Paul Pelliot
Paul Pelliot tentatively reconstructs the Later Han Chinese pronunciation of 鮮卑 as */serbi/, from *Särpi, after noting that Chinese scribes used 鮮 to transcribe Middle Persian sēr (lion) and 卑 to transcribe foreign syllable /pi/; for instance, Sanskrit गोपी "gopī" "milkmaid, cowherdess" became Middle Chinese 瞿卑 ("ɡɨo-piᴇ") (&gt; Mand. "qúbēi"). "Sira" means "yellow" in proto-Mongolian.