A Phonological Study of the Character “丽” in the Place Name “Lishui,” Zhejiang Province

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_47How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Chinese Character; Historical Linguistic; toponymy

Abstract

Lishui, situated in Zhejiang Province’s mountainous southwest, derives its name from the Tang Dynasty when it was established as Lishui County under Kuo-zhou’s administration. Officially designated as a city in 1986, its toponymic character “丽” (traditionally “麗”) has long sparked debate. While modern lexicons like the Modern Chinese Dictionary prescribe the pronunciation “lí”, colloquial Mandarin overwhelmingly favors “lì”. This discrepancy stems from the character’s complex evolution: its earliest oracle bone depictions reflect deer-like imagery symbolizing duality, while classical texts employ it variously as “to attach” (Book of Changes), “to enforce” (Book of Documents), and “beautiful” (Selections of Refined Literature). As a hydronym, “Lishui” initially described turbu-lent rivers like Zhejiang’s Hao River (renamed from “Wicked Creek” during the Sui Dynasty to reflect tamed waters), later becoming an administrative term un-der Tang governance. Phonological records reveal further complexity: while Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE) exclusively noted the falling tone “lì,” later rhyme books like Jiyun (1037 CE) introduced “lí” for specific contexts (e.g. “Goryeo”). Mod-ern standardization efforts—traced through dictionary revisions from 1954 to 1973—prioritized “lí” for the toponym, yet local Wu dialect studies show tonal sandhi patterns aligning closer to “lì.” This tension between prescribed norms and organic usage underscores broader challenges in toponymic standardization, where historical, linguistic, and sociocultural factors intersect.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Weiyi Ni
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - A Phonological Study of the Character “丽” in the Place Name “Lishui,” Zhejiang Province
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 427
EP  - 436
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_47
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_47
ID  - Ni2025
ER  -