Onomatopoeic Interpretation Of Word In Shiming And Liu Xi’s Language Root Exploring

The Book Shiming by Liu Xi of East Han Dynasty is the first monograph of Chinese etymology. It brings rich contents and far-reaching impact, and its rational core is still valuable to today’s etymology study.The most important explanation method of Shiming is sound glosses, Among numerous entries of the sound glosses, there is a special style which mixed in is noteworthy. Onomatopoeic Interpretation of Word, refers to explaining things’name by using onomatopoeia which has a close relationship to the interpretation of the word be interpreted at both two levels, namely pronunciation and meaning. Qi (气,the name of air), Lei(雷,te name of thunder), Xue(血,the name of blood), Bi(鼻,the name of nose), Qian(欠,the name of yawning), Ti (嚏,the name of sneeze), Yini(嫛婗,the name of baby), Jizhuo(瀱沟,the name of well), Zhi(銍,the name of sickle), Qing(磬,the name of musical stone), Se(瑟,the name of a stringed instrument), Zheng(筝,the name of a stringed instrument), Xun(埙,the name of a wind instrument), Xiao(箫,the name of a wind instrument), Zhu(柷,the name of a percussion instrument), Di (篴,the name of a wind instrument), Nao (鐃,the name of a percussion instrument), Xu((?),the name of a lance), Yue (戉, the name of an ax), Hong(薨,the name of a prince’s death), Beng(崩,the name of an emperor’s death), there are21cases in Shiming. Most of them are names of the things which be able to give forth sounds, or be given forth as sounds. This reflects Liu Xi’s understanding of the linguistic phenomenon, Onomatopoeia Coinage. Onomatopoeia Coinage is one of the important way of new words creation, sound is an important source of the original language root. Creating a new word by mimicking a sound, therefore the sound is the rationale or root of the word. The ordinary sound glosses bring tne source word or the words in the same word families, but Onomatopoeic Interpretation of Word actually records root. Onomatopoeic Interpretation of Word in Shiming can be regarded as the prototype of the language root exploring. Because of the ancients’writing style, Onomatopoeic Interpretation of Word in Shiming is routinely simple, lacking in adequate argument. Direct reference to it is not convincing enough. To elucidate and inherit of its etymology thinking, first of all depends on the depth of the corroboration work. In this paper, these21cases are corroborated in detail, and there is a conclusion that the vast majority of Liu Xi’s etymology judgements are believable. The results of his language root exploring and his linguistic thinking should be inherited and developed to improve the contemporary Chinese etymology, and be put into practice of literature exegetical.By comparison with relevant contents in other ancient literature and exegetical record, the academic background of Onomatopoeic Interpretation of Word in Shiming is explored. Liu Xi’s language root exploring benefit from the idea shown in Mythical Legends of Mountains and Seas(山海經)that animals can call their own names by sounds (其名自呼), and a lot of "a cock crows as JieJie(雞鳴喈喈)"type materials which show that the name of something and its noise sound similar in the written and oral traditions of ancient cultures. Liu Xi used them in academic research, and expanded the scope of application. He borrowed the shape of sound glosses in Han Dynasty with different purport. Liu Xi isn’t the creator of the style, but he’s the first one who used it in the etymology field consciously and concentratively. His academic achievement is believable. Compared to sound glosses in Baihu Tongyi(白虎通義),Shuowen Jiezi(說文解字)and classic comments by Zheng Xuan (鄭玄),his etymology thinking is more progressive.The research method is tradition-based and multi-disciplinary. The main features: Etymology and ancient literature exegetical practice are combined; the ancient literature is not only the source of language materials, but also the source of cultural information by which to understand the thinking of the ancients, to achieve cross-over study with words and Chinese character; the achievement of contemporary paleography and language materials of unearthedliterature are introduced into the discussion of the etymology.Through the research of work Onomatopoeic Interpretation of Word in Shiming, something is achieved:a personal opinion which is different from the mainstream etymology view, that the original words also have their motivations and a part of them could be explored by linking with the onomatopoeias in ancient literature; some lows about the creation of the original words and the propagation of the derived words, such as there is a kind of connection among the meaning of flow, airflow, and speed; a lot of new-linked word families, new explanations for etymologies and meanings of several words in the ancient literature, corrections and supplements for the large Chinese dictionaries, such as the new Interpretations of "Chong Yong Yi Yi(崇墉仡仡)"in the Book of Songs (诗經),"O Yi Ru Er (喔�'��'儿)’’in Songs of the South(楚辞),’’Ni, another meaning is women’s bad looking(娩,一曰婦人恶皃)" in Shuowen Jiezi (说文解字),"Qiu Jia(秋駕)’’,"Huan Huan(獾獾)" in Lu’s Commentaries of History,"Xiao Fu (萧斧)" in Shuoyuan(說苑)...