琵琶

Borrowed from a language in the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. Compare Persian بربط (barbat, “barbat; lute”), Ancient Greek βάρβιτος (bárbitos, “barbitos; ancient stringed instrument”).

Both characters were initially non-checked-tone characters. Reborrowed during the Tang Dynasty from a source that more closely resembles the modern Persian name of the instrument, both characters were read as if they have checked codas. The original non-checked readings were restored after the Ming Dynasty (bat carving head pipa). Compare the modern checked-tone dialectal readings of 枇杷 (pípá).

Much folk etymology exists surrounding the name origin. The dictionary Shiming [2nd CE] explains the name as 批把 (“slap-grasp”), reflecting the plucking movements while playing the stringed instrument. 琵琶 is also cognate with—and possibly gave rise to the name of (due to the similarity in shape)—枇杷 (pípá, “loquat”), which is also a non-native species.

琵琶

1. pipa (plucked Chinese string instrument) (Classifier: 支 mn-t)

   • 千呼萬喚始出來，猶抱琵琶半遮面。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     千呼万唤始出来，犹抱琵琶半遮面。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 816, 白居易 (Bai Juyi), 琵琶行 (The Song of the Pipa Player)

     Qiānhūwànhuàn shǐ chūlái, yóu bào pípá bàn zhē miàn. [Pinyin]

     Yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us,
     Still hiding half her face from us behind her pipa.

Others:

• → Georgian: ფიფა (pipa)
• → Zhuang: bizbaz

/bipa/ → /biɸa/ → /biwa/

Borrowing from Middle Chinese 琵琶 (MC bjij bae). Although regular in native vocabulary, the sound change of /ɸ/ → /w/ is unusual in Sino-Japanese vocabulary.

• (Tokyo) びわ [bíꜜwà] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [bʲiβ̞a̠]

琵(び)琶(わ) • (biwa) ^{←びは (bifa)?}

1. biwa (plucked, fretted pear-shaped Japanese lute with four or, more rarely, five strings)

   Synonyms: 琵琶琴 (biwagoto); 琵琶の琴 (biwa no koto); 四弦, 四絃 (shigen); 四つの緒 (yotsu no o)

   Hyponyms: 筑前琵琶 (Chikuzen biwa), 薩摩琵琶 (Satsuma biwa), 平家琵琶 (Heike biwa), 楽琵琶 (Gaku biwa)

• びやぼん (biyabon)
• 枇杷(ビワ) (biwa, “loquat”)
• 槽(そう) (sō)
• 弁才天(べんざいてん) (Benzaiten)

琵(び)琶(わ) • (Biwa) ^{←びは (Bifa)?}

1. a place name
2. a surname

琵琶 • (bipa) (hangeul 비파)

1. hanja form^? of 비파 (“bipa, lute”)

(classifier 彈 (đàn)) 琵琶

1. chữ Hán form of tỳ bà/tì bà (“pipa (pear-shaped plucked lute) or one of its derivatives (Vietnamese dan ty ba, Japanese biwa, Korean bipa)”)