A Study on the Semantic Evolution of Chinese “Road” Vocabulary: A Case Study of Jie

Abstract

“Road” is one of the core concepts in human language. A systematic
examination of the diachronic semantic system and collocational patterns
within this semantic field helps reveal the patterns and characteristics of
semantic change, and is therefore valuable for both lexical research and
language teaching. Focusing on the word jie (“street”), this study draws on
traditional lexicography and exegesis, together with 8,617 diachronic
examples from the Peking University CCL corpus, to investigate its semantic
evolution as well as its collocations and uses in ancient texts. The study
argues that jie may have originated from xi (“path”), referring to a track
formed by repeated trampling by humans or animals, and later came to
denote broad thoroughfares in urban centers. Its development followed three
main pathways: first, a “road-sense” line, in which it evolved from an urban
main road into a measurable and segmentable urban space; second, a
“proper-name” line, in which it developed from a common noun into a
toponymic morpheme found in naming patterns such as city gates, temples,
trades, and ethnic communities; and third, a “public-space” line, in which it
extended from the sense of passageway to social spaces such as markets,
neighborhoods, and street discourse. Overall, the semantic history of jie
reflects a shift from a physical road to a composite social, institutional, and
cultural space.