User:Frigoris/Chinese issues in Adams Dictionary

The dictionary refers to Adams (2013), used in template {{R:txb:Adams:2013}}.

• kapci p. 148 - "obscure" origin. See entry.
• *kāy p. 161 - the semantic suggestion of 楷 (MC keaj|kheajX) with "original (of a receipt!)" is rather unidiomatic in Chinese. The other suggestion 蓋 (MC kajH) looks a bit more likely, as suggested.
• kuśiññe p. 198 - the "Han era pronunciation" refers to the pronunciation of 龜茲 (OC *kʷɯ zɯ), 龜茲 (MC kjuw dzi)
• *kents p. 207 - uncertain meaning, probably "wild goose". There's a mixture of guesses there. Supposedly the transcriptions refer to 翰 (OC *ɡaːn, *ɡaːns), 翰 (MC han|hanH), which is semantically dubious. The meaning of the term would have been the garuda, often glossed as 鵬 (MC bong). Maybe influenced by 鵾 (MC kwon)?
• *kaum ~ kom p. 226 - presumably from 縞 (MC kawX|kawH), which would have given nominative singular *kau, following tau, with the same irregular plural derivation?
• *klu p. 243 - the Chinese term 稻 (OC *l'uːʔ) itself is perhaps an areal word.
• klese p. 246 - supposed ancestry for 稼 (OC *kraːs) looks rather fanciful.
• cāne p. 271 - should have been asterisked in WT. Adams infers correctly that the value of a 錢 (MC dzjen) during the Tang would have been meagre. In the poetry of Du Fu, we have 速宜相就飲一斗，恰有三百青銅錢. One 升 (MC sying) = ṣank of (undistilled) alcoholic drink (not a luxury) cost 30 cāni.
• pūwar p. 421 - only older reconstructions of 烽 (MC phjowng) would have the medial -w-. The *-ar in older Chinese would typically been thought to be reflected in later *-an.
• poylā p. 434 - meaning uncertain, possibly a title. There's no definite connection to Chinese. Any idea?
• *yāpko p. 528 - presumably related to 翕侯 (OC *qʰrub ɡoː) > 翕侯 (MC xip huw). However, this term wasn't in active use within the Chinese themselves. It may have been a foreign phono-semantic matching anyway.
• yāmuttsi p. 532 - "a waterfowl", uncertain. The discussion around 鸚鵡 (MC 'eang mjuX) is a red herring. It's difficult to reconcile the MC glottal stop with the y-. A closer phonetic match would have been *野鶩子 (MC yaeX mjuH|muwk tsiX), "wild duck", with the 子 suffix.
• yāywyeṃ p. 532 - again, the difficulty with glottal stop in the suggested 押運 (MC 'aep|kaep hjunH), not to mention the -p in the Chinese (acked in the dict).
• *yauyek p. 557 - apparently the pinyin húdié zhāng would have been the more common 蝴蝶裝／蝴蝶装 (húdié zhuāng)
• śakse, śak_(u)se p. 675 - "brandy" (!). If it really comes from 粟酒 (MC sjowk tsjuwX), it would have undergone some consonantal syncope. The problem is the mismatch of s vs ś.
• *śwelyāṇk p. 707 - 稅糧 (MC sywejH ljang) is suggested, but the first syllable's vowels looks a bit less convincing. Adams: "One might note the surprisingly modern pronunciation in so early a borrowing" - which raises suspicion.
• *ṣecake p. 723 - the lion. The discussion revolving around the suffix 子 (OC *ʔslɯʔ) / 子 (MC tsiX) seems misled.
• ṣau p. 727 - presumably the Chinese word was 鈔 (MC tsrhaew), "copy, slip, note" - for "receipt?"
• hwuṣṣi p. 797 - the identification of hw- with MC 滂 (MC phang)母 is, to me, rather problematic. The suggested source is 副使 (MC phjuwH|phjuwk|phik sriX|sriH), with pʰ- initial!! The hw- more likely reflects the borrowed 匣 (MC haep)母, so words could include *護師 (MC huH srij, literally “protector of the army”), which, although not very idiomatic, looks more phonetically plausible.
• tsyāṅk p. 814 - of the two suggested meanings, the "wild rice" one = 蔣 (MC tsjang) is (correctly identified as) the less plausible. In fact, the very quotation given there says that the tsyāṅk is 20 times the price of wheat by volume, a price unlikely to be commanded by the wild rice (seeds, presumably, rather than delicacy 茭白 (MC kaew baek), which is unlikely to be traded in bulk by volume). This fits the value of 醬 (MC tsjangH), a valuable condiment (chiefly caused by the high price of salt).