa

Từ nghìn xưa, con người đã biết dùng lửa để sưởi ấm.

Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Ancient / of olden times: Refers to a very distant past, a time long, long ago. It evokes a sense of timelessness and deep history.
   • Age-old / time-honored: Describes something (a tradition, story, feeling) that has existed since that very distant past.

2. Noun (temporal):

   • Antiquity / ancient times: Used to denote the era of the distant past itself.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Truyền thuyết này bắt nguồn từ nghìn xưa. (This legend originates from ancient times.)
  • Đó là một tình bạn nghìn xưa. (That is an age-old friendship.)

• Noun:

  • Phong tục ấy có từ nghìn xưa. (That custom has existed since antiquity.)

Advanced Usage

• Often used in poetic, literary, or formal contexts to add a majestic, venerable, or nostalgic quality. It is more evocative than the simpler "xưa" (past).
• Can be used in set phrases to describe enduring human emotions or universal truths.
  • Nỗi buồn nghìn xưa (The ageless sorrow)

Variants and Related Words

• Ngàn xưa: A poetic variant with the same meaning as "nghìn xưa."

  • Câu chuyện ngàn xưa (A story from of yore.)

• Xưa (adj): Past, old. A simpler, more general term.

• Cổ đại (adj): Ancient (often used for historical periods like "thời cổ đại" - the ancient era).

Synonyms

• Ancient: Belonging to the very distant past.
• Antiquity: The ancient past, especially before the Middle Ages.
• Of yore: (Poetic) Of long ago.
• Time immemorial: A time so far in the past that people have no knowledge or memory of it.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Từ nghìn xưa: From time immemorial; since ancient times.

  • Từ nghìn xưa, người dân đã sống ở vùng này. (Since time immemorial, people have lived in this region.)

• Chuyện nghìn xưa: An old, old story; a tale as old as time.

  • Đó là chuyện nghìn xưa, không ai nhớ rõ nữa. (That is a tale from antiquity, no one remembers clearly anymore.)