I’m not sure if it’s a blessing or not when a dictionary lists several widely-varying definitions for one word, all of which would make acceptable translations. And I’m not one for blindly following the dictionary in every case, but at least I expect the dictionary to help me narrow down my choices, rather than expand them. This is the case for the word ‘linglong’ 玲珑, which I always look up when I come across it, even for the 436th time, and the dictionary almost never helps me. So what is a translator to do?

In this case the word is a poetic one, often found in classical literature, meaning it has a ton of connotations. A quick check of a few C-E online and hard copy dictionaries comes up with ‘ingeneously and delicately wrought’, ‘exquisite’, ‘nimble’, and ‘tinkling of jade’. The 古代汉语词典 (a dictionary that I hardly ever find has the words I am looking for) gives ‘clear and crisp sound’ and ‘clear and transparent’.  Then finally,  汉典, which I tend to trust more than any other dictionary, especially for literary translation, gives no less than eight definitions: 1) the clear sound of jade; 2) transparent; 3) used in poetry to refer to plum blossomes or snow; 4) exquisite; 5) nimble; 6) refers to the Tang courtesan Shang Linglong; 7) refers to courtesans in general; 8) the name of a musical movement. 

And the context is that it is being used to describe glass bead curtains. Now bead curtains certainly tinkle like jade, are transparent, are exquisitely wrought, might look like snow in the bright sun, and their movement is nimble. Since it appears in poetry, pretty much anything goes, so I suppose the translator has to try to figure it out from context or commentary, or just make a choice.  

What I have to work with:

马祖常《咏琉璃帘》：“吴侬巧制玉玲珑”

李白《玉阶怨》：“却下水精帘，玲珑望秋月”

温庭筠《菩萨蛮》：“竹风轻动庭除冷，珠帘月上玲珑影”

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