I saw this four-character idiom online somewhere – I didn’t record from where.
空谷足音
공곡족음
gong.gok.jok.eum
empty-valley-excessive-sound
This idiom seems to be similar to: Vox clamantis in deserto! “A voice in the wilderness.”
1 Iɴɪᴛɪᴜᴍ Eᴠᴀɴɢᴇʟɪɪ Jᴇsᴜ Cʜʀɪsᴛɪ, Fɪʟɪɪ Dᴇɪ. 2 Sɪᴄᴜᴛ sᴄʀɪᴘᴛᴜᴍ ᴇsᴛ ɪɴ Isᴀɪᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴘʜᴇᴛᴀ: Eᴄᴄᴇ ᴇɢᴏ ᴍɪᴛᴛᴏ ᴀɴɢᴇʟᴜᴍ ᴍᴇᴜᴍ ᴀɴᴛᴇ ғᴀᴄɪᴇᴍ ᴛᴜᴀᴍ, ǫᴜɪ ᴘʀæᴘᴀʀᴀʙɪᴛ ᴠɪᴀᴍ ᴛᴜᴀᴍ ᴀɴᴛᴇ ᴛᴇ. 3 Vᴏx ᴄʟᴀᴍᴀɴᴛɪs ɪɴ ᴅᴇsᴇʀᴛᴏ: Pᴀʀᴀᴛᴇ ᴠɪᴀᴍ Dᴏᴍɪɴɪ, ʀᴇᴄᴛᴀs ғᴀᴄɪᴛᴇ sᴇᴍɪᴛᴀs ᴇᴊᴜs. (Vulgate)
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (KJV)
But the Christian/Western allusion is to prophecy, while the Chinese seems to mean one of two things, neither of which is quite the same. First, it might mean a pointless exercise of proclaiming when no one is paying attention. Alternately, it might mean the way that deserted place becomes more welcoming when a sound is heard. Regardless, I don’t think it’s directly relatable to the notion of prophecy… I guess it comes down to one’s opinion regarding the efficacy of prophecy.
There is also the text by John Gower, a Latin-language poem written in the 14th century, bearing the title “Vox Clamantis.”
[daily log: walking, 1km]