Popular Post Tomsima Posted October 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM Popular Post Report Posted October 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM In his ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, Schuessler provides a very interesting discussion of what he calls extrovert (causative, action originates from the subject and is directed towards an external object) and introvert (action directed towards the subject) character pairs. These pairs could also be understood as causative derivations, or in some cases transitive/intransitive and/or active/passive pairs. Sometimes the characters are differentiated by tone alone, but in other cases the pairs consist of two separate characters, in some cases the pair in question is easily missed as a result. I have often noticed that pronunciations of related semantic ideas are often close or homophonous; Schuessler expands on this with his examples and it is quite fascinating. The list below includes just a selection of examples, some of which may be familiar and others I had never even considered before, the list in the Dictionary is far longer and more comprehensive: 買 mai3 to buy 賣 mai4 to give someone something to buy > to sell 受 shou4 to receive 授 shou4 to give 聞 wen2 to hear about/be heard about 問 wen4 to ask about 取 qu3 to take 娶 qu3 to take a wife 好 hao3 be good 好 hao4 treat sth/sb as good > to love 視 shi4 to look at 示 shi4 to make someone look at > to show 右 you4 be to the right 佑 you4 to support, assist someone 惡 e4 be evil 惡 wu4 treat as bad > to hate 中 zhong1 be in the centre 中 zhong4 hit the centre > attain 北 bei3 north 背 bei4 that which is turned north > the back 内 nei4 what is entered > inside 納 na4 to bring inside 之 zhi1 to go 志 zhi4 what is gone to > goal, purpose 畏 wei4 to fear, be afraid > be made frightened 威 wei1 to overawe, frighten 登 deng1 to rise, ascend 等 deng3 'step of stairs' > that which rises 當 dang1 be equal to 黨 dang3 equal in rank > party, category 教 jiao4 set an example > teach 效 xiao4 imitate, follow an example 覺 jue2 to wake up, get insight 學 xue2 to learn 6 Quote
Michaelyus Posted October 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM Report Posted October 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM I love the 糴/糶 (籴/粜) pair, still in common(ish?) use in Min Dong dialects for grain (in practice, just for 米). 1 Quote
Tomsima Posted October 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM Author Report Posted October 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM I've only ever seen 籴 before, brilliant! would I be right in saying 糴 takes 翟 as it's phonetic whereas 糶 takes 耀/燿 as it's phonetic... Quote
Michaelyus Posted October 13, 2025 at 12:18 PM Report Posted October 13, 2025 at 12:18 PM Actually the phonetic is 䊮 for both, which of course has phonetic 翟. The "exoactive" form 糶 both has final -s in Old Chinese (ending up in departing tone in Middle Chinese and most modern varieties) and aspiration in the initial, whereas "endoactive" 糴 has been homophonous with its ultimate phonetic 翟 from Old Chinese onwards. 2 Quote
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