Talk:離別

Middle-Chinese reconstruction

Each of the two characters had multiple readings in MC. I am basing the reading on tonal pattern (平仄) analysis in regulated verses (律詩):

與君離別意，同是宦遊人。(王勃) Tones: 上平平入去，平上去平平。 Patterns: 仄平平仄仄/平仄仄平平 (Italic indicates 拗救).

Also:

故關衰草遍，離別正堪悲。 (盧綸) -- 去平平上去，平入去平平。 -- same patterns as above.

We are thus led to the conclusion that 離 in 離別 was of the 平 tone, corresponding to Wiktionary MC reading No. 1.

The reconstruction of 別 in 離別 requires semantic analysis.

The two fanqies for 別 has either 並母 (/*b-/, No. 1) or 幫母 (/*p-/, No. 2) as the initial. According to rhyming dictionaries, the sense "to depart; to say goodbye" corresponds to the first reading, while the second reading is used for the sense "to differentiate; to discriminate; to tell apart". A summary can be found here: https://ytenx.org/zim?dzih=%E5%88%A5&dzyen=1&jtkb=1&jtkd=1&jtdt=1&jtgt=1

It becomes clear that the first reading should be preferred.

With the readings in MC found, I then selected the reconstructed OC reading numbers in both Baxter–Sagart and Zhengzhang systems. --Frigoris (talk) 15:58, 23 May 2020 (UTC)