Re: Origin of Chinese spoken languages

From: Dylan Sung (dylanwhs.tsktsktsk_at_pacific.net.hk)
Date: 10/27/04 

Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 16:28:32 +0100

"SJ" <donot@send.spam.net> wrote in message
news:Xns958F3832C3980donotsendspamnet@131.118.254.130...
> Tak To <takto@alum.mit.edu.-> wrote in
> news:35mdnQg4yLco3eLcRVn-pg@comcast.com:
>
>>LEE Sau Dan <danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de> wrote:
>>LSD.0> Tomorrow: +f8w- (big5), perhaps pronounced <yi4> in Mandarin.
>>LSD.0> It's used very often in today's newspapers and official
>>document LSD.0> to mean "the next day".
>>
>>SJ wrote:
>>SJ.1> Although I can not read the big5 character, I can say that that
>>SJ.1> character did not mean 'tomorrow'.
>>
>>Tak To wrote:
>>TT.2> Your ability to read into Lee Sau Dan's mind amazes me. Yet
>>TT.2> your reasoning is perplexing, especially since it contradicts
>>TT.2> standard references such as:
>>TT.2>
>>http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=7FCC&useutf8=f
>>alse
>>
>>SJ.3> 'The next day' and 'tomorrow' are differnt concepts,
>>SJ.3> you two idiots.
>>
>>Be as it may, the web page clearly lists "tomorrow" as one of the
>>meanings.
>>
>>Tak
>
> You have better cite a dictionary published before 1900 AD. That
> character denotes 'the next day', not 'tomorrow'. Don't try to bother me
> any more. I will not reply again, as it becomes obvious that there is not
> character for 'tomorrow' in Chinese. It's so simple.

The character 翌 is found in Guangyun (AD 1037), and the copy I have gives
the gloss 明日.

The source I have is Yu NaeWing's 新校互註宋本廣韻, second chaacter entry on
the far right column on p.527.

Also, in Kangxi Dictionary 康熙字典 (1716 AD) the character 翌 is glossed
as 明日. It also says that the character has variants 翊 and 翼.

In Shuowen JieziZhu 說文解字注, the character 翊 the commentary that it's
author Duan Yucai of the seventeenth and eighteeth Qing dynasty says is 明也,
in which he cites the source in ShangShu 尚書 五言翌日.皆訓明日.

ShangShu is one of the oldest texts in Chinese, the meaning of yi 翌 used,
is mingri 明日 meaning tomorrow.

A character for 'tomorrow' does exist going back to Old Chinese. In fact the
character 翌 is identified in shell and bone script.

Dyl.

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