<p>The first two (and the &quot;Shizhoupian script&quot; one) are <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A2%AC" rel="noreferrer">墬</a> in the <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9A%B6%E5%AE%9A" rel="noreferrer">隶定</a> (transcription in modern type of characters component by component) , and this character (墬) was now considered as ancient form of 地. As for it's left radical, is 阝 (阜), means something related to hill.</p>
<p>The third one can be transcribed as <a href="https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&amp;char=%F0%AB%AD%A9" rel="noreferrer"></a> (U+2BB69), and the radical 阝 was omitted soon after, so we have 地 in stead.</p>
<p>In 墬 and 地, the 彖 (*l̥ʰjelʔ) and 也 (*laːlʔ) were just phonetic components.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/whAsc.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/whAsc.png" alt="From 李学勤: 字源, 2012" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T17:28:20.070Z
2021-07-30T17:28:20.070Z
Ciccione
<p>「地」 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Baxter-Sagart OC</a>: <strong>/*[l]ˤej-s/</strong>, <em>ground</em>) is comprised of semantic <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=40" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「土」 (<em>picture of a lump of dirt</em>)</a> and phonetic <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=30" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「也」</a> (<strong>/*lAjʔ/</strong>). This structure is found relatively late, derived from a graphical corruption of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Qín Dynasty</a> forms  which used the highly similar sound component <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=226" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「它」</a> (<strong>/*l̥ˤaj/</strong>).</p>
<p><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">秦</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips" rel="nofollow noreferrer">簡</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/L7Ok7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/L7Ok7.png" alt="地" /></a><br>封診式65<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">睡虎地秦簡</a></kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty#Western_Han" rel="nofollow noreferrer">西漢</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/m5DRw.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/m5DRw.png" alt="地" /></a><br>相馬經20下<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui_Silk_Texts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">馬王堆帛書</a></kbd><kbd><br><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B8%E5%AE%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸定</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/swqW7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/swqW7.png" alt="坨" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
<p><kbd><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">篆</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/3NdXk.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/3NdXk.png" alt="地" /></a><br><a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;file=77392&amp;page=61" rel="nofollow noreferrer">土部</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">說文解字</a></kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty#Eastern_Han" rel="nofollow noreferrer">東漢</a><br>隸<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7lGk0.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7lGk0.png" alt="地" /></a><br>白石神君碑<br>　</kbd><kbd><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">楷</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/DKc2x.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/DKc2x.png" alt="地" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
<p><sub>Note carefully that the forms above are strictly to be interpreted as 「地」, not  <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9D%A8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">what we now read as 「坨」</a>, which is a different character (i.e. represents a different word).</sub></p>
<p>The reproduction of that table on Wiktionary is as follows, with component-wise <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B8%E5%AE%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">regular script transcription</a>:</p>
<div class="s-table-container">
<table class="s-table">
<thead>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: center;">時期<br>字體</th>
<th style="text-align: center;">字形｜<a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B8%E5%AE%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸定</a></th>
<th style="text-align: center;">參考資料</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou" rel="nofollow noreferrer">西周</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">金</a><br></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/cjiAU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cjiAU.png" alt="墬" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;">㝬簋<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=4317&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成4317</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">戰國</a>・<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_(Chinese_state)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">晉</a><br>金</td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/0OvaW.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/0OvaW.png" alt="⿻又" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;">壺<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=9734&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成9734</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">戰國・<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">楚</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips" rel="nofollow noreferrer">簡</a>帛</td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fRV4s.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fRV4s.png" alt="⿱陀土" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;">2.6<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_Silk_Manuscript" rel="nofollow noreferrer">楚帛</a>乙篇</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">篆</a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RkTZe.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RkTZe.png" alt="墬" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;file=77392&amp;page=61" rel="nofollow noreferrer">土部・籀文</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">說文解字</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">篆</td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/peVIJ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/peVIJ.png" alt="地" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;">土部<br>說文解字</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div><hr />
<p><kbd><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/cjiAU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cjiAU.png" alt="墬" /></a><br>　</kbd><kbd><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RkTZe.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RkTZe.png" alt="墬" /></a><br>　</kbd></p>
<p>This is the shape that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Shuōwén</em></a>'s <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E7%B1%80%E6%96%87" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Shizhoupian</em> script</a> refers to. It is an old form of 「地」 only in the sense that <em>Shuōwén</em> considers it to be so; when reading the actual inscription that this character is found on, the word or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme" rel="nofollow noreferrer">morpheme</a> that it represents is now written as 「施」 (Mandarin Pinyin: <strong>yì</strong>, <em>to reach, to extend</em>). From the Late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Western Zhou</a> inscription <a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=4317&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">㝬簋《殷周金文集成》4317</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/x2Vat.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/x2Vat.jpg" alt="㝬簋" /></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>王曰：「有余隹（雖）小子，余亡㝩（康）晝夜，巠（經）【⿻攴】（雝）先王，用配皇天。簧（黃＞光）黹朕心，<strong>墬（施）于亖（四）方</strong>。【⿰㣇聿】（肆）余㠯（以）【⿰食⿱匕矢】（義）士獻民，爯盩（調）先王宗室。」</p>
<p>。。。。。。</p>
<p><em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Li_of_Zhou" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The king</a> said: &quot;Even though I am but a lowly fellow, I tirelessly uphold the principles of the former sovereigns from dawn till dusk, in accordance with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven" rel="nofollow noreferrer">will of Heaven</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Heaven</a> fills my heart with glory, and its light <strong>extends everywhere, far and wide</strong>. Thus, I work with my virtuous men to harmoniously bring about the establishments of my royal ancestors.&quot;</em></p>
<p>...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Then, even if we do consider this character to be a variation on 「地」, it is still strictly a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification#Rebus_%28phonetic_loan%29_characters" rel="nofollow noreferrer">rebus borrowing</a> in this occurrence. <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=6278" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「彖」</a> (<strong>/*l̥ˤo[r]-s/</strong>) here possibly acts directly as a phonetic hint, or may be a glyph derivative of <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=699" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「豕」</a> (<strong>/*l̥ajʔ/</strong>) as the original phonetic hint.</p>
<hr />
<p><kbd><br><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/0OvaW.png" alt="⿻又" /><br>　</kbd></p>
<p>Characters in this series were prolific in the late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Spring and Autumn</a> and during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Warring States period</a>. For example,</p>
<ul>
<li><kbd>戰國・晉<br>玉片<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RboD4.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RboD4.png" alt="⿰阝豕" /></a><br>侯馬盟書<br>　</kbd><kbd><br>隸定<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Zxt7n.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Zxt7n.png" alt="⿰阝豕" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></li>
<li><kbd>戰國・<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_(state)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">齊</a><br>陶文<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/iIjDJ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/iIjDJ.png" alt="" /></a><br>3.641<br>古陶文彙編</kbd><kbd><br>隸定<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/lzAWl.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/lzAWl.png" alt="" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></li>
<li><kbd>戰國・楚<br>簡<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/D6XYJ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/D6XYJ.png" alt="" /></a><br>忠信之道5<br>郭店竹簡</kbd><kbd><br>隸定<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/lzAWl.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/lzAWl.png" alt="" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></li>
</ul>
<p>The key components here are semantic <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=1095" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「阜・・阝」 (<em>picture of a row of hills</em>)</a> and phonetic <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=699" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「豕」</a> (<strong>/*l̥ajʔ/</strong>). An additional semantic 「土」 eventually was added permanently, but other components like 「又」, 「止」, etc. were non crucial and didn't stick around.</p>
<p>Unlike 「墬」, characters in this series could be concretely read as 「地」 (<em>ground, earth</em>). From the Warring States inscription <a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=9734&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">壺《殷周金文集成》9734</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jD13Z.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jD13Z.png" alt="壺" /></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>。。。。。。</p>
<p>先王之㥁（德），弗可【⿺辵⿱复口】（復）【⿱目又】（得）。【⿱雨】<sub>二</sub>（潸潸）流【⿱雨⿰米弟】（涕），不（敢）寧處。<strong>敬命新【⿻又】（地）</strong>，雨（）祠先王，【⿰歺】（世）<sub>二</sub>母（毋）【⿰立⿱山㔾】（犯），㠯追庸先王之工（功）剌（烈）。子<sub>二</sub>孫<sub>二</sub>，母又（有）不敬，惥（寅）（祗）承祀。</p>
<p>...</p>
<p><em>The virtues of the former sovereigns cannot be regotten; tearfully, I am fearful of residing peacefully. In our <strong>new lands</strong>, performing the rites to the royal ancestors, generations upon generations without fail, we pursue the achievements of the former sovereigns. My sons and grandsons are to be without irreverence, and to carry on and uphold the rites with veneration.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p><kbd><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fRV4s.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fRV4s.png" alt="⿱陀土" /></a><br>　</kbd></p>
<p>This series of characters uses the alternative sound component <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=226" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「它」</a> (<strong>/*l̥ˤaj/</strong>), and was also frequently found with the omission of 「阜・・阝」.</p>
<p><kbd>戰國・楚<br>簡<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/BRTzK.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/BRTzK.png" alt="坨" /></a><br>149<br>包山竹簡</kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">秦</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips" rel="nofollow noreferrer">簡</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/L7Ok7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/L7Ok7.png" alt="地" /></a><br>封診式65<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">睡虎地秦簡</a></kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty#Western_Han" rel="nofollow noreferrer">西漢</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/m5DRw.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/m5DRw.png" alt="地" /></a><br>相馬經20下<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui_Silk_Texts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">馬王堆帛書</a></kbd><kbd><br>隸定<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/swqW7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/swqW7.png" alt="坨" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
<p>As mentioned at the beginning, the ancestor of the modern 「地」 is from graphical corruption of the 「它」 component into 「也」. As part of other characters, 「它」 and 「也」 became graphically mixed up some time during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hàn period</a>.<sup><a href="http://www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/web/show/570" rel="nofollow noreferrer">[ref]</a><a href="http://www.bsm.org.cn/show_article.php?id=1475" rel="nofollow noreferrer">[ref]</a></sup></p>
<hr />
<p>This thing</p>
<p><kbd><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/MrMqE.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/MrMqE.png" alt="" /></a><br>　</kbd></p>
<p>does not seem to be found in excavated texts, at least with an interpretation of 「地」. I believe that the intended regular script transcription is supposed to be 「埅」, but the lack of excavation records makes it difficult to trace character usage.</p>
<p><sub>But boy, does that top-right component <a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=155" rel="nofollow noreferrer">look like 「犬」</a>.</sub></p>
<hr />
<p><strong>References:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>裘錫圭《文字學概要》</li>
<li>劉翔・陳抗・陳初生・董琨《商周古文字讀本》</li>
<li><a href="http://www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/Web/Show/373" rel="nofollow noreferrer">陳劍《金文“彖”字考釋・上》</a></li>
<li>何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》</li>
<li><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》</a></li>
<li><a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">小學堂</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian" rel="nofollow noreferrer">字形演變</a></li>
<li><a href="https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/variants" rel="nofollow noreferrer">異體字表</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T01:09:43.147Z
In your answer https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17063/glyph-origin-of-%E4%B9%9F, you said that「也」("to wail or cry") was later written as「嗁」and now written as「啼」, and then you highlighted "Please take note of the phonetic component of「嗁」;「遞」and「地」are homonyms in Mandarin, and the latter uses「也」as a phonetic component." So somehow there seems to be a strong relationship between「也」and some sound of "di", yet the reconstructed pronunciations「也」 (/*lAjʔ/) and「豕」 (/*l̥ajʔ/) and 「它」 (/*l̥ˤaj/) seem nothing related to "di". Is there any information as to how this sound change occured?
D.R
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T01:40:42.127Z
cont: as in how those "Old Chinese homophones" are related to the sound "di", and how they are related to their very different modern pronunciations (ye, shi, and ta resp.)?
D.R
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T01:49:10.647Z
@D.R The other answer (https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/17067/18338) provides the reconstruction pathway from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese to modern varieties for several characters with phonetic 「也」, but I gather that you're looking for a linguistic *mechanism* for how this may have occurred? If that's the case, I think you can post what may be a very interesting question, although I would consider asking that on linguistics.stackexchange.com rather than here, as I have a feeling that such a mechanism applies to other languages as well.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T03:14:49.057Z
Posted linguistics.SE question: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/41625/mechanisms-as-to-how-the-pronunciations-of-%e4%b9%9f-and-its-old-chinese-homophones
D.R
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T06:14:34.087Z
Note: After carefully reviewing the explanation in 《說文新證》, its explanation for the earliest appearance of 「地」 became rather unconvincing, so I modified the answer a bit to explain 「地」's origins as a graphical corruption of the 「它」 component into 「也」.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T08:40:02.033Z
Do you think the corruption occurred because the two characters sounded very similar in the past, or looked very similar?
D.R
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T08:50:35.453Z
@D.R The reason for graphical corruption is *always* due to graphical similarity; such similarities simply increase the chance of scribal error. Other factors, like phonetic or semantic similarity compared with the original component, may hasten the changed component's acceptance and proliferation among the literati, but won't be the primary cause. There are a bunch of corrupted components in the modern script which have no relations (that is, neither semantic nor phonetic) to the original component.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T09:48:40.737Z
Sort of unrelated question: the「它」character originated from a drawing of a snake or tongue, but what did it used to mean/be used for? (Doesn’t seem to *mean* snake…). I also assume the “3rd person pronoun” usage/pronunciation only came much later? I looked around the guoxuedashi website (http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=它) but couldn’t interpret what was written.
D.R
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T10:32:04.177Z
@D.R The state of this academic field will have us accept that we won't be able to find excavated texts which record the original meaning of every character, for the simple reason that bamboo records from the Shang-Zhou period have long since rotted away. 萬, for example, is a picture of a scorpion, but you probably won't ever find this character being used for the meaning *scorpion* - mostly you'll see the character taking on the meaning *ten thousand*, with the original word that this character represented being now written as 蠆.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-01T10:35:24.543Z
In early records, 它 is a rebus borrowing for either a third-person pronoun, a word for *wash basin* (now written 匜), or a proper noun for the name of a person or state.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-31T06:49:02.670Z
2021-08-01T06:14:42.760Z
2021-08-01T06:14:42.760Z
dROOOze
<p>The glyph origin section of <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0" rel="noreferrer">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0</a> shows characters that look nothing like the modern &quot;地&quot; (with the exception of the &quot;Small Seal Script&quot; in &quot;Shuowen Jiezi&quot;):
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/aNuWZ.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/aNuWZ.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>I am wondering if someone can interpret/break-down the components of these historical glyphs (what is the radical on the left? I see many characters have &quot;土&quot; in the bottom, but I do not know that the stuff on top of the &quot;土&quot; is), and explain when and how the modern character arose.</p>
<p>I did look at <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17063/glyph-origin-of-%E4%B9%9F">Glyph origin of 也</a>, but would like to know more about the characters in the image above.</p>

<characters><etymology><glyph-origin><history><character-components>
Meaning of early written versions of 地 and etymology?
# Meaning of early written versions of 地 and etymology?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-30)

The glyph origin section of <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0> shows characters that look nothing like the modern "地" (with the exception of the "Small Seal Script" in "Shuowen Jiezi"):
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/aNuWZ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/aNuWZ.png)

I am wondering if someone can interpret/break-down the components of these historical glyphs (what is the radical on the left? I see many characters have "土" in the bottom, but I do not know that the stuff on top of the "土" is), and explain when and how the modern character arose.

I did look at [Glyph origin of 也](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17063/glyph-origin-of-%E4%B9%9F), but would like to know more about the characters in the image above.

**Tags:** characters, etymology, glyph-origin, history, character-components


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-31. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

「地」 ([Baxter-Sagart OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese): **/\*[l]ˤej-s/**, *ground*) is comprised of semantic [「土」 (*picture of a lump of dirt*)](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=40) and phonetic [「也」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=30) (**/\*lAjʔ/**). This structure is found relatively late, derived from a graphical corruption of [Qín Dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty) forms which used the highly similar sound component [「它」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=226) (**/\*l̥ˤaj/**).

`秦  
簡  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/L7Ok7.png)  
封診式65  
睡虎地秦簡``西漢  
隸  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/m5DRw.png)  
相馬經20下  
馬王堆帛書` `隸定  
![坨](https://i.sstatic.net/swqW7.png)`

`篆  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/3NdXk.png)  
土部  
說文解字``東漢  
隸  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/7lGk0.png)  
白石神君碑` `楷  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/DKc2x.png)`

Note carefully that the forms above are strictly to be interpreted as 「地」, not [what we now read as 「坨」](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9D%A8), which is a different character (i.e. represents a different word).

The reproduction of that table on Wiktionary is as follows, with component-wise [regular script transcription](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B8%E5%AE%9A):

| 時期 字體 | 字形｜[隸定](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B8%E5%AE%9A) | 參考資料 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [西周](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou) [金](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions) | [墬](https://i.sstatic.net/cjiAU.png) | 㝬簋 [集成4317](http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=4317&jgwfl=) |
| [戰國](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period)・[晉](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_(Chinese_state)) 金 | [⿻又](https://i.sstatic.net/0OvaW.png) | 壺 [集成9734](http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=9734&jgwfl=) |
| 戰國・[楚](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)) [簡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips)帛 | [⿱陀土](https://i.sstatic.net/fRV4s.png) | 2.6 [楚帛](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_Silk_Manuscript)乙篇 |
| [篆](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script) | [墬](https://i.sstatic.net/RkTZe.png) | [土部・籀文](https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=77392&page=61) [說文解字](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi) |
| 篆 | [地](https://i.sstatic.net/peVIJ.png) | 土部 說文解字 |

---

`![墬](https://i.sstatic.net/cjiAU.png)` `![墬](https://i.sstatic.net/RkTZe.png)`

This is the shape that the [*Shuōwén*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi)'s [*Shizhoupian* script](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E7%B1%80%E6%96%87) refers to. It is an old form of 「地」 only in the sense that *Shuōwén* considers it to be so; when reading the actual inscription that this character is found on, the word or [morpheme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme) that it represents is now written as 「施」 (Mandarin Pinyin: **yì**, *to reach, to extend*). From the Late [Western Zhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou) inscription [㝬簋《殷周金文集成》4317](http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=4317&jgwfl=):

[![㝬簋](https://i.sstatic.net/x2Vat.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/x2Vat.jpg)

> 王曰：「有余隹（雖）小子，余亡㝩（康）晝夜，巠（經）【⿻攴】（雝）先王，用配皇天。簧（黃＞光）黹朕心，**墬（施）于亖（四）方**。【⿰㣇聿】（肆）余㠯（以）【⿰食⿱匕矢】（義）士獻民，爯盩（調）先王宗室。」
>
> 。。。。。。
>
> *[The king](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Li_of_Zhou) said: "Even though I am but a lowly fellow, I tirelessly uphold the principles of the former sovereigns from dawn till dusk, in accordance with the [will of Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven). [Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian) fills my heart with glory, and its light **extends everywhere, far and wide**. Thus, I work with my virtuous men to harmoniously bring about the establishments of my royal ancestors."*
>
> ...

Then, even if we do consider this character to be a variation on 「地」, it is still strictly a [rebus borrowing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification#Rebus_%28phonetic_loan%29_characters) in this occurrence. [「彖」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=6278) (**/\*l̥ˤo[r]-s/**) here possibly acts directly as a phonetic hint, or may be a glyph derivative of [「豕」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=699) (**/\*l̥ajʔ/**) as the original phonetic hint.

---

`![⿻又](https://i.sstatic.net/0OvaW.png)`

Characters in this series were prolific in the late [Spring and Autumn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period) and during the [Warring States period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period). For example,

* `戰國・晉  
  玉片  
  ![⿰阝豕](https://i.sstatic.net/RboD4.png)  
  侯馬盟書` `隸定  
  ![⿰阝豕](https://i.sstatic.net/Zxt7n.png)`
* `戰國・齊  
  陶文  
  ![](https://i.sstatic.net/iIjDJ.png)  
  3.641  
  古陶文彙編` `隸定  
  ![](https://i.sstatic.net/lzAWl.png)`
* `戰國・楚  
  簡  
  ![](https://i.sstatic.net/D6XYJ.png)  
  忠信之道5  
  郭店竹簡` `隸定  
  ![](https://i.sstatic.net/lzAWl.png)`

The key components here are semantic [「阜・・阝」 (*picture of a row of hills*)](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=1095) and phonetic [「豕」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=699) (**/\*l̥ajʔ/**). An additional semantic 「土」 eventually was added permanently, but other components like 「又」, 「止」, etc. were non crucial and didn't stick around.

Unlike 「墬」, characters in this series could be concretely read as 「地」 (*ground, earth*). From the Warring States inscription [壺《殷周金文集成》9734](http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=9734&jgwfl=):

[![壺](https://i.sstatic.net/jD13Z.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/jD13Z.png)

> 。。。。。。
>
> 先王之㥁（德），弗可【⿺辵⿱复口】（復）【⿱目又】（得）。【⿱雨】二（潸潸）流【⿱雨⿰米弟】（涕），不（敢）寧處。**敬命新【⿻又】（地）**，雨（）祠先王，【⿰歺】（世）二母（毋）【⿰立⿱山㔾】（犯），㠯追庸先王之工（功）剌（烈）。子二孫二，母又（有）不敬，惥（寅）（祗）承祀。
>
> ...
>
> *The virtues of the former sovereigns cannot be regotten; tearfully, I am fearful of residing peacefully. In our **new lands**, performing the rites to the royal ancestors, generations upon generations without fail, we pursue the achievements of the former sovereigns. My sons and grandsons are to be without irreverence, and to carry on and uphold the rites with veneration.*

---

`![⿱陀土](https://i.sstatic.net/fRV4s.png)`

This series of characters uses the alternative sound component [「它」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=226) (**/\*l̥ˤaj/**), and was also frequently found with the omission of 「阜・・阝」.

`戰國・楚  
簡  
![坨](https://i.sstatic.net/BRTzK.png)  
149  
包山竹簡``秦  
簡  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/L7Ok7.png)  
封診式65  
睡虎地秦簡``西漢  
隸  
![地](https://i.sstatic.net/m5DRw.png)  
相馬經20下  
馬王堆帛書` `隸定  
![坨](https://i.sstatic.net/swqW7.png)`

As mentioned at the beginning, the ancestor of the modern 「地」 is from graphical corruption of the 「它」 component into 「也」. As part of other characters, 「它」 and 「也」 became graphically mixed up some time during the [Hàn period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty).[[ref]](http://www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/web/show/570)[[ref]](http://www.bsm.org.cn/show_article.php?id=1475)

---

This thing

`![](https://i.sstatic.net/MrMqE.png)`

does not seem to be found in excavated texts, at least with an interpretation of 「地」. I believe that the intended regular script transcription is supposed to be 「埅」, but the lack of excavation records makes it difficult to trace character usage.

But boy, does that top-right component [look like 「犬」](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=155).

---

**References:**

* 裘錫圭《文字學概要》
* 劉翔・陳抗・陳初生・董琨《商周古文字讀本》
* [陳劍《金文“彖”字考釋・上》](http://www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/Web/Show/373)
* 何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
* [中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》](http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/)
* [小學堂](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/)
  + [字形演變](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian)
  + [異體字表](https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/variants)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: In your answer https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/17063/glyph-origin-of-%E4%B9%9F, you said that「也」("to wail or cry") was later written as「嗁」and now written as「啼」, and then you highlighted "Please take note of the phonetic component of「嗁」;「遞」and「地」are homonyms in Mandarin, and the latter uses「也」as a phonetic component." So somehow there seems to be a strong relationship between「也」and some sound of "di", yet the reconstructed pronunciations「也」 (/*lAjʔ/) and「豕」 (/*l̥ajʔ/) and 「它」 (/*l̥ˤaj/) seem nothing related to "di". Is there any information as to how this sound change occured?  
> **username_0**: cont: as in how those "Old Chinese homophones" are related to the sound "di", and how they are related to their very different modern pronunciations (ye, shi, and ta resp.)?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 The other answer (https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/17067/18338) provides the reconstruction pathway from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese to modern varieties for several characters with phonetic 「也」, but I gather that you're looking for a linguistic *mechanism* for how this may have occurred? If that's the case, I think you can post what may be a very interesting question, although I would consider asking that on linguistics.stackexchange.com rather than here, as I have a feeling that such a mechanism applies to other languages as well.  
> **username_0**: Posted linguistics.SE question: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/41625/mechanisms-as-to-how-the-pronunciations-of-%e4%b9%9f-and-its-old-chinese-homophones  
> **username_2**: Note: After carefully reviewing the explanation in 《說文新證》, its explanation for the earliest appearance of 「地」 became rather unconvincing, so I modified the answer a bit to explain 「地」's origins as a graphical corruption of the 「它」 component into 「也」.  
> **username_0**: Do you think the corruption occurred because the two characters sounded very similar in the past, or looked very similar?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 The reason for graphical corruption is *always* due to graphical similarity; such similarities simply increase the chance of scribal error. Other factors, like phonetic or semantic similarity compared with the original component, may hasten the changed component's acceptance and proliferation among the literati, but won't be the primary cause. There are a bunch of corrupted components in the modern script which have no relations (that is, neither semantic nor phonetic) to the original component.  
> **username_0**: Sort of unrelated question: the「它」character originated from a drawing of a snake or tongue, but what did it used to mean/be used for? (Doesn’t seem to *mean* snake…). I also assume the “3rd person pronoun” usage/pronunciation only came much later? I looked around the guoxuedashi website (http://www.guoxuedashi.net/yzjwjc/?bh=它) but couldn’t interpret what was written.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 The state of this academic field will have us accept that we won't be able to find excavated texts which record the original meaning of every character, for the simple reason that bamboo records from the Shang-Zhou period have long since rotted away. 萬, for example, is a picture of a scorpion, but you probably won't ever find this character being used for the meaning *scorpion* - mostly you'll see the character taking on the meaning *ten thousand*, with the original word that this character represented being now written as 蠆.  
> **username_2**: In early records, 它 is a rebus borrowing for either a third-person pronoun, a word for *wash basin* (now written 匜), or a proper noun for the name of a person or state.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-07-30. Score: 6

The first two (and the "Shizhoupian script" one) are [墬](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A2%AC) in the [隶定](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9A%B6%E5%AE%9A) (transcription in modern type of characters component by component) , and this character (墬) was now considered as ancient form of 地. As for it's left radical, is 阝 (阜), means something related to hill.

The third one can be transcribed as  (U+2BB69), and the radical 阝 was omitted soon after, so we have 地 in stead.

In 墬 and 地, the 彖 (\*l̥ʰjelʔ) and 也 (\*laːlʔ) were just phonetic components.

[![From 李学勤: 字源, 2012](https://i.sstatic.net/whAsc.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/whAsc.png)


---

