于闐

Chinese

		phonetic
trad. (于闐)		于	闐
simp. (于阗)		于	阗
alternative forms		于窴于寘

Etymology

First attested in Treatise on the Dayuan (大宛列傳) from the Records of the Grand Historian, in the form of 于窴. From Old Khotanese 𑀳𑁆𑀯𑀢𑀦 (hvatana, “the (land of the) lords”), Proto-Saka *hvatāu, ultimately from Proto-Iranian *hwatā́wā (“lord, king”).^[1]

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): Yútián

(Zhuyin): ㄩˊ ㄊㄧㄢˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): jyu⁴ tin⁴

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: Yútián
  - Zhuyin: ㄩˊ ㄊㄧㄢˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: Yútián
  - Wade–Giles: Yü²-tʻien²
  - Yale: Yú-tyán
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Yutyan
  - Palladius: Юйтянь (Jujtjanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /y³⁵ tʰi̯ɛn³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: jyu⁴ tin⁴
  - Yale: yùh tìhn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jy⁴ tin⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: yu⁴ tin⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jyː²¹ tʰiːn²¹/

Middle Chinese: hju den|denH

Rime
Character	于	闐	闐
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	云 (35)	定 (7)	定 (7)
Final (韻)	虞 (24)	先 (85)	先 (85)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	IV	IV
Fanqie	羽俱切	徒年切	堂練切
Baxter	hju	den	denH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦɨo/	/den/	/den^H/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦio/	/den/	/den^H/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣio/	/dɛn/	/dɛn^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦuə̆/	/dɛn/	/dɛn^H/
Li Rong	/ɣio/	/den/	/den^H/
Wang Li	/ɣĭu/	/dien/	/dien^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/i̯u/	/dʱien/	/dʱien^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yú	tián	diàn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jyu⁴	tin⁴	din⁶

Old Chinese
(Zhengzhang): /*ɢʷa diːn|diːns/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	于	于
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	yú	yú
Middle Chinese	‹ hju ›	‹ hju ›
Old Chinese	/*ɢʷ(r)a/	/ɦʷa/ (< ɢʷ(r)a)
English	go; at	單于 chányú: Xiōngnú ruler (W. Hàn)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	于	闐	闐
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
No.	15706	17053	17059
Phonetic component	于	眞	眞
Rime group	魚	眞	眞
Rime subdivision	0	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	于	田	電
Old Chinese	/*ɢʷa/	/*diːn/	/*diːns/
Notes	王筠雲籲初文

Proper noun

于闐

(～國) (historical) Kingdom of Khotan
(historical, until 1959) Yutian County, Xinjiang (changed to 于田)
- 萬方樂奏有于闐，詩人興會更無前。 [MSC, trad.]
  万方乐奏有于阗，诗人兴会更无前。 [MSC, simp.]
  From: October 1950, 1972 trans., Willis Barnstone, trans., The Poems of Mao Tse-tung, pp. 92-93
  Wànfāng yuè zòu yǒu Yútián, shīrén xìnghuì gèng wú qián. [Pinyin]
  Song pours on us from ten thousand corners and musicians from Khotan play. Never before were we poets so moved.

Derived terms

于闐文
于闐語 / 于阗语

References

^ Bailey, H. W. (1982), The Culture of the Sakas in Ancient Iranian Khotan, Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies 1, ed. E. Yarshater, New York, esp. p. 3