禪

The pronunciation of "siâm" for 禪 is very common in Taiwan. The normal pronunciation should be "siên".  Do you have this siâm pronunciation in Fujian or Chaozhou?

Siâm should be just a corruption or an instance of hypercorrection as 禪 is just a transliteration of the Sanskrit word "dhyāna".

Tim

禪：siân。
佇咱福建遮，罕咧聽儂講著“禪”，因為咱遮宗教的代誌較少儂咧插，媒體嘛無夠開化，罕咧報道宗教的代誌。我看台灣的電視，定定有咧報道宗教，有法師出來咧講演；恁台灣佫有宗教電台、電視，真正無簡單。

“蝉”收 -m 尾，在赣闽客粤都可以见到，不知所来。

“禅”收 -m 尾，广州话也这样。从“禅那”（Dhyana）对音看不应收 -m 尾。有可能是“蝉”收 -m 尾，使得以“单”为声旁的字出现的类推现象。广州话“单禅婵”都有 sim 之异读。

禅蝉婵，潮汕也是读“siâm”， 在山兄说的类推是有可能的，但似乎不是从“蝉”字类推，不知所据为何？因中古韵书“蝉婵禅”俱为时连切，都不是收-m的。

In Taiwan 蟬 and 嬋 are all read as "siên". But as these are not daily words, most people do not know how to read them. My guess is that the "siâm" pronunciation might be a result of analogy on words like 蟾蜍 (siâm-sû).

Another possible cause of the confusion could be like the English way of saying 可汗 as Khan or Cham. Cham is a variant of Khan, but somehow I presume it could be related to 單于.

Tim

“禅” in some areas of Chao-shan, like Shantou, also has the pronunciation of "siâng", as is indicated in Lin Lunlun's New Teochew Dictionary. However, in many areas where the -m ending is still preserved, the pronunciation "siâm" is more often seen, which makes me assume that "siâng" < "siâm", as a result of the influence of Chenghai accent, where -m has been lost and all words originally with -m ending are now ended with -ng. Another character "阐" also has two pronunciations, siâm/siâng.

单于 in Teochew is pronounced generally as "Siâng-u", though in Teochew with Jieyang accent the pronunciation has changed into "Siáng-u". No "siâm/siám" variety here. And, when "单" is used as a surname (i.e. the mandarin "Shann"), we say "Siâm" in Jieyang, but in Shantou "Siâng" is also heard. So the name "单雄信" can be pronounced as Siâm Hiông-sèng or Siâng Hiông-sìng.

Another very strange phenomenon is that "嫦娥", which should be pronounced as "Siâng-ngô" in Teochew, also has a surprising variety in Jieyang as "Siâm-ngô". That over-analogy in pronunciation is really astonishing...

潘悟云认为“单于”对应于突厥语的 tarqan ，在上古汉语中会见到汉语 -n 与外语 -r 对音的例子云。如此则“单于”之“单”本来也不收 -m 尾。

王维《辋川闲居赠裴秀才迪》“湲蝉烟前”相押，这首诗里的“蝉”当然也不会是收 -m 尾的。

“蝉单婵禅”都不算非常常用的字，但“蝉”收 -m 尾在现在的方言中最常见。我怀疑是“蝉”字首先发生了变异，引得其他以“单”为声旁的字也收 -m 尾来着。

[ 本帖最後由 在山 於 2007-9-29 20:35 編輯 ]