A list of plants that are mispronounced | You can read urticaria, but you can’t read “stinging nettle”?

The Chinese names of plants are like refined codes, containing rich information such as their origin and morphological characteristics, without lengthy descriptions in biological terms. However, given the profound heritage and long history of Chinese characters, plant names have undergone many changes over the long years.

To this end, Tadpole Music specially invited Mr. Wei Deyong from the Shenzhen Writers Association to conduct an in-depth analysis of those common but easily mispronounced or misread plant names from multiple dimensions such as their naming origins, biological characteristics, and historical evolution.

As a common and frequent allergic skin disease, the main symptoms of urticaria are severe itching of the skin and the appearance of red or pale wheals of varying sizes. Although these wheals usually disappear within a few hours to a day after taking medication, the recurrence of urticaria often causes great distress to patients.

The origin of the name urticaria vividly depicts the pain suffered by the patient's skin, which is as unbearable as being stung by the nettle plant.

Nettle image source: Zhangguiba Garden official website

In the word urticaria, the word "寻" is pronounced as xún, while the pronunciation of the word "寻" is completely different when referring to the plant nettle.

This phenomenon of the same Chinese character having different pronunciations in different contexts is extremely rare in plant naming. The origin of this unique language phenomenon can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago.

The pronunciation evolution is not unified

The word "寻" originally referred to a kind of grass that can be used in traditional Chinese medicine and is pronounced tán.

According to Er Ya (written in the Western Han Dynasty), nettle is a wild grass that grows in the mountains. Its leaves are similar to leeks and it is also called Zhimu. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shuowen Jiezi (written in 100 AD) defined "xun" as "䒞藩" and regarded it as the scientific name of Zhimu, which has been used for nearly a thousand years.

Zhimu, before the Song Dynasty, was called "Xun", pronounced tán

Image source: Daily Medicine Network

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the development of medicine reached a new height. At this time, the word "nettle" began to appear frequently in medical works, and the word "nettle" was no longer used alone.

In "Yibu Fangwu Lueji" (written in 1057 AD, author Song Qi), nettle is called scorpion grass, meaning that it has the characteristic of stinging people like a scorpion; "Tujing Materia Medica" (written in 1061 AD, author Su Song) records that the whole nettle plant can be used as medicine, which has the effects of dispelling wind and calming the nerves, and promoting digestion and laxative effects; "Zhenghe Zhenglei Materia Medica" (written in 1081 AD, author Tang Shenwei) further describes the growth area of ​​nettle, saying that it grows in the mountains and fields of Jiangning Prefecture, and local villagers use it to treat snake venom.

At the same time, the pronunciation of the word "循" in "陰麻" (nettle) also changed: the original pronunciation of tán was gradually abandoned, and two new pronunciations were added, namely xún and qián. When pronounced as qián, it means the original character "䕭"; when pronounced as xún, it is regarded as a later character of "䕭", that is, a variant character with the same pronunciation and meaning. Both pronunciations were quite popular at the time.

Although Ming Dynasty medical scientist Li Shizhen clearly pointed out in Compendium of Materia Medica·Herbs·Urtilla that the word "寻" should be "䕭" and pronounced as xún, this statement has not been widely circulated, and later philologists still insist that the word "寻" has two pronunciations.

Different reading standards spread misinformation

The real confusion about the pronunciation of the word "寻" originated from the revision of different pronunciations of Mandarin in the 1950s and 1960s.

In the early days of liberation, due to the low literacy rate, people were accustomed to reading the word "寻" in nettles and urticaria as xún. The Xinhua Dictionary at that time included the word "寻", but did not include its original character "䕭", so the pronunciation of "寻" was naturally determined to be xún.

However, in 1963, the National Mandarin Pronunciation Review Committee revised the pronunciation of the word "寻" in the "Draft of the Three-time Pronunciation List of Mandarin Words with Different Pronunciations", canceling the original xún pronunciation and changing it to qián.

This revision even affected the compilation of the new editions of the Xinhua Dictionary and the Modern Chinese Dictionary, both of which changed the pronunciation of the word "寻" to qián. This may be because the philological experts at the time believed that the pronunciation of Chinese characters should return to their original pronunciation.

The first draft of the three-step phonetic table of different pronunciations of Mandarin words published in 1963

Nevertheless, since doctors and patients often use the word "urticaria", they are still accustomed to reading "寻" as xún. In contrast, since the general public rarely comes into contact with the word "阴", this revision has little impact on the general public.

Out of consideration for the principles of word usage, despite the suspicion of misinformation, the "Draft Revised Pronunciation Table for Mandarin Words with Different Pronunciations" formulated by the state in 1985 still adjusted the pronunciation of the word "寻" again.

The revised draft defines the word "循" as a polyphonic character and clearly states that the "循" in "陰麻" is pronounced as qián and the "循" in "尿麻発" is pronounced as xún. This provision not only respects historical customs but also takes into account actual usage, thus alleviating the confusion of the pronunciation of the word "循" to a certain extent.

Stinging wild herbs can be used as food

The pronunciation of nettle has been controversial for thousands of years. What is its extraordinary origin?

In fact, nettles are notorious in the weed world. From a plant taxonomic point of view, it is a herbaceous plant of the Urticaceae family, Rosaceae, and mainly grows in wastelands, roadsides, and mountains in rural areas. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was particularly widespread in the southwest, and then gradually spread throughout the country.

The stems and leaves of nettles are covered with stinging hairs that most higher plants do not have. These stinging hairs are glandular hairs on the plant's epidermis, which can secrete highly irritating acidic substances such as formic acid and butyric acid, which are professionally called urticaria. Once the human body comes into contact with these stinging hairs, it will feel stinging or rash, just like suffering from urticaria.

However, unlike true urticaria, the stinging or rash caused by nettle usually subsides within a few minutes, and the pain and itching will subside faster if washed with clean water.

Stinging nettle on nettle

Image source: Urtica pilulifera

What is less well known is that despite its bad reputation, stinging nettle has both medicinal and edible value. In terms of medicinal use, the entire plant can be used as a medicine, which has a significant effect on the initial onset of urticaria.

There is a record in "Compendium of Materia Medica": "When urticaria first appears, apply this to the affected area and it will disappear overnight." In short, in the early stage of urticaria, mash the fresh leaves of nettle, extract the juice, and apply it to the affected area, and it will heal overnight.

In terms of consumption, nettle is also a wild vegetable with great nutritional value. Some people even call it "the most nutritious plant on earth." Its leaves are rich in calcium, iron, magnesium and other mineral elements needed by the human body. It can be used to make tea or eaten directly.

Of course, before eating it, it must be processed at high temperatures to remove those unpleasant stinging hairs and urtic acid, leaving behind a delicious dish with a unique taste and rich nutrition.

References:

1. "Why are the Chinese characters for urticaria and urticaria pronounced differently?", Yiwenjuezi, No. 10, 2006

2. "A Study on the Pronunciation and Meaning of the Chinese Character '寻'", author Chen Huibing, Journal of Chongqing Three Gorges University, No. 6, 2007

3. "A review of the exploitable value of Urtica plants", author Li Chengsheng, "Hebei Forestry Science and Technology" No. 3, 2013

Author: Wei Deyong

Member of Guangdong Shenzhen Writers Association

Editor: Dong Xiaoxian

Reviewer: Liu Ying, Li Peiyuan