烏弋山離
Chinese
phonetic | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (烏弋山離) | 烏 | 弋 | 山 | 離 | |
simp. (乌弋山离) | 乌 | 弋 | 山 | 离 |
Etymology
First recorded in Chinese historiography in the Book of Han (《漢書·西域傳》) [2nd century]. Pulleyblank (1999) considers the derivation from Ancient Greek Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Alexándreia) "long accepted", connects it with one of the numerous settlements bearing the name in what is now modern Afghanistan, and further notices that the final character 離 (MC liᴇ) would have corresponded to the level-tone (平聲) reading in Middle Chinese.
Doublet of 阿荔散, 亚历山大.
Pronunciation
Proper noun
烏弋山離
- (~國) (historical) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: (Yu, 1998)
- Alexandria Arion, near Herat
- Alexandria Arachosia, near Kandahar
- Alexandria Prophthasia, possibly related to modern Farah
- Alexandria in Opiana, near modern Ghazni