By comparing the differences in the use of characters between unearthed literature and pas-sed down literature,and analyzing materials such as annotations on ancient books and citations from other classics,it can be concluded that"fei"(匪)mainly concentrated in early pre-Qin classics like The Book of Songs and The Book of Changes.It is not a phonetic loan character for"fei"(非),but an independent function word."fei"(匪)and"fei"(非)are cognate words,and the two have similar sounds and mean-ings."fei"(匪)should not be considered as a phonetic loan character for"fei"(非)and its tone should be falling-rising,but not flat as"fei"(非).The usage of"fei"(匪)as a negative adverb has cultural signifi-cance,so it is still retained in modern written Chinese with words such as"huoyifeiqian"(获益匪浅)and"feiyisuosi"(匪夷所思).
万方数据