Translation and Interpretation of a Naxi Dongba-Script Caravan Account Ledger from Eya, Sichuan, with Textual Notes on Problematic Characters
Zeng Xiaopeng presents the first known Dongba-script account ledger recording caravan (mabang) provisions, found in 2019 at Eya, Muli County, Sichuan -- seven lines and ninety-two characters listing food, cloth, salt, and fodder a family procured for a trip to Muli. Using a five-way comparison of original text, phonetic transcription, character gloss, word-for-word and full translation, the article works through each line, then undertakes an extended philological investigation of a recurring unidentified character. Consulting local Dongba priests, Yu Suisheng, and Rock's glossary, and surveying 26 variant glyphs across the Complete Annotated Translation of Naxi Dongba Ancient Texts, the author concludes the character is a pictograph of the plough-casting mould (lifan), sorts its variants into three types reflecting different viewing angles of the mould and evolving ploughshare shapes, and traces how the same glyph came to mean 'origin/provenance' through a semantic shift paralleled by cases in early Chinese script.
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