Talk:滬

Etymology

What is the etymology--i.e., how is it that this character can also mean "Shanghai," when the word doesn't appear to be related linguistically to that place name? 24.93.170.200 18:26, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

According to the Chinese Wikipedia article for 上海市 (Shanghai), during the Jin Dynasty (265–420), the inhabitants of the coastal areas near the Suzhou Creek (the location of modern day Shanghai) made their living as fisherman. They had invented a bamboo device for catching fish, which they called 扈. Because the area near where the Creek entered into the sea was called 瀆／渎 at the time, the lower reaches of Suzhou Creek came to be called 扈瀆／扈渎. Later on, a water radical was added to the first character (i.e. 扈瀆／扈渎 was changed to 滬瀆／沪渎). The first character 滬／沪 (an abbreviation of the original place name) has survived in written texts to the present day. One of the uses is for license plates (see: License plates of the People's Republic of China). -- A-cai 23:17, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Excellent work--this information should be added to the "Etymology" section of the entry, regarding this sense of the word. 24.93.170.200 23:50, 24 November 2007 (UTC)