We know a bunch of cupolas were dropped, because we have two texts from a tomb in Mawangdui from the first half of the 2nd century BCE, and they both include them. Or some of them, anyway. They also record numerous alternate hanzi, sometimes synonyms, sometimes writing the pronunciation with a different character, both of which have been Very Helpful in picking through meanings -- I've been reading the standard received text with those on the side. (Translating just the Mawangdui texts is a no-go, because too many characters have gotten obscured over the millenia.)
My understanding, based on Kroll and a couple beginner grammars, is that in Old Chinese 可 can be an adjective ("possible"), a contrastive conjunction ("however"), and as an auxiliary verb indicating either passive voice or "may/can", but not a main verb. Could be very wrong about this. (In Modern Mandarin, 可 can indeed be a main verb.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2025-04-21 10:55 pm (UTC)My understanding, based on Kroll and a couple beginner grammars, is that in Old Chinese 可 can be an adjective ("possible"), a contrastive conjunction ("however"), and as an auxiliary verb indicating either passive voice or "may/can", but not a main verb. Could be very wrong about this. (In Modern Mandarin, 可 can indeed be a main verb.)