Definitions
tribute paid by Han dynasty tribes
Etymology
About
賨 is a phono-semantic compound formed by the semantic radical 貝 (bèi), which depicts a cowry shell and thereby conveys wealth or tribute, and the phonetic component 宗 (zōng). It originally denoted a specific tax or tribute paid by ethnic minority tribes in the southern and southwestern regions of ancient China, especially the areas of modern Sichuan and Hunan. The structure thus links taxation to wealth through the 貝 radical, while 宗 indicates the pronunciation. Over time, the term also became an ethnonym for the Cong people, who were historically recognized for paying this tribute, and it appears mainly in classical texts and historical geographic records.
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