Additional information about 淪
說文解字: 【淪】，小波爲淪。从水、侖聲。《詩》曰：河水清且淪漪。一曰：沒也。 〔小徐本無「也」。〕 【力迍切】
- Criteria
- WAVE
1. The current general word for water in wave-movement is pō 波.
2. Tāo 濤 is a late word referring to large waves.
3. Lián 漣 and lún 淪 are rare words referring to small ripples in water.
4. Cháo 潮 refers to a flood of considerable dimensions without necessarily connoting high waves.
NB: Làng 浪 is a post-Han general term for waves, and focusses specifically to the crest of waves. In pre-Buddhist times the word means "to flow along".
- SINK
1. The most current general word for the process sinking is probably chén 沈 (ant. fú 浮 "float").
2. Mò 沒 "get submerged" (ant. piāo 漂 "float") expresses the result of chén 沈 "sinking".
3. Lún 淪 "sink into" (ant. fàn 汎 "float") has abstract usages where the word means "go under" and gets close in meaning to wáng 亡 "be ruined".
4. Miǎn 湎 "get immersed in" is mostly used in transferred senses such as "get immersed in wine" and thus gets close in meaning to dān 耽 "get addicted to".