Is 𠱑 An Acceptable Form Of 逗 In Sichuanese?

Question

The book《蜀籁》writes the word 逗猫惹草 as 𠱑猫惹草 and also contains many other usages of 𠱑 where 逗 would normally be.

逗 in Sichuanese is read dou in the first tone (tone value: 55).

逗 in theory should be read dou fourth tone (tone value: 213).

𠱑 in both Mandarin and Sichuanese would be dou first tone (tone value: 55, unless anyone disagrees about the Mandarins tone values).

逗 does fit the meaning for tease/play with/provoke.

𠱑 according to 字海 just means 轻言, not really a valid estimation of what dou in the first tone (tone value: 55) should mean in Sichuanese.

• Is 𠱑 An Acceptable Form Of 逗 In Sichuanese?

or did the book just make it up?

Answer 1

According to a post on the zDic Forum for that character from 2010, it is a topolect character (despite its rather mysterious pedigree in the Kangxi Dictionary).

However, I couldn't find it in the 《成都方言詞典》 Chengdu Dialect Dictionary, nor a lexeme corresponding to it. On consulting the 《四川方言詞典》 Sichuan Dialect Dictionary from 1986, I only find it represented with the character 逗 dou¹ (which is also repeated as a 多音字 for dou⁴).

I posit that it may appear in certain 川剧 libretti, but otherwise it may be that the author simply went through Kangxi to look up rare characters of that pronunciation to use. Nonetheless, the semantic shift from 輕言 to 逗引 is not inconceivable.