xiong and xiang

[Guest guest]

Dear Carl,

 

That's news to me, too. However, it brings up a point that I have noted

before, but never asked: Though the two characters for xiong (1) (as in chuan

xiong) and xiang (1)(fragrant) are completely different, could their be a

relationship etymologically, as their pronounciation is almost identical, even

the tone, both expressing an aromatic quality and volatility, being degraded and

made ineffective by cooking?

 

Yehuda

 

Carl Henryk Wallmark <carlhenryk.wallmark wrote:

Hi!

 

Reading Bob Flaws book, he says that Chuan Xiong should be added to

decoctions for the last minutes of cooking...this is something I never

learned! What is your opinions regarding this?

 

BR

Carl Wallmark

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Yehuda,

 

I too have never seen adding chuan xiong at the end of decocting a formula, but

as far as

" xiong " and " xiang " go, they have no linguistic relationship. Only if the

characters are

similar might there be a relationship. Meanwhile, the difference between an " o "

sound and

an " a " sound in a word makes all the difference. Like in English: " ball " vs.

" bell, " or " ton " vs.

" tan. "

 

" Chuan xiong " translate into " Chuan, " as in Sichuan where it grows. " Xiong "

doesn't have

any meaning (as far as we know) other than the herb's name. The character is

made up of

a phonetic combined with the " herb " radical. No relation to fragrant.

 

abigail

 

>Though the two characters for xiong (1) (as in chuan xiong) and xiang

(1)(fragrant) are

>completely different, could their be a relationship etymologically, as their

>pronounciation is almost identical, even the tone, both expressing an aromatic

quality

>and volatility, being degraded and made ineffective by cooking?