Analysis and history of 賓

There is a consensus that the graph 賓 goes back to old forms like and , showing a combination of the standard representation of a building 宀 ( ) and the graph 万 ( ). The latter is a somewhat obscuur representation of a person with perhaps a exaggerated head.¹

These forms have a Unicode codepoint: 𡧊, which I will use henceforth.²

In the oldest sources—Oracle Bone and Bronze inscriptions—Schuessler identifies two related words written with this graph. The first means “a gift” or “present,” which later extended in meaning to “guest.” The second is a morphologically derived verb meaning “to receive or treat someone as a guest.”³

note=schuesslera Schuessler, 2007, p. 167. For morphological derivation, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphological_derivation. endnote

In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there are several variants that include the “foot” component 止 ( ), such as . Ochiai thinks that in Oracle bone script there are examples of 𡧊 being used in the sense of “participation in ritual” and suggests that the inclusion of “foot” 止 may symbolize that function.⁴

An alternative interpretation links the addition of “foot” 止 to the meaning “guest”, viewing the graph as depicting a person arriving beneath a roof — an image that conveys the idea of a guest.⁵

In early forms of 𡧊, the graph may feature different representations of the human body besides 万, such as “sitting person” 卩 ( ), “person with an exaggerated head” 元 ( ), “standing person” 人 ( ), and others. The scholar Chén Jiàn suggests that early forms of 安, which use the “woman” 女 component, may also have been variants of 𡧊.⁶

In the majority of Bronze inscriptions, we can see characters modified to include the “treasure” component 貝, as seen in ).⁷. There is no doubt that “treasure” 貝 was added to clarify the meaning of the graph. Most scholars do not speculate on how that exactly worked, but Wáng Guówéi suggests that “in ancient times, when guests arrived, it was customary to present them with gifts” and “therefore, the character also includes the component 貝 (which represents valuables or currency)”.⁸

In seal script, the 万 component came to be written as 丏, resulting in the form . In the transition to regular script, 丏 was abbreviated to , which looks like the lower part of the traditional character for “walk” 步, producing the form 賓.

Xǔ Shèn writes that 𡧍 (a variant of 𡧊) serves as the phonetic component in 賓. Ochiai classifies 賓 as a yìshēng (亦聲) character—a type of Chinese character where one part contributes both to the meaning and to the sound. In this case, 𡧍 already expressed the intended word on its own, so in 賓, it provides both meaning and pronunciation.⁹

However, Xǔ Shèn also states that 丏 is the phonetic element in 𡧍. Chi believes that 丏 is an older form of 万. So, is 万/丏 the phonetic in 𡧊/𡧍? Gāo Jǐngchéng rejects this idea, while Chi keeps that possibility open.¹⁰

After World War II, in Japan many characters were simplified or standardized. For instance, the lower part of the character 步 (“walk”) was standardized to match the character 少 (“little”). Since the middle component of 賓 also resembled the lower part of 步, it underwent the same modification—leading to the new form 賓.¹¹

In the PRC 賓 was simplified to 宾, which combines “building” 宀 with “soldier” 兵 acting as phonetic (it lends its pronunciation bíng). Most likely 兵 was a compromise for a character that had a pronunciation that was quite close and had a relevant meaning as well (a soldier being a person; perhaps there is also the suggestion of lodging a soldier in a private residence).¹²

Notes

References

• Chi 說文新證, 季旭昇 Chi Hsu-Sheng. 台北: 藝文印書館印行, [2004] 2014. (年9月二版).
• Hànyǔ dàzìdiǎn 汉语大字典 (Large character dictionary of Chinese) first edition.
• Ochiai (2016) 甲骨文字辞典 (Dictionary of Oracle bone characters) 落合淳思 Ochiai Atsushi. 朋友書店 Hōyū Shoten. Kyōto, 2016.
• Qiú (2000) Chinese Writing 文字學概要, Qiu Xigui 裘锡圭 (Translated by Gilbert L. Mattos and Jerry Norman). The society for the study of early China & The institute of east asian studies, university of California, Berkeley. Birdtrack Press. New Haven, 2000.
• Schuessler (2007) ABC Etymological dictionary of old Chinese, Axel Schuessler. University of Hawai'i Press. Honolulu, 2007.
• Xiaoxuetang Database ＜https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/＞
• Xǔ Shèn 說文解字, 許慎 Xǔ Shèn . [CE 121].

CC BY-SA 4.0