The Diachronic Evolution and Co-temporal Distribution of the Chinese Words That Mean"Yam"
This article examines in detail the historical evolution of the word"山 药"in Chinese and its distribution in contemporary dialects.It is found that"山药"was called"藷藇"in the pre-Qin period,and"薯蓣"became a common name for it in the Han and Tang dynasties.In the Song Dynasty,"山药"gradually became a commonly used term.In addition,since the North and South Dynasties,in the areas south of the Yangtze River and in Fujian,"藷"was used,and in the Ming Dynasty,it changed to"苕".These developments over time have significantly influenced the distribution of the term"山药"across the region,as evidenced by the fact that the further south one goes,the more the dialects tend to retain ancient features.The northern official dialects,on the other hand,reflect linguistic features existing since Song and Yuan dynasties.The taboo avoidance systems,national psychology,geography and language contact have had far-reaching influence on the formation and distribution of heteronyms.
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