IS OLD CHINESE DÚ 犢 A LOANWORD?

Norman (1982) proposes that dú 犢 'calf' is a loanword from Altaic languages, and the hypothesis is often cited by later scholars. Based on the recently unearthed documents and texts, a new phonological analysis of Old Chinese, and the cross-language phonetic corresponding rules, this paper argues that dú is not a loanword but a native Chinese word. Unearthed documents from the pre-Qin period provide earlier uses of dú than those from the Han dynasty mentioned previously. Combining the time of early uses, the xiesheng series and character interchanges related to dú, and a new reconstruction of the Old Chinese sources of the Middle Chinese initial *d-, the paper argues that there is no phonetic correspondence between dú and the Altaic t-initial morphemes. The paper also points out that a basic condition of establishing a loanword hypothesis through historical documents is that the cross-language phonetic correspondence should exist at the time reflected by the earliest uses of the word.

關鍵字

Dú 犢； Loanword ； Altaic languages ； Unearthed documents and texts ； Cross-language phonetic correspondence

並列摘要

羅傑瑞先生（1982）指出“犢”是來自阿爾泰語的借詞，後來多被學者引用。本文根据出土文獻材料、古音分析和譯音對應，說明“犢”不是阿爾泰語借詞，而是漢語固有詞。先秦出土文獻中有不少“犢”的用例，這比以往提到的漢代用例要早；根據用例時代和與“犢”相關的諧聲、通假、異文並結合古音學對定母字的新研究可知，“犢”與阿爾泰語首輔音為t的語詞不具備語音對應。文章據此指出，根據歷史文獻建立借詞說的基礎條件是：跨語言的語音對應要存在於語詞始見用例所反映的年代。

並列關鍵字