Introduction
By the beginning of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127 AD), Fujian province had three cultural and linguistic centers which are Northern, Eastern and Southern and all modern Min languages descended from one of these three.This article talks about the origin and development of Eastern Min languages.
Proto-Wu language
The first significant wave of Han Chinese to north-eastern Fujian came from neighbouring modern-day Zhejiang province during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD). These migrants spoke proto-Wu language.
As the population grew, Jin-An (晉安) commandery was carved out of Jian-An (建安) commandery, with its capital in modern-day Fuzhou (ancient name Hou-Guan 侯官) in 282 AD during the Western Jin dynasty.
Please refer to the 'Origin of Hokkien language' article in this blog for more details.
These migrants brought along the Luoyang (洛陽) dialect of northern China which mixed with the earlier proto-Wu dialect to form proto-Fuzhou.
These proto-Fuzhou speakers lived mainly in Fuzhou (福州) prefecture in the Tang dynasty map below.
Wang Shenzhi (王審知), born in Henan in northern China, established Min kingdom (892-945 AD) with its capital in Fuzhou city. This was the first time that Han Chinese with surname Wang (in Mandarin) aka Ong (in Hokkien) migrated into Fujian province.
Proto-Fuzhou language
The second wave of Han Chinese to north east Fujian happened around 304-316 AD during the Western Jin dynasty. This wave of Han Chinese settled mostly along the lower reaches of Min River around Fuzhou. |
| Mass migration of Han Chinese |
These migrants brought along the Luoyang (洛陽) dialect of northern China which mixed with the earlier proto-Wu dialect to form proto-Fuzhou.
These proto-Fuzhou speakers lived mainly in Fuzhou (福州) prefecture in the Tang dynasty map below.
 |
| Tang dynasty map |
Fuzhou language
The third wave of Han Chinese went mainly to Fuzhou prefecture after the collapse of the Tang dynasty when many small independent Chinese kingdoms were established throughout China.Wang Shenzhi (王審知), born in Henan in northern China, established Min kingdom (892-945 AD) with its capital in Fuzhou city. This was the first time that Han Chinese with surname Wang (in Mandarin) aka Ong (in Hokkien) migrated into Fujian province.
The Min king encouraged a lot of other Han Chinese refugees who spoke Middle Chinese Luoyang dialect to migrate into Min kingdom especially to its capital.
 |
| Wang Shenzhi statue in Fuzhou |
Eastern Min language subfamily
Fuzhou (福州) city was the traditional political, economical and cultural center of Eastern Min.Each Chinese character has a colloquial reading and a literary reading. The colloquial reading was the original reading but the literary reading was brought in by the third wave of Han Chinese in the 10th century AD.
The proto-Fuzhou language spawned three partially intelligible Eastern Min languages which are Hou-Guan, Fu-Ning, Man-Hua as shown in the purple border.
Hou-Guan (侯官) language is the representative Eastern Min language and is spoken mainly in Fuzhou prefecture. Its prestige dialect is Fuzhou (福州). The video below shows the different dialects of this language.
Fu-Ning (福寧) language diverged from ancient Fuzhou language when Fu-Ning prefecture was created in 1286 AD (Yuan dynasty). It is spoken mainly in modern Ningde prefecture and its prestige dialect is Fu-An (福安).
Man-Hua (蠻話) aka Man-jiang (蠻講) was influenced by Wenzhou Wu dialect, and is spoken in a small southernmost region of Zhejiang province. It's highly unintelligible with Hou-Guan.
The proto-Fuzhou language spawned three partially intelligible Eastern Min languages which are Hou-Guan, Fu-Ning, Man-Hua as shown in the purple border.
Hou-Guan (侯官) language is the representative Eastern Min language and is spoken mainly in Fuzhou prefecture. Its prestige dialect is Fuzhou (福州). The video below shows the different dialects of this language.
Fu-Ning (福寧) language diverged from ancient Fuzhou language when Fu-Ning prefecture was created in 1286 AD (Yuan dynasty). It is spoken mainly in modern Ningde prefecture and its prestige dialect is Fu-An (福安).
Three branches of Min languages
The most distinctive feature between the three branches of Min languages is the different prefix of calling names.
English
|
Southern Min
|
Eastern
Min
|
Northern
Min
|
Prefix
|
Ah (阿)
|
Ee (依)
|
Lau (老)
|
| name | Ah sing (成) | Ee sing | Lau sing |
| father | Ah pa (爸) | Ee tia (爹) | ? |
| brother | Ah hia (兄) | Ee ko (哥) | ? |
There are also different cognates for all the languages in each branch.
Besides different language characteristics, there are other cultural e.g. architectural, cuisine and deities differences between these three regions.
English
|
Southern Min
|
Eastern Min
|
Northern Min
|
| dog | kau (狗) | khieng (犬) | ? |
| crazy | siau (𤞚) | tieng (癲) | ? |
| to feed | chi (飼) | huang (豢) | ? |
Besides different language characteristics, there are other cultural e.g. architectural, cuisine and deities differences between these three regions.
Difference with Mandarin language
The Eastern Min languages are so different from Mandarin that Mandarin speakers think they are Korean or Japanese speakers; which means there is almost zero mutual intelligibility between these languages. Watch the video below.
Conclusion
Eastern Min languages were formed from the mixture of three waves of Han Chinese to north east Fujian.The languages are essentially a mixture of proto-Wu language, Jin dynasty Luoyang dialect and Tang dynasty Luoyang dialect.
The word 'Fujian' actually comes from a combination of two ancient prefectures Fuzhou and Jianzhou during the Tang dynasty. Fujian people was finally given their own province from 960 AD (Northern Song dynasty).
Related links
Origin of Wu languagehttp://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/10/origin-of-wu-language.html
Origin of Northern Min language
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2019/02/origin-of-northern-min-language.html
Origin of Hokkien language (Southern Min)
Sources
- https://kknews.cc/zh-cn/news/m3rj5a2.html
- https://kknews.cc/culture/5mbobx8.html
- https://kknews.cc/history/2lg285e.html
- https://kknews.cc/travel/8egkjnn.html
- 閩語硏究及其與周邊方言的關係 by 丁邦新
Last update: 3 July 2021
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2017-2021. All rights reserved.
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2017-2021. All rights reserved.
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