Even a River Flowing With Sand and Silt Can Still Reflect: Rethinking the Reconstruction of the *-R Coda in Old Chinese

A fairly thorough discussion has taken place between Ho Dah-an (2016) and Baxter and Sagart (2025) regarding the work Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction (Baxter and Sagart 2014). One of the key points of debate is whether transcriptional evidence supports the reconstruction of an *-r coda in Old Chinese. By examining transcribed words in Eastern Han Buddhist scriptures, this paper demonstrates that these materials do not support reconstructing an *-r coda for certain characters that ended with a -n coda in Middle Chinese. This paper argues that early transcriptional materials should be divided into two categories: (1) transcriptions of foreign proper nouns, such as place names, toponyms and official titles, recorded in ancient Chinese texts, and (2) transcriptions of proper nouns, akṣaras (Sanskrit syllables), and dhāraṇīs found in Chinese Buddhist scriptures. The latter category is of greater value for the study of Old Chinese phonology. Furthermore, any materials that may reflect Old Chinese phonological information should be utilized to the fullest extent possible, provided their nature is clearly understood. In other words, even a river flowing with sand and silt can still reflect.