User:Fawknerfawk/indagatorium

苴 THE HETERONYMY HELL

This is a record of major changes i made to the Chinese entry of the Han character 苴 (jū).

Difference between the previous version see here.

Merging the first two listed readings

The merging of m=jū, c=zeoi1,ceoi1 and m=jǔ,jū, c=zeoi1,zeoi2 to m=jū,jǔ; c=zeoi1,zeoi2,ceoi1 is because it isn’t feasible to split these readings into two or three separate words in Middle Chinese, let alone etymologies – they're almost definitely variations of the same word. The MC readings in Wiktionary are derived from Guangyun, which provides four readings for 苴, with three relevant here:

#2 t͡sɨʌ, explained as
苞苴。亦姓也……又音疽。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
Bāojū. Yì xìng yě...... Yòu yīn jū. [Pinyin]
In the word 苞苴. Also a surname... Alternative reading 疽.
thus assigned to the surname sense and the word 苞苴. The alternative reading is homophonous to the reading #1 /t͡sʰɨʌ/.
#4 t͡sɨʌ^X, explained as
履中草。子與切，又子余切。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
履中草。子与切，又子余切。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Lǚ zhōng cǎo. Zǐ yǔ qiè, yòu zǐ yú qiè. [Pinyin]
Grass in shoe. The fanqie is 子與, alternatively 子余.
thus assigned to the sense "grass insole; pad in shoe"; the alternative reading is homophonous to the reading #2 /t͡sɨʌ/.
#1 t͡sʰɨʌ, explained as
履中藉。又子魚切。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
履中藉。又子鱼切。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Lǚ zhōng jiè. Yòu zǐ yú qiè. [Pinyin]
Pad in shoe. The alternative fanqie is 子魚.
thus assigned to the sense "grass insole; pad in shoe"; the alternative reading is homophonous to the reading #2 /t͡sɨʌ/.

It seems feasible to separate #2 from #4 and #1 as it does look like it could have a different etymon, while #4 and #1 are evidently variant morphs of the same word; but we do note that no dictionaries do this.

重編國語辭典修訂本 (online ed. 6) gives jǔ for the sense "grass insole; pad in shoe" and jū for "hemp", which is a distinction that Yupian did make, but said distinction seems to have not been consistently made since at least as early as the Tang dynasty.

With the considerations above i group together all definitions associated with these three pronunciations. Note that it is evident that Zhengzhang Shangfang's Old Chinese reconstructions for 苴 are extrapolated from Middle Chinese, so they do not provide any more etymological information than the MC readings.

Moving 苴國 from chá to jū

See this government letter (wayback machine).

Separating character variance and heteronymy

Some readings and definitions clearly arise due to the fact that 苴 can be a variant form of a number of characters. I made those into their own etymologies.

TO-DO

漢語大字典 has two additional readings for 苴, bāo and jiē, that are not covered by the current Wiktionary entry. I do not include them because the source materials that provide these readings are scantily otherwise corroborated, and are either too indiscriminate (like Jiyun) or just poor exegesis that i find hard to believe. I list what 漢語大字典 has for them here:

bāo 集韻班交切，平肴幫。
古民族名，巴人的一支。史記‧張儀列傳：“苴、蜀相攻擊，各來告急於秦。”裴駰集解引徐廣曰：“譙周曰益州‘天苴’讀為‘包黎’之‘包’，音與‘巴’相近，以為今之巴郡。”司馬貞索隱：“苴，音巴。謂巴蜀之夷自相攻擊也。”華陽國志‧巴志：“其屬有濮、賨、苴、共、奴、獽、夷蜑之蠻。”

jiē 集韻咨邪切，平麻精。
菜壤。集韻‧麻韻：“苴，菜壤也。”
猎场。集韻‧麻韻：“苴，獵場。”