Any historical connection between 筵席 and 宴席? 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.
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.