Talk:Shihchih

Etymology
What is the origin of "Shihchih"? I would like to encourage speculation here, no matter how silly. Of course, "chih" is the chih³ in Hsichih. "Shih" as Wade-Giles could only map to shī and similar. I suspect that (1) has some variant reading or (2) was mistaken for a different character- maybe the  in  since  is most often seen in, both beginning with. Another possibility is (3) that, after a mass transcription/transliteration of a lot of terms from Mandarin, someone looking at a huge list of indecipherable words (which would appear as a mass of patent absurdity) botched "Hsi" as "Shi"- switched the h and s around. There is a parallel for funny business when an h and s are near each other in Kaohiung and Kaosiung (of Kaohsiung) or Changhsu. A search for Kaoshiung on Internet Archive gives 10,680 results. Then, once switched around, "Shichih" (example) was absurd to the eye without adding an additional "h" creating "Shihchih". The situation is more strained than K'o-shih & c. Another clue here:: the 1952 Gazetteer does not mention Hsichih as an alternative, while the 1998 Gazetteer does. Cohen knew that Shihchih was Hsichih, but was not enough of an expert (or didn't care enough) to reject Shihchih. Or thought it was legitimate "somehow". Another clue:: the 1952 and 1998 Gazetteer pronunciations look funky af. Is this an alternative form or synonym of Xizhi/Sijhih/Hsichih? I say alternative form (for now) on the basis that Shihchih seems likely to be an error or misspelling, despite the alleged pronunciation differences. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 23:55, 2 March 2023 (UTC) (Modified)