[Ads-l] Pagoda, plausibility of a Chinese etymology

[Barretts Mail]

Are the proposed characters 八角樓 and is the Chinese language known?

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 30 Jun 2017, at 14:09, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at MST.EDU> wrote:
> 
> Dear members of ads-l, especially lexicographers:
> 
> Might I draw the following article to your attention:
> 
> David Robbins Tien and Gerald Cohen: "Chinese Origin of the
> 
> Term 'Pagoda': Liang Sicheng's Proposed Etymology." in:
> 
> Comments on Etymology, vol. 46, no. 7 (April 2017). 13 pages.
> 
> 
> The article is online (enter: "Gerald Cohen, pagoda" and select
> 
> the Scholars' Mine item.) If there's any problem, I'd be happy
> 
> to e-mail the article as an attachment to anyone interested
> 
> (no charge).
> 
> The bottom line here is that the Chinese etymology of pagoda is both entirely plausible and yet unknown in Western linguistic scholarship. And I must emphasize: credit for all the Chinese content of the article goes to Tien.
> 
> Gerald Cohen

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