Xi'e

Xi'e (Chinese: 西鄂, p Xī'è) was a region of ancient China in present-day Henan and Hubei. Under the Qin and Han dynasties and during the Three Kingdoms period, Xi'e County (t 西鄂縣, s 西鄂县, Xī'èxiàn) was also a county in the Nanyang Commandery.

Name

Xi'e (lit. "Western E") took its name from the E, a Shang-dynasty vassal state probably originally located in modern Shanxi. The name is now pronounced as a brief, hard schwa (IPA ə), but the ancient pronunciation of the name has been reconstructed as closer to *Ngˤak. Around the time of the Qin, therefore, "Xi'e" would have been pronounced something like *Snˤər Ngˤak. By the Jin, it would have been Middle Chinese Ser Ngak.

History

During the Zhou, E was forced to relocate at least twice under pressure from Jin and Chu. Absorbed by Chu in 863 BC, E was adopted as the state's capital by a number of Chu kings prior to their final conquest by Shi Huangdi in 223 BC. Ezhou then became a province under the Qin and Han.

Thereafter, Xi'e was a county in the Nanyang Commandery during the Qin and Han dynasties and the Three Kingdoms period.