See also: 蓬莱

Chinese edit

Pronunciation edit



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/2
Initial () (3) (37)
Final () (1) (41)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division () I I
Fanqie
Baxter buwng loj
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/buŋ/ /lʌi/
Pan
Wuyun
/buŋ/ /ləi/
Shao
Rongfen
/buŋ/ /lɒi/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/bəwŋ/ /ləj/
Li
Rong
/buŋ/ /lᴀi/
Wang
Li
/buŋ/ /lɒi/
Bernard
Karlgren
/bʱuŋ/ /lɑ̆i/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
péng lái
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
pung4 loi4
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/2
No. 3216 7599
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0 0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*boːŋ/ /*rɯː/

Etymology 1 edit

phonetic
trad. (蓬萊)
simp. (蓬莱)
 
Wikipedia has articles on:

Uncertain.

It bears striking resemblance to a Southeast Asian word for “sea”. Compare Burmese ပင်လယ် (panglai, sea; ocean), Shan ပၢင်ႇလၢႆႇ (pàang làai, sea; ocean), Jingpho pang lai (sea), S'gaw Karen ပီၣ်လဲၣ် (paẁ leh̀, sea). These seem to be borrowings, possibly from a Mon-Khmer language; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *d[n]liʔ (sea), whence Old Khmer danle, danley (large river; lake; sea) > Khmer ទន្លេ (tŭənlei, river), Thai ทะเล (tá-lee, sea) (Schuessler, 2007).

Alternatively, it may be a transcription of an earlier Austroasiatic name; cf. 萊國莱国 (Láiguó, “Lai”), an ancient Dongyi tribe, where (lái) has been argued to transcribe a native word for "mountain" or "wilderness". The latter interpretation was mentioned in the Classical Chinese text Yue Jue Shu (越絕書 [Eastern Han]) and discussed by Zhengzhang (1999).

Proper noun edit

蓬萊

  1. (Chinese mythology) Penglai (a mythical eastern isle of immortals)
    See also: 瀛洲, 方丈
  2. (by extension) fairyland
  3. (, formerly , ) Penglai (a district, former county, and former county-level city in Yantai, Shandong, China)
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

(grass); disheveled Chenopodium album
trad. (蓬萊)
simp. (蓬莱)

Noun edit

蓬萊

  1. (literary) wilderness