Pegasus 4 Report post Posted August 9, 2017 Hi everyone, I'm really curious about 牀 vs 床. I'm told that 牀 is an alternative form of 床, but it is apparent to me that 床 is far more common. For example: 起床 qǐchuáng - to get up (out of bed) / wake up Which groups of people would write 起牀 instead? Does 牀 come after 床 etymologically? Or, did 牀 precede 床? Is there a history or story behind 牀? I have no idea where to find the answers to these questions. I'm hoping someone here might know. Cheers, Pegasus Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Publius 1,615 Report post Posted August 9, 2017 2 hours ago, Pegasus said: did 牀 precede 床? Yes it did. Here is the proof: 牀 was in the 2nd-century dictionary 說文解字 http://www.zdic.net/z/1e/sw/7240.htm 床 as an variant was first mentioned in the 11th-century rime book 廣韻 http://www.zdic.net/z/1e/kx/7240.htm When it comes to etymologies of Chinese characters, 說文解字 and 康熙字典 are pretty much the ultimate source. And you can access both through www.zdic.net. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OneEye 1,382 Report post Posted August 9, 2017 3 hours ago, Publius said: When it comes to etymologies of Chinese characters, 說文解字 and 康熙字典 are pretty much the ultimate source. Not really. Both are deeply flawed. Liu Zhao (劉釗), the director of the Fudan University's Center for Research on Chinese Excavated Classics and Paleography (復旦大學出土文獻與古文字研究中心) and one of the world's foremost experts on paleography, says that of the characters in the 說文解字 that we have paleographic data for, 80-90% of the explanations in the 說文 are problematic. There's a whole field of research devoted to correcting the errors in the Shuowen. But in this case, you're right that 牀 preceded 床. The original form of 床 was 爿. Later, 木 was added to create 牀. 牀 then corrupted into 疒+木 (easy to do since they resemble each other closely), which further corrupted into 床. 6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pegasus 4 Report post Posted August 10, 2017 Does anyone still write 牀 (like in 起牀)? Maybe in the Hong Kong or Taiwan communities? Or does everyone write 床 now? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lips 258 Report post Posted August 11, 2017 Yes, outside of the mainland where Traditional characters are used, but not often. Not that rare either. I sometimes do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites