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Yancai or Jiangcai?�A Case Study of Word Reinterpretation in Middle Chinese Literature

Yao Zhang

Cornell University

03/22/2024

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Content

  • General problem of word interpretation in Middle Chinese literature

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  • Case study: Reinterpretation of a ghost word jiangcai

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(For all the examples and the slides, see https://github.com/Yeheyinyan/AOS234_Talk_YaoZhang.git)

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General problem

in Middle Chinese philology

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General philological problem

In MC literature, words blur due to…

    • misinterpretation in lexical semantics

(caused by diachronic change and dialectal difference)

    • miswritten/misread characters

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How to recover?

Blurring words can be recovered by referring to …

    • contexts and conventional expressions
    • parallel text (contemporaneous/later, same/other languages)
    • alternative interpretations with similar characters/sounds

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How to recover?

Blurring words can be recovered by referring to …

    • contexts and conventional expressions
    • parallel text (contemporaneous/later, same/other languages)
    • alternative interpretations with similar characters/sounds

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  • Different types of evidence can lead to different results

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Case study

A ghost word in Yanshi Jiaxun

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New evidence type, new interpretation

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New evidence type, new interpretation

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New evidence type, new interpretation

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Case study: jiangcai in Yanshi Jiaxun

Background

Yanshi Jiaxun “Family Instructions for the Yan Clan”

    • A book written at around 6-7 cent. CE
    • Significant work in Chinese philology and historical linguistics

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Case study: jiangcai in Yanshi Jiaxun

Background: Yanshi Jiaxun “Family Instructions for the Yan Clan”

  • A book written at around 6-7 CE
  • Significant work in Chinese philology and historical linguistics
    • separate chapters focusing on philological and dialectal topics
    • large vocabulary of Middle Chinese colloquialism.

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Case study: jiangcai in Yanshi Jiaxun

Problem: Written form and semantic meaning of jiangcai

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“Lu, Xiang comes from Wu County. His father Xian is killed, so Xiang lives a simple life with clothes made of cloth and food containing vegetables through out his life. He cannot bear eating ginger which needs to be cut, and all the cooking ingredients are pinched or plucked.”

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You (2017) first questioning the gloss

    • There is no need to use disyllabic form for the word ‘ginger’, since the word has always been monosyllabic jiang though out Classical Chinese.

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    • Ginger has nothing special which separates it from other common vegetables.

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Questioning the gloss

Problem: Written form and semantic meaning of jiangcai

    • Correct character: 壃(疆)菜? 薑菜?

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Questioning the gloss

Problem: Written form and semantic meaning of jiangcai

    • Correct character: 壃菜? 薑菜?
    • Correct meaning:
      • 壃(疆)菜—‘field-vegetable’
      • 薑菜— ‘ginger-vegetable’

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Questioning the gloss

Problem: Written form and semantic meaning of jiangcai

    • Correct character: 壃菜? 薑菜? Or…?
    • Correct meaning:
      • 壃(疆)菜—‘field-vegetable’
      • 薑菜— ‘ginger-vegetable’
      • Or…?

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Review: 1st work

PROPOSAL (You 2017)

    • Writing forms 疆菜 and 薑菜, both pronounced as jiangcai, were confused.

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    • The word in Yanshi Jiaxun should be understood as 疆菜, literarily reading ‘field-vegetable ’, instead of 薑菜 as ‘ginger-vegetable, ginger’.

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You 2017—jiangcai is 疆菜‘field-vegetable’

Types of EVIDENCE

    • Variant characters of 薑 and how it can be confused with 疆:

‘ginger’薑= ≈彊=疆‘boundary, field’

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    • Similar usage of contemporaneous material Fengsu Tongyi and gloss from later philologists

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    • Similar usage of later Japanese Chinese material Yixinfang

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Review: 2nd and 3rd work

PROPOSAL (Xu 2020 & Zhao 2020)

    • You’s interpretation is incorrect.

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    • 薑菜 is the correct form of jiangcai, which should be interpreted as ‘ginger’.

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Xu 2020—jiangcai is薑菜‘ginger-vegetable’

Types of EVIDENCE

    • No convention of the jiang 疆 ‘boundary’ used as ‘field’, thus no jiangcai 疆菜‘field-vegetable ’ used as ‘vegetable’

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    • Productive structure of ‘hyponym-hypernym’ when naming vegetables

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    • Contemporaneous Chinese Buddhist texts containing the same 薑(菜)

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Zhao 2020 —jiangcai is薑菜‘ginger-vegetable’

More types of EVIDENCE

    • Variant characters of 鹽 and how it can be confused with 薑:

薑=壃≈ =鹽

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    • Variant texts with You’s examples containing yancai 鹽菜 ‘salted vegetable, pickle’

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MY PROPOSAL

  • jiangcai is a ghost word caused by misinterpretation.

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  • The target word should be yancai 鹽菜 ‘salt(ed) vegetable’ , a common term for ‘pickle’ in Middle Chinese.

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EVIDENCE

  • Variant forms of Chinese characters

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  • Variant texts and contextual interpretation

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  • Parallel Pali and Chinese Buddhist texts

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  • Conventional expression containing yancai

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Variant characters and misreading cause ghost form

  • Variant characters of jiang薑 ‘ginger’

薑=壃

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  • Variant characters of yan鹽 ‘salt’

鹽=

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(Variants attested in contemporaneous inscription in Tang dynasty and later dictionaries )

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Variant characters and misreading

  • Variant characters of jiang薑 ‘ginger’

薑=壃

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  • Variant characters of yan鹽 ‘salt’

鹽=

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  • How they confuse with each other:

=壃≈ =

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Contextual interpretation: √ ×

Variant in parallel medical texts

a.

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b.

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Contextual interpretation: √ ×

Variant in parallel Buddhist texts

a.

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b.

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Contextual interpretation: √ ×

Variant in parallel Buddhist texts

c.

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d.

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Parallel Pali Buddhist texts�differentiating jiang(cai) and yan(cai)

  • Target character 1 = Pali siṅgivera ‘ginger’

Lexical meaning = MC jiang ‘ginger’

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Chinese jiang薑– Pali siṅgivera ‘ginger’

Target character=Pali siṅgivera ‘ginger’

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Parallel Pali Buddhist texts�differentiating jiang(cai) and yan(cai)

  • Target character 1 = Pali siṅgivera ‘ginger’

Lexical meaning = MC jiang ‘ginger’

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  • Target character 2 = Pali bilaṅga ‘vinegar; sour gruel’

Lexical meaning ≈ MC yancai ‘pickle’

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Chinese jiang薑 – Pali bilaṅga ‘vinegar’

Target character =Pali bilaṅga ‘vinegar; sour gruel’

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Chinese jiang薑 – Pali bilaṅga ‘vinegar’

Target character =Pali bilaṅga ‘vinegar; sour gruel’

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Blurred words in Chinese distinguished in parallel Pali texts!

  • Target character 1 = Pali iṅgivera ‘ginger’

Lexical meaning = MC jiang(cai) ‘ginger (vegetable)’ ⇨薑(菜)

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  • Target character 2 =Pali bilaṅga ‘vinegar; sour gruel’

Lexical meaning ≈ MC yan(cai) ‘salt (vegetable)’ ⇨盐(菜)

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Conventional usage and context of yancai

  • Conventional phrase ‘not even eating pickles’: a common expression used to mourn the death of close ones in MC

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  • Exact context in Yanshi Jiaxun

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Conventional usage and context of yancai

Conventional phrase ‘not even eating pickles for mourning

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Conventional usage and context of yancai

Context in Yanshi Jiaxun

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“Lu, Xiang comes from Wu County. His father Xian is killed (by cutting instruments), so Xiang lives a simple life with clothes made of cloth and food containing vegetables through out his life. He cannot bear eating pickles which needs to be cut, and all the cooking ingredients are pinched or plucked.”

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Summary

  • jiangcai is a ghost word which does not exist, not only in Yanshi Jiaxun, but also in all contemporaneous Middle Chinese literature.

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  • The ghost word results from yancai 鹽菜‘salted vegetable, pickle’ , due to misreading of characters and continued misinterpretation of lexical semantics.

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Take-aways

  • Different types of evidence may lead to different interpretations.

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  • Parallel texts of various languages should be referred to whenever possible.

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References

  • Buddhadatta, A. P. (Ambalangoda Polvatte), 1887-1962 & Pali Text Society (London, England). (1955). English-Pali dictionary / aggamahāpaṇḍita A.P. Buddhadatta Mahāthera of Aggārāma, Ambalangoda. Colombo [Ceylon] : Colombo Apothecaries, for the Pali Text Society
  • Xu, Duoyi (徐多懿).《顔氏家訓》"薑菜"該作何解? [How to Explain Jiangcai（薑菜）in Yanshi Jiaxun ？]. Journal of Chinese Language History,2021,(1)：166-170.
  • You, Li (游黎).《颜氏家训》语词补释[Annotation on words in Yanshi Jiaxun]. Journal of Chinese Linguistics,2017,(6)：759-76
  • Zhao, Jinglian (赵静莲).“薑(壃)菜” 辨[Reinterpretation of jiangcai]. Journal of Chinese Linguistics,2020,(2)：238-240.

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Q&A

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