ETYMOLOGICALDICTIONARY OF

ABC

OLD CHINESE

Axel Schuessler

ABC CHINESE DICTIONARY SERIES Victor H. Mair, General Editor The ABC Chinese Dictionary Series aims to provide a complete set of convenient and reliable reference tools for all those who need to deal with Chinese words and characters. A unique feature of the series is the adoption of a strict alphabetical order, the fastest and most user-friendly way to look up words in a Chinese dictionary. Most volumes contain graphically oriented indices to assist in finding characters whose pronunciation is not known. The ABC dictionaries and compilations rely on the best expertise available in China and North America and are based on the application of radically new strategies for the study of Sinitic languages and the Chinese writing system, including the first clear distinction between the etymology of the words, on the one hand, and the evolution of shapes, sounds, and meanings of characters, on the other. While aiming for conciseness and accuracy, series volumes also strive to apply the highest standards of lexicography in all respects, including compatibility with computer technology for information processing.

Other titles in the series

ABC Chinese-English Dictionary (desk reference and pocket editions) Edited by John DeFrancis ABC Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs Edited by John S. Rohsenow ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary Edited by John DeFrancis A Handbook of'Phags-pa Chinese W. South Coblin

ABC EtYDlological Dictionary of Old ChineseAxel Schuessler

University of Hawai'i Press Honolulu

CONTENTSPREFACE .................................................................................................................. xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... xiii ARRANGEMENT OF THE DICTIONARY ................................................................. xv SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................ xvii OLD CHINESE AND ETyMOLOGy ........................................................... 1 Chinese .................................................................................................... 1 Sources of Old Chinese ............................................................................... 1 Old Chinese and its linguistic neighbors ........................................................ 1 Chinese and Sino-Tibetan ............................................................................ 2 Tibeto-Burnlan languages ............................................................................ 3 Miao-Yao .................................................................................................. 3 Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai .................................................................................. 3 Austroasiatic ............................................................................................ 4 Vietnamese ............................................................................................... 4 "Northern" Austroasiatic ............................................................................ 5 Summary ................................................................................................. 5 Old Chinese dialects .................................................................................. 6 Rural dialects ............................................................................................ 7 The study of Old Chinese etymology ............................................................ 7 Approaches to word families and cognates .................................................... 8 Approaches to etymology through the graph .................................................. 9 Identification of cognates ............................................................................ 9 The present approach ................................................................................ 10 MORPHOLOGY AND WORD DERIVATION ........................................... 12 Grammatical relations in Old Chinese ......................................................... 12 "Vord order ..................................... , ....................................................... 12 Word class ............................................................................................. 12 Derivation and word class ......................................................................... 14 Types of derivations and allofams ............................................................. 14 Sino-Tibetan morphology ........................................................................... 15 The nature of Sino-Tibetan affixation ......................................................... 15 Sino-Tibetan morphemes ............................................................................ 16 Morphemes in Old Chinese ........................................................................ 17 Historical layers of morphemes in Old Chinese ........................................... 17 Suffixes in Old Chinese ............................................................................. 17 Sino-Tibetan prefixes in Old Chinese ........................................................... 18 Infixation ................................................................................................ 19 Parallel roots and stems ............................................................................ 20 Parallel stems of 'swell' ............................................................................ 20 Austroasiatic morphology in Old Chinese ................................................... 22 Austroasiatic infixes in Old Chinese ........................................................... 22 Austroasiatic word families in Old Chinese ................................................. 23 Expressives, reduplication ......................................................................... 24 Non-morphological word formation ............................................................ 25

1.1 1.1.1 1.2 1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.2.4 1.2.5

1.2.61.2.7

1.2.8J.3 1.3.1 1.4 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.4.3 1.4.4 2 2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.2 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.2 2.4.3 2.4.4 2.5 2.5.1 2.6 2.6.1 2.6.2 2.7 2.8

v

CONTENTS2.8.1 2.8.2 2.8.3 2.8.4 2.9 2. 10 3 3.1 3.2 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3 3.4 3.5 4 4.1 4.1.1 4.2 4.2.1 4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.4 4.4.1 4.5 4.5.1 4.6 4.6.1 5 5.1 5. I. 1 5.2 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4 5.3 5.4 5.5 Re-analysis .............................................................................................. 25 Backformation, re-cutting ......................................................................... 25 Metathesis ............................................................................................... 26 Convergence ........................................................................................... 26 Meaning and sound ................................................................................... 27 Semantic extension .................................................................................. 27 MC TONES AND THEIR OLD CHINESE EQUIVALENTS ........................ 29 Middle Chinese tone A (pfngsheng 4L~) ..................................................... 29 Middle Chinese tone B (shangsheng J:.~): phonology ..................................... 30 Tone B from Sino-Tibetan *-7 ..................................................................... 30 Tone B for Tibeto-Burman final *-k ........................................................... 31 ST *-7 in closed syllables ........................................................................... 32 Tone B for foreign final -I] ........................................................................ 32 Tone B as morpheme ................................................................................ 33 Tone B (1): terms for body parts and humans ............................................... 33 Tone B (2): co verbs and particles ............................................................... 34 Tone B (3): independent pronouns .............................................................. 34 Middle Chinese tone C (qusheng *~): phonology ......................................... 35 Tone C: later OC general purpose morpheme ................................................ 36 Tones B, C, and voicing: direction and diathesis ........................................... 38 Direction and diathesis ............................................................................ 38 Direction and diathesis in Old Chinese ........................................................ 40 Tone C (qusheng two morphological functions .................................... 41 The Sino-Tibetan sources of tone C ............................................................ 42 Tone C (1): exoactive derivation ................................................................. 42 Tone C: exoactive extrovert, ditransitive ............................................... 43 Tone C: exoactive transitive, causative I putative .................................... 44 Residue .................................................................................................. 45 Tone C (2): exopassive derivation ............................................................... 45 Exopassive as a transitive verb ................................................................... 46 Tone B (shfmgsheng l:~): endoactive derivation .......................................... 46 Tone B: endoactive nouns .......................................................................... 48 Voicing of the initial consonant: endopassive derivation ................................ 48 Residue ................................................................................................. 50 INITIAL CONSONANTS .......................................................................... 51 Devoiced initials ...................................................................................... 51 Devoicing of ST initial *z-> Me s-............................................................ 51 Sino-Tibetan *s-prefix .............................................................................. 52 Causative s-prefix > Middle Chinese S- ........................................................ 52 Causative s-prefix > MC voiceless initial. .................................................... 52 Iterative s-prefix > MC S-, ~-, voiceless initial. ............................................ 53 Nouns with *8- > MC S-, voiceless initial. .................................................... 54 Devoicing and PTB *r-.............................................................................. 55 ST and PCII *k- ....................................................................................... 56 Other sources of devoicing ....................................................................... 56VI

CONTENTS

5.65.7

5.8

5.8.1 5.8.2 5.8.35.8.4

5.8.5 5.8.65.8.7 5.9 5.9.1

5.9.2 5.9.3 5.9.45.10 5.10.1

5.10.2 5.10.35.10.45.10.5 5.11

5.125.12.1 5.12.2 5.12.3

MC initial x- from voiceless acute initials ................................................... 57 MC affricates from *s + stop consonant ..................................................... 58 Aspirated initial consonants ...................................................................... 58 MC aspiration: loss of ST pre-initial. .......................................................... 58 MC aspiration: causative .......................................................................... 59 MC aspiration: iterative ........................................................................... 59 MC aspiration: auxiliary verbs .................................................................. 60 Aspiration: outward and / or forceful motion .............................................. 60 Aspiration: hollow, empty ......................................................................... 61 Aspiration in foreign words ....................................................................... 61 Aspiration from PCH consonant clusters .................................................... 61 MC ts", from *k-s- and *s-7- ..................................................................... 61 MC tsh- from s + voiceless sonorant. .......................................................... 62 MC tshj- from OC clusters *k-hl-................................................................ 62 MC aspiration from other types of PCH initial clusters ................................. 63 Reflexes of Mon-Khmer affricates in Chinese ............................................. 63 MK c, j = MC affricates ........................................................................... 63 MK c, j = MC retroflex affricates .............................................................. 63 MK cr-, jr- = MC retroflex affricates ......................................................... 64 MK c, j = MC tsj-, tj-, etc. from OC *t(r)j- .............................................. 64 MK c, j = velar initials k, 9 ...................................................................... 65 MC 7- from foreign kl-type clusters ............................................................ 65 Nasal initials ........................................................................................... 65 I](W)- - nw- ............................................................................................ 65 Chinese m- for TB and foreign b- ............................................................... 65 Austroasiatic nasal infix ........................................................................... 67 FINAL CONSONANTS ............................................................................. 68 Final *-k ................................................................................................. 68 k-extension ............................................................................................ 69 Suffix -k: distributive ............................................................................... 70 Final -t ................................................................................................... 70 Nouns with final -t ................................................................................... 70 Final *(t)8 with grammatical words ...................................................... 72 Final -t foreign final -s ........................................................................... 72 Final -8 ................................................................................................... 72 Final-n .................................................................................................. 72 Final -in / -it .. , ........................................................................................ 72 Final *-un froln *-Ul] ................................................................................ 74 Nominalizing suffix -n ............................................................................. 74 Final -n with verbs .................................................................................... 75 Pronominal final -n .................................................................................. 76 Final -l) ................................................................................................... 76 Final -l) as a morpheme: terminative ........................................................... 76 Final -l) and open syllables ......................................................................... 76 Final stop consonant - nasal ...................................................................... 77 Dissimilation with labial finals -p / -m ...................................................... 77 OC final -i ............................................................................................ 78 Absence of final consonant after long vowel.. .............................................. 79VII

66.1 6.1.1 6.1.2

6.26.2.1 6.2.2

6.2.3 6.36.4 6.4.1 6.4.2

6.4.3 6.4.4 6.4.5

6.56.5.1

6.5.26.66.7

6.8 6.9

CONTP.JTS7 7.1 7.1.1 7.1.2 7.1.3 7.1.4 7.1.5 7.2 7.2.1 7.2.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.6.1 7.6.2 7.7 7.7.1 7.7.2 7.7.3 7.7.4 7.7.5 8 8.1 8.1.1 8.1.2 8.1.3 8.1.4 8.1.5 8.2 8.2.1 8.2.2 8.3 9 9.1 9.1.1 9.1.2 9.1.3 9.1.4 9.2 9.2.1 OLD CHINESE AND FOREIGN *r .......................................................... 80 OC *r as reflected in MC initial consonants ................................................ 80 MCinitiall- ............................................................................................ 80 OC voiceless *r-....................................................................................... 81 MC retroflex initials ................................................................................. 81 MC initial IP lui 33 'to flow'. FIRST LINE

pinyfn

( ... ) LH

S OCM

transcription of Mandarin, followed by the Chinese character(s) Z1:=f:. When no character exists (as is often the case with colloquial dialect forms) an empty box D takes its place. Middle Chinese (MC) or Qieyun system (QYS), ca. AD 600. See 12.l. Later Han Chinese (also LHan) of the I st and 2nd century AD. See 12.1.l. In the text, LHan is usually placed in brackets, thus [ka] = LHan ko unless otherwise identified. alternate Old South form of LHan, as revealed by later southern, usually MIn, dialects. Minimal Old Chinese form (starred items). See 12.1.2. For comparison, Baxter's OC (OCB) is ocasionally also supplied.

SECOND LINE Gloss not a complete definition of a word. Glosses are mostly taken from, or are based on, Karlgren's GSR, Schuessler's DEZ, Gildiii Hanyu cidian edited Chen Fuhua fl*![W (Beijing 1999), and the ZhOng wen dflcfdiflIl r::p X 111 brackets, the text in which the CH word is first attested, e.g., [Shi] = occurs first in the text ShiJfng, which implies that the word existed already by 600 BC or earlier. For abbreviations, see p. xvii ff.

[ ... ]

xv

ARRANGEMENT OF THE DICTIONARY

THIRD LINE and subsequent lines [ 'developed into, becomes'. < 'derives from an earlier form I from an earlier stage of a language'. .... cross-reference to other dictionary entries. Less common pronunciations of a character can easily be located under a better-known cognate: thus s1 is because si not separately entered in the dictionary with a reference to .... sf can be found under its better-known simplex sf -> 'loaned to'. < [ flower / pleasure garden'. Or consider Tai lU8I] 'royal'; it reflects the Khmer word lU;:}I] 'king' and has no (direct?) connection with Chinese .... huang ~ 'august, royal'. An example of a KT word in OC is chan }. *dran 'farm, farmyard', from Tai: Siamese B8n A2 < *rtan A , Kam-Sui (PKS) *hra:n l 'house'.1.2.5 Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic (AA) language family is unrelated to ST and Chinese. AA languages fall into two major groups: Munda (exclusively on the Indian subcontinent); and Mon-Khmer (MK) scattered over Assam, Southeast Asia, and SW China and includes the Mon language in Burma, and Khmer in Cambodia. As only MK languages could have left traces in China, the terms MK and AA are often synonymous here. AA loans have been identified in TB languages such as Lepcha (Forrest 1948) and in languages in Assam such as the Tani group (1. Sun LTBA 16:2, 1993: 165); AA lexical material is also encountered in Lushai (in this dictionary), in the TB Kanauri-Almora language Raji (Sharma 1990, vol. III, part II: 170-228), as well as transparent Khasi loans in Mikir. MK influence in Old Chinese and ST has also received some attention (Shorto 1972; Ferlus 1998; LTBA 22:2, 1999: 1-20; Schuessler 2003; 2004; studies by Norman and Mei). Languages from at least two AA branches or layers have contributed to prehistoric and perhaps early historic Chinese: an early Viet-Muong language similar to Vietnamese (that may be called 'Viet-Yue') (1.2.6) and a language (or languages) in the Yellow River basin that shows affinities to the modern Khmer and Khmu branches of MK, and on occasion also to Mon ( 1.2.7). Purely historical and philological considerations also point to the prehistoric and early historic presence of AA in parts of northern China. The ancient Yi 5& people, who lived in the east from the Shandong peninsula south to the Yangtze, were probably AA (Pulleyblank 1983: 440ft). The ancient Yue IflR people in Zhejiang were certainly AA; the place Langye In Shandong was their traditional cultural center (Yue jue shU; Eberhard 1968: 414ft). Under the year 645 BC, the Zuozhuan quotes a line from the famous Yijing where we find the AA word for 'blood', huang *hmaIJ (PAA *mham or the like) substituted for the usual ST etymon xue Ifll (Mei 1980). The deliberations in which context this line is quoted and apparently understood by all participants took place north of the Yellow River in today's Shanxi. Huang cannot have been a CH innovation, rather it must have been a survival from an earlier substrate language that was replaced by a ST layer, i.e., 'Chinese' as we know it. When pursuing OC and TB / ST etyma down to their apparent roots, one often seems to hit AA bedrock, that is, a root shared with AA. 1.2.6 Vietnamese In addition to the significant influx of Chinese loans from antiquity to more recent times, Vietnamese has incorporated a large contingent of Tai words (Maspero 1912: 115). A language close to Vietnamese was spoken in SE China as late as the Han period by the ancient Yue IflRJJJ people (Yue OC *wat, the 'Viet' in Vietnam); it left a residue of Viet-Yue words in the modern Min dialects in Fuji~tn province (see articles by Norman and Mei, also quoted in Schuessler 2004). Early Chinese commentators have stated that the words zM 1L 'epidemic' and sou j! 'dog' are from the ancient Vue language (Pulleyblank 1983: 438f), but these might

4

OLD CHINESE AND ETYMOLOGY

1.2.7 - 1.2.8

have come from "northern" AA instead (see L2.7); Han period scholars merely noted the similarity with the Yue words of which they happened to be aware. Unlike the later MIn dialects, OC does not include many words that compel us to conclude that the source was specifically Viet-Yue.

1.2.7 "Northern" Austroasiatie An AA substrate ("AA-OC") contributed a significant number of AA words as well as fragments of AA morphology to prehistoric and subsequent CH (2.6; S.l 0). MK words gradually trickled from a substrate into mainstream ST-based OC over hundreds or thousands of years, so that layers and various MK sources can be discerned. The earliest, prehistoric layer of AA items is already encountered in the language of the first written records, the OB (1250-1050 BC); OC borrowings from this remote past occasionally do not agree very closely with MK phonologically (though in a regular fashion). For example, ehU ~ *tshro 'hay' vs. PMonic *ksJ::)Y (cL below), hli J"jft *hlii? 'tiger' vs. PMK *kla? More "recent" items (found in BI, ShJlfng, and then later texts) agree more closely with AA *tshoih 'hay' vs. PMonic *kS:XlY (cL above),jiang I *kroI] 'river' vs. forms, e.g., cuo j PMonic *krooI]. Many such OC words appear to be very similar to Khmer. This does not mean that the MK substrate was Khmer, but only that Khmer happens to have preserved (and / or scholars happen to have provided) data that provide suggestive comparisons with OC, just as the great number of Tibetan OC comparative sets reflect more on the availability of Tibetan data, but not necessarily on a close historic relationship. 1.2.8 Summary The OC lexicon has many sources (Schuessler 2003). A few sample ST vs. non-ST words follow, to provide an impression (for details and explanations consult the dictionary entries):Animals: ST words: 'ox' gang ~MJ, 'dog' quan ,*, 'rhinoceros' Xf~, 'horse' rna 'fowl' y~m ~ (quail), 'louse' shfIR, 'muntjac' jr Non-ST words: 'elephant' xiang 'dog' gou jt], 'buffalo' SI %, 'chicken' jf~tt 'tiger' hil JJf" 'pig' tuan -?k, 'pig' shl~, 'small deer' zhi ~ Body parts: ST: 'head' yuan ]C, 'head' shOu 'eye'mu ,'hair' shan !i~, 'fern. breast' ril !fL, 'bitter I liver' xfn $, 'forehead' e:m, 'blood' xue Ifn Non-ST: 'gall' dan 'forehead' sang ~&, 'blood' huang itii Others: ST: 'root' ben 7fs:, 'forest' lin ~*, 'firewood' xfn iff, 'house' jia 'temple' zong 'day' rl 'year' nian 'breath' Xl 'eat I meal' can Non-ST: 'root' gen fIt 'forest' lu 'palace' gong 0'L 'farm' chan . , 'temple' miao~, 'moon' (goddess) heng-e ~g~ft 'year' ren f~, 'breath' qi ~, 'eat / meal' xiang timJ Numerals and grammatical words generally are ST: 'two' er 'copula' wei 'behind' bOu Of uncertain provenance: 'Wood' mil 'mountain' shan !lJ, 'flower' hua

a,

*,

=,

*,

5

1.3

OLD CHINESE AND ETYMOLOGY

1.3 Old Chinese dialects Languages which are spread over large areas and mountainous terrain naturally devclop regional varieties; stratified societies also exhibit differences in speech along class lines. The OC language of the Shang and Zhou period and subsequent Classical Chinese was a standardized written language without noticeable regional flavors. The Chinese script would have hidden differences in pronunciation that might have existed, just as today B 'day' is read r1 in Mandarin, j'et in Cantonese. Yet one catches a few glimpses of language variation within OC when comparing the Shl]ihg rimes, the phonetic series and the later Middle Chinese (MC) as reflected in the Qii:~yiln dictionary (AD 60 I) as well as modern dialects. First, in the Qieyiln and modern dialects, as well as in the OC phonetic series there are certain words with the OC analogue rimes *-el] such as ming -is 'name' which had in the Shl}ihg the rime *-in. The ST rimes *-iIJ I *-ik became either *-eIJ / *-ek or *-in I *-it in OC; which way a word went depended presumably on the dialect. Thus we find for ST I *-ik the OC rime *-el) I *-ek: ming -is 'name', ming q~ 'to sound', ming Pl1 'order', sheng 'live'; *tsit'masonry'. but xTn Jfr 'firewood'!

1-1not not not have not have name dark night green green mother go-between!

ST

Later South

QYS/MC

Shijing *00> bU1'

I -*rna*rna

*00 >bu

/f

-*ma >wu ~--

-*mal)? > wang I~J.-..--..

-....

*r-mil] *mil) (MK mal]) *C-sel]

*mial)

*mel) > ming

;g

*min

;g5't W

*mel) > ming ~*maI]

*mel) > ming

*mel] > ming *tshel) > qfng

1>1

*~el) > mfng ~~

*tsbag

W

*tshel) > qfng

*tshal) > cang i~ *mo MK dm;:lj *m6? > mil

*tshal) > cang ?~ *mS1>mu

J:

ro

*m~>mei~

*m~>mei ~

Secondly, OC labial-initial syllables of the type *Pd and *Po merged into *Pd in the Shl]ihg dialect(s) and the phonetic series, but remained distinct in the Qieyun and modern dialects (Baxter 1992); for exampJe, we have the Mandarin readings mei :ffJ: 'each' vs. mum 'mother' (same phonetic, same Shl]I'ng rime). Finally, a strain of OC must have retained ST *ma in the meaning 'not' because it is preserved in modern southern dialects, but does not exist in Shang and Western Zhou texts, apart from an occasional occurrence in classical texts. Table 1-1 illustrates these and additional differences within ~C. Choice of words in individual texts often shows particular preferences that may be due to *ge 'how' instead dialects. For example, in theZuozhuan :tL1t we find the interrogative xI' of M{aJ *gai. In some chapters of the Shujfng the words for 'you' and 'your' are ril and niU J'J respectively; in others, the word for both 'you' and 'your' is er Later texts replace words common in earlier ones, e.g., the OB, BI, and some parts of the Shljfng and

m.

6

OLD CHINESE AND ETYMOLOGY

1.3.1

104

Shiijrnghave the word wang *mal)? for 'not have, there is no'; only near the end of the ~ *ma. Western Zhou period is it replaced by the familiar These and similar phenomena suggest a language that is far from uniform, but we cannot tell whether these are individual preferences, or class or regional distinctions, nor if the latter, from which regions.

wu

1.3.1

Rural dialects

Additional phonological oddities in OC may also be the result of dialectal differences. MC and, by backward projection, OC, has multiple phonological correspondences for what one surmises ought to be a single OC phonological configuration. Words with rare and unusual features typically have meanings with a rustic or vulgar flavor. We will, therefore, for now call this strain (or strains) 'Rural' as opposed to 'Standard', i.e., literary OC. The following phonological peculiarities may be identified as Rural: (1) OC voiceless initials *r-, *1-, and *n- are normally reflected in MC coronal th_, j-, and, in the case of *r-, in MC {h_, (5.1). However, in a few words such a voiceless continuant has yielded MC X-, xj-, and its equivalents in modern dialects. This unexpected development to a guttural initial is found in words that relate to ordinary, especially rural, life; they include words for: beard, to face / toward, ribs (of a horse), to know, to vomit, to rear animals, stupid, to roar, tiger, pig (5.6). To differentiate the two developments of voiceless initials, we will write OCM *Ih-, *nh-, *rh- for MC th_, j-, etc., but OCM *hn-, *hl-, *hr- when it is the aspiration that survives as MC X-. Of course, voiceless *hl)-, *hm-, and *hw- regularly yield MC x-, thus any voiceless initial that shows up as x- in MC is written in OCM with the *hpreceding the sonorant (2) Standard OC and foreign initial *1- (> MC ji-), or *1 in the initial, have in some words merged with *r- (> MC J-). This might be another Rural feature; examples in 7.3 include: salt, turtle, grain I to sow, bamboo. The *1 = Rural OC *r equation is often encountered in loans from non-ST languages, e.g., eel, splint hat, barrier I bolt, descend, frost; or the confusion of laterals may be due to the late date of borrowing in either direction. (3) Some non-ST words with initial *kl- have MC initial t- which may have been *tl- in OC. Such words include: Carry dan it [tom] 'to carryon the shoulder' AA: Khmu? kJam 'carryon the shoulder'

For more examples and comments, see 8.2.1. (4) MC initialljj- and tj- stand in a few correspondence sets for a foreign initial r, or r in combination with labial or velar consonants (7.lo4). The semantic range of such items conjures up a rural sphere: farm, pheasant, old man, to fall, bamboo, sickle, wrist, etc. (5) Some modern southern dialects have in their colloquial layers the vowel a for standard e. This trend seems to be foreshadowed in some OC words which have the vowel a also for foreign e or i; see Table I 1 above, and 11.1.3.

1.4

The study of Old Chinese etymology

A Chinese word may have one of several origins: (1) It can have been inherited from the hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language when it has cognates among the related TibetoBurman languages. (2) It can be a loan from another language, or can have survived from an earlier substrate (Miao-Yao, Kam-Tai, Austroasiatic / Man-Khmer). (3) It can be the result of

7

104.1

OLD CHINESE AND ETYMOLOGY

internal innovation, i.e., word derivation by morphology, internal borrowing from dialects, or phonological change. A word is usually assumed to be genetically related to another because of transparent or impressionistic phonological and semantic similarity. The range of sound alternations within an OC wf will be suggested throughout the introductory sections. Members of a wf, i.e., 'allofams' (Matisoff's term, alias 'cogeners') typically differ in tone, initial voicing (e.g., *kens 'to see' ~E *gens 'appear'), and / or the Middle Chinese division (deng ~, i.e., vocalism, e.g., MC kfilJvs. kjaI]; see 9.1). Occasionally, they also differ in the vowel, in initial consonant(s) or final consonant. Since much concerning ST and Chinese morphology is still not well understood, the terms 'wf' and 'allofam' are often fuzzy but conventional catch-all categories. For *riim? 'to see' example, it seems obvious that the wordsjian *krams 'look at' and l!m are related, but what the difference in later tones and the presence I absence of an initial *kmight have entailed is so far a matter of speculation. On the other hand, we can confidently state that zhJ *t;,kh or *t;,ks, literally 'something that has been woven', is a regular exopassive derivation from zhd~ *t;,k 'to weave'. We consider bothjian and l!in, and zhTand zhi to be allofams in their respective word families.

1.4.1 Approaches to wordfamilies and cognates Investigators have differed significantly over the range of sound alternations within a word family. Karlgren (1933) allows for a broad range: a word family could have a final of the type N-, or P-, etc. where T-K, -T, or -P, etc. in conjunction with the initial consonant type K-, includes any acute initial consonant, i.e., any which is not a guttural or labial. For instance, his wf with items 242-262 (1933: 69) has a root T -K and includes the following words (Karlgren's 'archaic Chinese', i.e., OC; in parentheses OCM):yang [~ *dial) (*lal)) 'light' 3~ zhao time' XIng Ji *siel) (*sel) 'star'

*

Wd *tiog (*tau) 'bright' ~~ zhbu ~ *tiog (*trukh) 'day

In this proposed wf, the OC initials, as understood today (Baxter), are *1-, *t-, *s-; the vowels are *a, *au (OCB *-aw), *e, *u; the finals are *-l), *-k, *-V (vowel). The TB cognate for yang is *lal) (e.g., WB iaI]B'be brighf), zhOu is clearly cognate to WT gdugs g-duk-s) 'midday, noon'. These two TB items are certain ly not related. Therefore, Karlgren' s phonological parameters are much too broad. Cognates usually share the same rime and initial consonant type. However, in many instances an obvious cognate has a different final or rime. or initial variation outside the normal spectrum. LaPolla (see 6) has dedicated a study to ST rimes and finals. In order not to go off in all directions, investigators prefer to keep to a given rime and allow the initials to vary, or keep to one category of initials and then allow for variations in finals. Wang U (1958: 542-545) provides examples for both approaches: same initial but different rimes (such as the negatives with initial *m-), and same rime but different initials (such as rime *-al) 'bright'). Or note a wf proposed by Pulleyblank (1973: 121) (traditional MC forms in parentheses): rau (nzj::lu) ~~ ruan (nzjwanB) ~~ nuo il~ (nzju. nzjwiinB, nuan C ) ~~ ruo (nzjak), all meaning 'soft', but he has not included ren ff (nzj;,m B) 'soft'. Wang U (1982) splits this particular group into one with a tendency toward final velars, and one with final dentals. Thus the set ril m1 (nzjwoB) ~~ rulm (nzjwanB) nen, nun (p. 571) is distinct from rau (nzj to think 'It > be kind

1:t

Formally, wei .~~ *Wg(t)s 'to tell, call' seems to fit the "irrealis" pattern (6.2.2), looking like a derivation from you *wg7 'there is, have', but it is not clear if there is an etymological connection and how the semantic leap came about.

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3

MIDDLE CHINESE TONES AND THEIR OLD CHINESE EQUIVALENTS

='even' or 'level' tone), tone B MC and LHan had three tones: tone A (pfngsheng (shlingsheng = 'rising' tone), and tone C (qusheng 'falling' or 'departing' tone), and, according to traditional Chinese phonological analysis, tone D (rusheng A~ = 'entering' tone) for words which end in a stop consonant (p, t, k), i.e., this short-stopped syllable type was toneless. These tonal categories are projected back to OC where tone A is thought to have been an open syllable or one ending in a nasal, tone B marked a syllable with a glottal stop in the final (or a glottolized syllable), and tone C a syllable with final *-s I *-h. Tones A and D are usually left unmarked as this causes no ambiguity. OC probably had no "tones" in the later sense but instead segmental phonemes. Nevertheless, we will here apply the term 'tone' also to OC in the sense of "later tonal category" for the sake of clarity and to sidestep arguments about their OC phonetic nature. Because MC tones are projected back to identical ones in LHan, subsequently examples will often be cited in simpler LHan forms. All three tones can belong either to a root or stem, or play some morphological role. The most common morphological tones are B shlingsheng and C qusheng. which together with initial voicing form a derivational system which marks direction and diathesis (4). The contrast between allofams in the three different tones is exemplified by the following paradigm, where the form in tone A is the simplex, the derivation in tone B is endoactive (4.5), and the derivation in tone C is exopassive (4.4) (LHan after the graph):zhf tSg, *tg zhl 11::. tSgB, *tg? zhl ;~ tSgC, "'tgh 'to go, proceed' 'foot' 'that which is doing the going') 'goal, purpose' 'what is being proceeded to')

3.1 Middle Chinese tone A (pfngsheng :SV:~) Tone A ('even' or 'level' tone) reflects OC open syllables or ones with a nasal coda; they are assumed to be the basic unmarkd type and usually go back to equivalent ST forms, e.g., qii] IT [khU A ] *khwg 'village' 3. Lushai khua H < khua. However, individual languages, including CH, frequently have attached final consonants to open ST stems, e.g., biii S [pakJ *prak 'hundred' vs. WT brgya, WB d-ra A . The rare tone A 'derivations' are nouns from stems that have an inherent tone B, tone C, or a final stop consonant. The original mechanism may have been re-analysis (2.8). Rain yu [wa B] 'rain' > yu ~ [wa A ] 'sacrifice with prayer for rain''Rain' yu is a widely attested ST word; it can be set up as ST *wa? (with final glottal stop) on the strength of Kuki-Chin and Chepang forms in addition to Me. This rules out the possibility that 'rain' is a tone B derivation from 'sacrifice for rain', which would also be semantically implausible. However, elsewhere tone B can be a morpheme which creates or marks endoactive verbs or words (4.5); 'to rain' fits this pattern, so that tone B may have been felt to be this morpheme rather than part of the root. 'Sacrifice for rain' was then created as a back formation by removal of the alleged suffix tone B.

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3.2 - 3.2.1

TONES

Additional tone A derivations include the following items (LH forms after the character): Slave Wine-master Writing slip Tally Side by side Corpsexi ~ > xf

geC ge tsiu B dziu pian B phian buoc buo beIJB ben siB 8i

'to be bound' 'slave, captive' 'wine' 'wine-master' 'narrow' 'writing slip' 'to adjoin' 'a tally' 'side by side' 'two (horses) side by side' 'to display' 'corpse, personator of a dead'

jill f@ >qiu @ bian ..Fm! > pian fil Ilf;j > ftl r-0= bing :ill[ ., ~ > pIan "" shr > shf

p

In 'Corpse' the derivation process could also have been the reverse. In a few cognate sets, tone A may be the result of loss of a final consonant, as in: Bones he ~ [gek] 'kernel fruit' - hai ~ [gd] 'bones, skeleton'.

He is a ST etymon: WT rag 'fruit stone, bead', Mikir rak 'fruit stone'; therefore he was theoriginal form from which hiii was derived.

3.2 Middle Chinese tone B (sMngsheng phonology MC tone B probably derives from an OC *-? In some modern dialects tone B ends with glottal constriction (Branner 2000: 119) - note Min-Songyang pup? ('measure for books' ren :;$:; Branner 2000: 344). Glottal stop after nasal codas is also shown by variants like xJ;5t [seiBJ[senB] 'to wash', as well as Shi]fng rimes such as *-an? / *-a? (Shi 30 I). *-UIJ? / *-u? (Shi 264,7); some rimes confirm that the phoneme in question was a stop consonant: *-ap J *-am? (Shi 265,3) and *-et / *-en? (Shi 265,5). The glottal feature can, however, appear elsewhere, e.g., in the middle of a syllable (Sagart 1999: 132, n. I: XHiOYl dialect in Shanxi). Tone B seems to be a weakened variant offinal-kin some words (3.2.2).

3.1.1 Tone Bfrom Sino-Tibetan *-? Tone B can be part of the root. In some words it goes back to the ST level because some OC open syllable words with tone B correspond to Kuki-Chin and Chepang words, which are also reconstructible with a final glottal stop (Chepang still has final -1). The first several items in the list below are taken from Ostapirat (LTBA 21:1,1998: 238f) with WB and LHan forms added. The agreement in final *-? is particularly persuasive because the first seven items have been selected without Chinese in mind. Tiddim and Lushai tones sometimes split according to vowel length or timbre (hence Lushai tones F(alling), R(ising), L(ow) < *-7); the corresponding Tiddim Chin tone is I; LHan forms follow the graph:Bird Child Water Tiddim va: l ta: 1 tu:i 1 Lushai F va faF < faa? tui R Chepang waf co? ti? LHan yu )j)J waB tsi;;,B zi tl 1~ theiBJc

30

TONES Tail Fire Bitter Rain To plant Blood Eat Nine Itch mei l meil xa:' gua?4 tu7 4 si: 1 mel R mel kha L I khakF rua7 L tu7 L thi R fak R kua < kua7 za I zat LR

3.2.2 wei fIg hUQ ko yo shu tM sUI fi jo all jiU 11 yang muiB huajB kha B wo B dzo B *-7), but the interchange *-k - *-7 may also have other causes; therefore we hesitate to set up clusters like *-k7. The same correspondences are encountered in Tai and AA loans (one way or the other; LH after the graph): Cover Fall down Mortar Siam. pOkDIS < *p- 'to cover, book cover' bao [pou B] *pu? 'preserve, protect' Siam. tokD1S < *t- 'fall down' dao 1i~ [tou B] *tau7 'turn over, fall' Siam. k hrokD2S 'mortar' jiu [gu B] *gu? 'mortar'31

3.2.3 - 3.2.4 Pig Down, below Drip PMonic *cliik 'pig' shr ~ [seB] *lhe?? 'pig'

TONES

Khmer gra 'ka Igrak/ 'to be low' xia T [gaB] *grii? 'down, below' Khmer sra 'ka Israk/ 'drip' xu 1~ [~a(B)] *sra? 'to drip'

However, TB final *-k for a Chinese open syllable does also occur, an often cited example, though of debatable etymology, is 'pig': ba ~~ [pal < *pra ? 3~ PTB *pak, but see 6.9.3.2.3 ST *-7 in closed syllables TB final *-? and *-s in closed syllables (i.e., those ending in a nasal or lateral) have no systematic tonal correspondence in Chinese. The following cognate sets are typical:

Gloss To steal Thin Give Go around

Tiddim gu: 1