User:Frigoris/昧雉彼視

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昧雉彼視

Origin

苟有履衛地、食衛粟者，昧雉彼視！
苟有履卫地、食卫粟者，昧雉彼视！
From: Commentary of Gongyang, c. 206 BCE– 9 CE
Gǒu yǒu lǚ Wèi dì, shí Wèi sù zhě, mèi zhì bǐ shì!
(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Traditional interpretation

An oath.

  • 昧 (OC *mɯːds) = 割 (“to cut”), pronounced as 刎 (MC mjunX) < 刎 (OC *mɯnʔ)
  • 雉 (OC *l'iʔ) = pheasant, in this case the sacrifice animal, the OBJ of 割
  • 彼 (OC *pralʔ) = that one
  • 視 (OC *ɡljilʔ, *ɡljils, *ɢljils) = to see; to deem; to look at

I.e., "look at that slaughtered pheasant!" / "deem me equal to that slaughtered pheasant!"

Meaning: "If any of us shall violate (the oath of never going back to Wey), we will meet the same fate as that of the sacrificial pheasant."

The problem

The glossing of 昧 (OC *mɯːds) > 昧 (MC mwojH) as 割, and reading as 刎 (MC mjunX) < 刎 (OC *mɯnʔ), is problematic. See Chen Li: 《公羊義疏》 https://archive.org/details/02074773.cn/page/n8/mode/1up

Tentative interpretations

Textual error

Consider the possibility that 雉 might be a typo fixated in the textual tradition.

  • 雉 = . The text should read: 昧矢隹彼視 = 昧矢，維彼視 (if anyone should violate the oath, they shall only look at that thing !)
    • 昧 (OC *mɯːds, “to ignore > to violate the oath previously sworn”), 矢 (OC *hliʔ, “oath”), 隹 = 維 (OC *ɢʷi), as in the construct 「維 (OC *ɢʷi) + OBJ + 是 (OC *djeʔ) + VERB」
    • Problem: textual error due to left-right splitting of character is highly unlikely in ancient vertical text

It might be that splitting is not necessary, as 雉 might has well been a typo for 維, and the reconstructed sentence becomes even more laconic (昧，維彼視).

Other interpretations of 昧

Chen Li himself considers 昧 (OC *mɯːds) to be a typo of 昩 (OC *maːd), and connects it to 抹 (OC *maːd) which has the meaning of 刎 (OC *mɯnʔ), 伆 (OC *mɯnʔ, *mɯd), and 歾 (OC *mˁut) . However, the usage of 抹 (OC *maːd) as "to kill, to cut, etc." seems a bit modern.

彼 as variant to 是

See external link. The problem is that this usage, if supportable, appears rather rare.

雉 and Prince Shensheng's death

Intriguingly, the Guoyu wrote of Prince Shensheng's death as 雉經于新城之廟 (page). The Eastern-Han-era dictionary Shiming says 雉經 means dying from asphyxiation with bent neck "in the manner how a pheasant does it". The pheasant in classical culture has a reputation of never submitting to live capture; it always dies fighting or by suicide. However, it is questionable whether it is possible at all to die from suicide in this manner by bending one's own neck. The Qing-era commentary on the Shiming quotes (page) from Zheng Xuan's commentary to the Liji and subsequent commentary by Kong Yingda et al. (page), by linking 雉 to the rare character 絼, rope for pulling a cattle by the nose. That character could be a variant of 紖 (OC *l'inʔ), possibly related to 雉 (OC *l'iʔ) by pronunciation. This is corroborated by the Zuozhuan where Shensheng's death is said to be from self-hanging. It's unclear whether this meaning and its context could be related to 昧雉彼視 via 雉.

麻夷非是

This weird phrase found in excavated stone tablets, interpreted as the conclusion of oaths, has been linked to the phrase here.

Some reading based on near homophony was proposed, such as "滅 (OC *med)夷 (OC *lil)彼 (OC *pralʔ)氏 (OC *ɡjeʔ)". However this instance of near homophony is more likely in modern Chinese than in OC.

Perhaps a closer homophone would be

  • 麻 (OC *mraːl) ~ 靡 (OC *mralʔ)
  • 夷 (OC *lil) ~ 矢 (OC *hliʔ) (also, similar "arrow"/"bow" elements in character shapes)

I.e.

  • 靡矢非是, lit., "None swears not-this" = "No one swears any other oath" or "No one's oath was not like this" = "So say we all."
    • As double-negative, this is considered more natural than *靡非是矢
    • The problem is of course the identification of 夷 with possible near-homophone 矢. The latter character is not a rare one.
    • Interestingly the char 夷 appears to be written as ⿱夷土. "Borrowing" the glottal final (> departing tone) from 土 (OC *l̥ʰaːʔ, *l'aːʔ)? (Appears to be quite common in written character, see link).

Or alternatively, a straightforward reading without homophone characters: "Destroy (夷, to flatten) like reaping hemp plants (麻) not like this.". Cf.: 殺人如麻／杀人如麻 (shārénrúmá).

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