Taxonomy of meanings for 惟:　　

  • 惟 wéi (OC: k-lul MC: jʷi) 以追切 平 廣韻：【謀也思也以追切十二 】
    • existential> EXIST
      • vt0oNonlythere only are NVK
      • declarative> COPULA
        • vt+Ncopulacome to occur at (a certain time)
        • vt+N{SUBJ}.+V{PRED}OBI: be (the SUBJECT which PREDICATES); be the only N who Vs
        • vt+Nbe N; be N (and none/nothing else)
        • vt0+N.+V[0]it is N that Vs
        • vtpostVt{NEG}be
        • vt+N.postNPab{S}signify
        • vt+V[0]be the one who V-s
        • vt0 Nab{S}It was all a matter of SCH
        • vt+N{OBJ}:+npro.+Vtinversion, emphaticit is N which is the object of VtDS
        • semantic: communicatively> MEAN
          • vtoNcopulasignify (that V)
        • imaginary> THINK
          • vtoNthink of; be mindful of; pay attention to
          • vtoNPab{S}think of S being the case
          • counterfactual:wish> UTINAM
            • vt[0]oSIf only S!, my sincely hope is that S.CH
        • gramaticalised: restrictive> ONLY
          • padVonly [etymologically vadV]
          • vt+N{SUBJ}.+為+V{PRED}only N Vs
          • vtoNcopulato be; to be only (the object in question)
          • vt+N{SUBJ}.+V{PRED}only N V-sCH
          • v[0]+N.+N{PRED}it is only N that is the N{PRED}CH
        • grammaticalised: temporal subordination> WHEN
          • vtoN.adSIt was at the time N that S
          • vtoSS=timeit was when
      • deontic> SHOULD
        • vt[0]+V[0]we should V
  • wéiTOPIC MARKER
    • padN.adSarchaic topic markerCH

Additional information about 惟

說文解字: 【惟】，凡思也。 〔小徐本無「凡」。〕 从心、隹聲。 【以追切】

    Criteria
  • COPULA

    1. Classical Chinese had several common copulas at an early stage: wéi 維 / 唯 / 惟 (ant. fēi 非 "is not") was common in SHI and SHU, but discontinued later.

    2. The final particle yě 也 is interpreted by some as a sentence-final copula, but it is properly regarded as a sentential particle marking non-narrative modes of predication.

    3. The standard copula in Warring States Chinese is wéi 為, which tends to have human subjects and is by no means as common in Chinese as the copula is in Western languages.

    4. Yuē 曰 is current as a copula in listings of items and the like.

    5. Yún 云 is a rare archaising copula in ZUO.

    6. Zé 則 is copula-like after contrastive subjects.

    7. Nǎi 乃 is copula-like and contrastive and stresses that the subject is none other than the predicate.

    8. Dāng 當 "act as, fulfill the function of" is copula-like, but there is only a slight degree of grammaticalisation in the direction of a copula.

    9. Wèi 謂 "be counted as, count as" sometimes moves in the direction of copula-like uses.

    10. Shì 是 is a resumptive demonstrative pronoun which on very rare occasions can come to function very much as a copula.

    11. Zhòng 中 has some copula-like uses in GUAN, when the word means "amount to, cost" and sometimes even stands before ordinary nominal predicates.

    12. Yǐ 以 "as a SUBJECT" functions quite regularly as a subordinate copula in classical Chinese.

  • PEOPLE

    1. The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers inclusively to all the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state (xiǎo mín 小民 are the ordinary people). [ 夫民之為言也暝也，萌之為言也（肓）〔盲〕也，故惟上之所扶而以之，民無不化也。故曰：「民萌。」民萌哉！ ( 直言其意而為之名也 ) Xinshu 9

    2. Bǎi xìng 百姓 (ant. jūn zhǔ 君主 "ruler") typically refers to the registered senior families in a state who are under the control of the ruler and contribute taxes as well as military service to him; but from earliest times this term was occasionally used to refer generally to the populace at large.

    3. Rén 人 (ant. wáng 王 "king") is sometimes used generically for those people who were taken to have a political voice, as in Yīn rén 殷人 "the people of Yīn".

    4. Méng 氓 / 萌 (ant.* shì mín 士民 "citizens") refers specifically to the common people belonging to the lower echelons of society.

    5. Zhòng 眾, shù 庶 and the rarer and more rarified words 蒸 and lí 黎 refer to the masses of the people under the aspect of their numerousness.

    6. Qián shǒu 黔首 "black-headed people" is the current word for the people especially promoted by the Qin dynasty.

    7. Shì mín 士民 refers to senior registered citizens with a certain political influence; but the term can also be used collectively to refer to the freemen/gentleman shì 士 on the one hand, and the common people mín 民 on the other.

    8. Guó rén 國人 refers not to the people in a state, but specifically to the senior citizens in the capital.

    9. Mín rén 民人 is a very current way of referring to the people without suggesting any low or high status.

    10. Shù rén 庶人 is the technical term for the non-office-holding commoners in a country.