Zi Collection, Page Position: Lower
Radical: Cover (mì)
Kangxi stroke count: 16
Page: 131, Entry 09
From Jiyun (Jíyùn) and Yunhui (Yùnhuì): pronounced Mòdí, with the sound of mì. Yunhui (Yùnhuì) states that its original form was the character mì, meaning a cover. Sometimes also written as this character. In the Rites of Zhou (Zhōulǐ), Heavenly Offices (Tiānguān), it says: "The mìrén officer, an officer in charge of covers, is in charge of providing covers." The commentary notes: "The covers can be used to cover objects. For sacrifices, coarse cloth covers are used for the eight zūn, a type of ancient ritual wine vessel, and painted cloth covers for the eight yí, a type of ancient ritual food vessel." Yunhui (Yùnhuì) also states it is sometimes written as this character. ZhengYun (Zhèngyùn) gives it as the character mì, a variant form, and also as this character, meaning a food cover.
Textual research: In the Rites of Zhou (Zhōulǐ), Heavenly Offices (Tiānguān), the passage originally read "The mìrén officer is in charge of providing xià jīn mì." The commentary noted: "Xià jīn, literally 'lower cloth', is an incorrect rendering. It can be used to cover objects. For sacrifices, coarse cloth covers are used for the eight zūn, and painted cloth covers for the eight yí." Careful examination reveals that the character xià in "xià jīn" is an error for the two characters gòng jīn, meaning "providing cloth" or "covers". Therefore, according to the original text, "in charge of providing xià jīn mì" is corrected to "in charge of providing gòng jīn mì". "Gòng jīn can be used to cover objects." "Eight yí" is corrected to "six yí".