烏弋山離

Chinese

		phonetic
trad. (烏弋山離)		烏	弋	山	離
simp. (乌弋山离)		乌	弋	山	离

Etymology

First recorded in Chinese historiography in the Book of Han (《漢書·西域傳》) [2nd century]. Pulleyblank (1999) considers the derivation from Ancient Greek Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Alexándreia) "long accepted", connects it with one of the numerous settlements bearing the name in what is now modern Afghanistan, and further notices that the final character 離 (MC lje) would have corresponded to the level-tone (平聲) reading in Middle Chinese.

Doublet of 阿荔散, 亞歷山大／亚历山大 (yàlìshāndà).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Wūyìshānlí

  (Zhuyin): ㄨ ㄧˋ ㄕㄢ ㄌㄧˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): wu¹ jik⁶ saan¹ lei⁴
• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ¹u-iq-se-li

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Wūyìshānlí
    • Zhuyin: ㄨ ㄧˋ ㄕㄢ ㄌㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Wuyìshanlí
    • Wade–Giles: Wu¹-i⁴-shan¹-li²
    • Yale: Wū-yì-shān-lí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Uyihshanli
    • Palladius: Уишаньли (Uišanʹli)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u⁵⁵ i⁵¹ ʂän⁵⁵ li³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: wu¹ jik⁶ saan¹ lei⁴
    • Yale: wū yihk sāan lèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: wu¹ jik⁹ saan¹ lei⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: wu¹ yig⁶ san¹ léi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wuː⁵⁵ jɪk̚² saːn⁵⁵ lei̯²¹/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ¹u-iq-se-li
    • MiniDict: u^平 ih se li
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹u-iq-se-li
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /u⁵⁵ iɪʔ³³ se³³ li²¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: 'u yik srean lje

Rime
Character	烏	弋	山	離
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	1/3
Initial (聲)	影 (34)	以 (36)	生 (21)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	模 (23)	蒸 (134)	山 (73)	支 (11)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Checked (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	III	II	III
Fanqie	哀都切	與職切	所閒切	呂支切
Baxter	'u	yik	srean	lje
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔuo/	/jɨk̚/	/ʃˠɛn/	/liᴇ/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔuo/	/jɨk̚/	/ʃᵚæn/	/liɛ/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔo/	/iek̚/	/ʃæn/	/ljɛ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔɔ/	/jik̚/	/ʂəɨn/	/liə̆/
Li Rong	/ʔo/	/iək̚/	/ʃɛn/	/lie/
Wang Li	/u/	/jĭək̚/	/ʃæn/	/lǐe/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʔuo/	/i̯ək̚/	/ʂăn/	/lie̯/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wū	yì	shān	lí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	wu1	jik6	saan1	lei4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[ʔ]ˤa|ʔˤa  lək  s-ŋrar  [r]aj/

  (Zhengzhang): /*qaː  lɯɡ  sreːn  rel/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	烏	烏	弋	山	離
Reading #	1/3	3/3	1/1	1/1	1/3
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	wū	wū	yì	shān	lí
Middle Chinese	‹ ʔu ›	‹ ʔu ›	‹ yik ›	‹ srɛn ›	‹ lje ›
Old Chinese	/*[ʔ]ˁa/	/*ʔˁa/	/*lək/	/*s-ŋrar/	/*[r]aj/
English	oh!	烏桓, 烏丸 Wūhuán: Avars (W. Hàn)	shoot arrow with string attached	mountain, hill	meet with, encounter
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	烏	弋	山	離
Reading #	1/1	1/1	1/1	2/3
No.	13077	14986	11052	7780
Phonetic component	烏	弋	山	离
Rime group	魚	職	元	歌
Rime subdivision	0	0	2	2
Corresponding MC rime	烏	弋	山	離
Old Chinese	/*qaː/	/*lɯɡ/	/*sreːn/	/*rel/
Notes				甲文象隹入網羅， 離反爲省文

Proper noun

烏弋山離

1. (～國) (historical) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: (Yu, 1998)
   1. Alexandria Arion, near Herat
   2. Alexandria Arachosia, near Kandahar
   3. Alexandria Prophthasia, possibly related to modern Farah
   4. Alexandria in Opiana, near modern Ghazni