Any historical connection between 筵席 and 宴席?

Question

宴席 and 筵席:

I know what both words mean, and I think it's quite funny they have similar pronunciations with quite similar meanings (give or take on both).

• Do the two words have similar origins?

• Any historical connections?

宴 Middle Chinese: ‘enH

筵 Middle Chinese: yen

It would be easy to assume they don't have much connection based on their Middle Chinese pronunciations. Quite peculiar anyhow.

Answer 1

In my opinion, there are no similar origins or any historical connections between these two words.

• 宴 means 宴请 here. It's a verb. And the word 宴席 is also a modern Chinese word widely used in our daily life.
• 筵 means 竹席. You can find it's composed with 竹 on top, so apparently it is a noun. 筵席 is more or less too formal and ancient for daily use. I will never use it except the old saying 天下没有不散的筵席.

Your analysis is also reasonable. It seems just a coincidence.