I check the word mandarin in the web http://www.dictionary.com/, here is the definition:
(in the Chinese Empire) a member of any of the nine ranks of publicofficials, each distinguished by a particular kind of button worn on the cap.
As a native Chinese speaker, it was the first time for me to know such definition about mandarin.
If you are a Chinese learner, would you like to share the definition of mandarin from you teachers or text books?
In this discussion, I don't mean the spoken Chinese. I mean I don't know mandarin refer to the officials of Chinese Empire.
On a side note, a lot of English/ Chinese translations of court officials don't really translate well. In Chinese, court official ranks have a lot more meaning stacked into it, which doesn't mirror well with similar court titles in Western civilization. You take for example the title "Emperor" in East Asia and compare that to, say, the Roman Emperor. The Roman Emperor is techically "First Citizen of the State", and will also visit a public bath and mingle with ordinary folks in town. I'll leave the historical details to experts on the matter- but you can already see these translations are a matter of convenience, and leaves a incorrect impression that there is no difference between the two titles.
I think Caesar himself would turn green with envy if he saw how his contemporary lives over the other side of the globe.
This word "Mandarin" is a blanket term how Western sources refer to any Chinese official in the past. Looking at the dictionary's definition, it seems to be either Portuguese or Malay in origin. But it is so rarely used these days, you can practically forget about it.
These days, the noun "Mandarin" is limited to either a fruit or the common name for the Chinese language. No one I know uses "Mandarin" to describe anything else.
If I realllly want to use an English word to describe a Chinese official in the past, I would probably just use "court official".
