Local voices
What Does “rang” Mean in the Henan Dialect? It Even Appears in the 《左传》 (Zuo Commentary)
Which Chinese character should represent “rang”, the Henan dialect word for scolding children? This word specifically refers to adults criticizing or telling off mischievous children. The author considered two candidate characters： Candidate one：“让”. In Classical Chinese, this character really did mean “to rebuke.” In the Zuo Commentary, “公使让之” means that the duke sent someone to rebuke him. Mandarin has lost this meaning, but Henan dialect has preserved it. Candidate two：“嚷”. In northern dialects, “嚷” itself can mean to scold. The progression from speaking loudly to berating someone loudly also makes sense. There is one small question, though: in the author's hometown, “rang” is pronounced in the first tone. But neither “让” as in “谦让” (to yield modestly) nor “嚷” is pronounced in the first tone locally. So which character it actually is remains unsettled. The two words may also have merged as their pronunciations grew closer. The dialect still lives on in everyday speech, but its original written character was lost long ago.
