Results
Indic Loans in Chinese

These five examples are from Zhu Qingzhi, Some Linguistic Evidence for Early Chinese Cultural Exchange Between India and China (SPP #66, 1995), which may be obtained from the SPP page at this site. A few other possibilities will be added from other sources. Except in one case ("water in hoofprint," which he feels must have originated in Sanskrit), Zhu draws no firm conclusions about directionality, and is content to observe that the pairs are very likely related. The Project's revised dates for the Chinese texts seem to clarify the situation. From that viewpoint, the directionality seems invariably to be India> China. In support of this, it seems that in most cases, the Indic usage is more widespread and more connected, within its own language, than the corresponding Chinese one, and thus is more likely to be the "natural" or original form. All are loan translations rather than phonetic loanwords. The period of word adaptation, complete with the original sound of the word, was to come substantially later, with the direct presence of Indian persons and institutions on Chinese soil.

Arrangement here is by the probable date of the first Chinese occurrence.

NAMELESS FINGER. The primary term used in both Sanskrit and Chinese for the fourth finger.

• Skt ana:ma:, ana:mika:, Pali ana:mika:, Ch wu2-ming- jr3, all "nameless [finger]"
  • India: Occurs in Vedic literature before the 05c
  • China: MC 6A12 (c0275)

RABBIT = MOON. Supposedly based on a figure discerned in the markings on the moon.

• Skt sasin < sasa "rabbit," Ch tu4 "rabbit," both as symbols for the moon
  • India: Occurs in late Vedic literature
  • China: Tyen Wvn (c0275, a Southern text)

WATER IN HOOFPRINT as a symbol for shallowness and limitation.

• Skt gospada, Pali gopada, gopadaka, Ch nyou-tsvn
  • India: Pali term in Anguttara-Nikaya (03c?)
  • China: HNZ 13 (c0148, a text compiled in South China)

THE PLANET VENUS described as "white."

• Skt sukra / sveta, Ch tai-bai, both "[great] white [one]"
  • India: Occurs in Vedic literature
  • China: Another term,"dawn star," used in pre-Chin times
    • Ch tai-bai "great white" first in SJ 27 (c0115)

COW YELLOW = BEZOAR

• Skt gorocana = Ch nyou-hwang, both semantically "cow/ox + yellow"
  • India: Post-Vedic; common in Buddhist literature
  • China: Bvn Tsau [Han??]

 

Further examples, or comments on these examples, are welcome.

 

22 Jan 2001 / Contact The Project / Exit to Results Page