The origin of the adjectival and adverbial "mulaolao" in Wu Chinese

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The word mulaolao (木佬佬) in Wu Chinese first appeared in written documents published during the period of the former Republic of China. It originated in Hangzhou dialect and spread to other regions such as Ningbo, Taizhou, Jinhua, and Shanghai. In Hangzhou dialect, mulaolao serves both adjectival and adverbial purposes, and it is believed to have derived from the expressive adjective manlaolao (蛮老老). In manlaolao , the suffix - laolao (老老) intensifies the degree of a state or property and is written as "佬佬" due to its uncertain etymology. The man (蛮) part originally meant "rude and unreasonable" or "doughty" but has evolved to also mean "many". In its weakened form, it underwent a checkedization process and was consequently pronounced as mu and written with a homophonous character "木". The adjectival form of mulaolao is widely used, but in adverbial positions, it underwent semantic bleaching to become an adverb and fused into mao (冒). The adverbial usage of mulaolao is less prevalent among younger speakers. 摘要: 吴语的"木佬佬"一词，民国以降始见于书面，源头在杭州方言，扩 散到了宁波、台州、金华、上海等地。杭州方言的"木佬佬"是形容 词/副词，当来自形容词生动形式"蛮老老"：词缀"老老"表示程度 极深，因词源不明被记作"佬佬"；"蛮"由"蛮横/强悍"义引申为 "多"义，轻读促化而被记作同音的"木"。形容词"木佬佬"使用 普遍，在状语位置上虚化为副词而后合音为"冒"。新派使用副词 "木佬佬"较少。