Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-jswmv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T10:04:34.614Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Chinese Particle Tzeng

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

A. C. Graham*
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Extract

It is well known that the character represents two different particles in classical Chinese. Of these the temporal particle tserng, which refers an event to the indefinite past in the same manner as does charng, hardly appears in the extant literature until late in the third century B.C. According to a note on this word by Inoue Juro , there is only one example in pre-Chyn literature, in the phrase (“There has never been…,”) at the beginning of the first chapter of Mohtzyy. This chapter is among the latest parts of the book, and not necessarily earlier than the third century B.C. The first securely dated example is in the Leushyh chuenchiou, begun under the direction of Leu Buhwei (died 235 B.C.) and completed soon after the victory of the Chyn dynasty in 221 B.C.

Information

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable