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Why is the character "床" (sleeping bed or the structure around a well) translated as "well" in the poem?

Sources are retrieved from:

唐诗英译, 篆字书法, 孙罗玛琍, 孙国强 (母与子) Tang Poems, the most popular Chinese poems in Tang dynasty. English Translation, bilingual edition, zhuanzi calligraphy by Marie Sun and Alex Sun (mother and son) at MarieSun.com


      静夜思

"床" 前明月光，
疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，
低头思故乡。






      Thoughts on a Still Night

Before the "well" lays the bright moonlight,
As if frost blanketing the earth.
My head tilts upwards at the glowing moon;
My head lowers with thoughts of home.


​While many school children (and translators!) take the Chinese character​ 床 ​to mean "bed" in its modern sense, it is more likely to refer to "the structure around a well" in its ancient sense. In ancient times Chinese windows were often framed with decorative carvings and overhead eave-like structures - specifically to provide shading from sunlight (and prevent break-ins, as they could be shut and locked), but consequently also equally adept at preventing moonlight from entering a room. It would thus seem unlikely that light ​could have​ enter​ed​ ​a bed​ room ​expansively enough to be mistaken as frost by the bedside. ​ It is more likely that Li Bai was referring to the platform structure or fence skirting a well, which was an alternate ancient meaning of 床​.

Li Bai also wrote another famous poem "Chang Gan Xing" 长干行 employing the character 床 in the sense of a wood structure surrounding a well -

Just starting to wear my hair bangs,
I plucked flowers playing by the door.
He came on bamboo hobby-horse to the scene,
Circling the "well" and pinching plums green.
Neighbors we were in Changgan alley,
Two little ones so trusting and carefree. ...

妾发初覆额，折花门前剧。
郎骑竹马来，绕   "床"   弄青梅。
同居长干里，两小无嫌猜。 ...

There is no doubt that the "bed" "床" here never meant a bed for sleeping.

Window Styles:

1. View architectural window styles in Tang Dynasty thru Google   or   Baidu.
2. View architectural window styles in ancient China thru Google   or   Baidu.

Search results from the Kangxi Dictionary ( 康熙字典) about "bed" "床" :

"床" means both -
1. a bed for sleeping or,
2. a structure around a well.





The character for "bed" 床 can also be written as 牀.





"又井榦曰牀" - "The wooden structure around a well is also called a bed"
"後園鑿井銀作牀" - "The structure around a well installed in a back garden is called a bed"




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