龜茲

See also: 龟兹

Chinese

		phonetic
trad. (龜茲)		龜	茲
simp. (龟兹)		龟	兹

Etymology

First attested in the Book of Han, written in the 2nd century. Apparently corresponds to the endonym of the historical Kucha in Tocharian B *Kuśi, attested in the genitive Kuśiñ and adjective kuśiññe (“pertaining to *Kuśi”), or its more archaic variant (see Adams, 2013, which reconstructs the Proto-Tocharian *kući(ye) proto-form for the adjective). Cf. Niya Prakrit 𐨐𐨂𐨕𐨁𐨪𐨗𐨎𐨨𐨁 (kucirajaṃmi, “kingdom of Kuci”). Adams (ibid.) suggests further etymology from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewk- (“shining, white”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Qiūcí

  (Zhuyin): ㄑㄧㄡ ㄘˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kau¹ ci⁴ / gau¹ ci⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Qiūcí
    • Zhuyin: ㄑㄧㄡ ㄘˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Cioucíh
    • Wade–Giles: Chʻiu¹-tzʻŭ²
    • Yale: Chyōu-tsź
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Chioutsyr
    • Palladius: Цюцы (Cjucy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕʰi̯oʊ̯⁵⁵ t͡sʰz̩³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: kau¹ ci⁴ / gau¹ ci⁴
    • Yale: kāu chìh / gāu chìh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kau¹ tsi⁴ / gau¹ tsi⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: keo¹ qi⁴ / geo¹ qi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɐu̯⁵⁵ t͡sʰiː²¹/, /kɐu̯⁵⁵ t͡sʰiː²¹/

Note: gau1 ci4 - usually avoided for euphemism.

---

• Middle Chinese: kjuw dzi

Rime
Character	龜	茲
Reading #	2/2	1/2
Initial (聲)	見 (28)	從 (15)
Final (韻)	尤 (136)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	居求切	疾之切
Baxter	kjuw	dzi
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kɨu/	/d͡zɨ/
Pan Wuyun	/kiu/	/d͡zɨ/
Shao Rongfen	/kiəu/	/d͡zie/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kuw/	/d͡zɨ/
Li Rong	/kiu/	/d͡ziə/
Wang Li	/kĭəu/	/d͡zĭə/
Bernard Karlgren	/ki̯ə̯u/	/d͡zʱi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jiū	cí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gau1	ci4

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʷɯ  zɯ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	龜
Reading #	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	guī
Middle Chinese	‹ kjuw ›
Old Chinese	/*[k]ʷə/
English	tortoise
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	龜	茲
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	4614	17848
Phonetic component	龜	兹
Rime group	之	之
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	鳩	慈
Old Chinese	/*kʷɯ/	/*zɯ/

Proper noun

龜茲

1. Kucha or Kuchar (an ancient Central Asian city-state that flourished in the first millennium AD, located in modern day Aksu, Xinjiang)

Synonyms

• 庫車／库车 (Kùchē)