说“困(睏)”

On the Verb Kùn (困/睏)

方言表示"睡"义,主要有"睡"和"睏"两系。本文依据文献考察"困(睏)"的历史。唐代"睡"兴起,约莫从晚唐五代起,"困"在南方开始向"睡"义转化,此后逐渐形成南北对立。"困(睏)"在明代后期的吴语文献中用法已经跟现代吴语无别。现代方言中"睡"和"困(睏)"的分布格局大概形成于宋代以后。

It is known that in Chinese dialects two verbs are mainly employed to mean'to sleep',namely,shuì(睡)and kùn(困/睏).Based on literature reading and analysis,the author makes a survey of the historical development mainly of the latter.It is discovered that shuìrises in the Tang dynasty,while from around Late Tang and the Five Dynasties periods onwards,kùn undergoes a semantic transfer to mean shuìin the south of China,ever since when a semantic contrast between the two verbs gradually forms.It is also ascertained that kùn as used in the writings of the Wu dialect in the late period of the Ming dynasty is not different from its counterpart used in present-day Wu dialect.The distribution of the usage of shuìand kùn in modern Chinese dialects takes its shape roughly after the Song dynasty.