APPENDIX G

NOTES ON SOME SELECT CHARACTERS AND PARTS OF

CHARACTERS.

1. Shushak « bind » occurs as the upper part of #sok, « rope, » and of îî ti, « emperor. » The lower part of both the characters is descriptive of the material, silk and cloth, employed in the manufacture of the objects represented. The character for emperor was originally used for a band or girdle, as may be deduced from the character itself and the existence of the root sok « bind >> tai, tak, « a band. »

The same element in the form and in the sense occurs inpang, side. One of the meanings of the root pang is to bind.

2. Sheu shok

tok « arm »

yeu, duk « hand » † cheu,

c'hau, t'ok, «claw» yeu «right hand»

tso « left hand » are all pictures of the hand or arm.

The hand as grasping or striking or turning over occurs in yeu « have »p'u, p'ok strikechï, ti(t)

« branch »fan « to turn over. » Two strokes crossing

each other represent a hand in all these cases and in shu, « weapon. »

九

Three strokes drawn horizontally with one down stroke

crossing them on the right represent a hand in

sui « broom » cheu, « sweep »

ping

<< » hold >>

事 shi,

k'ang, inyung, in yin « to lead, » and in kiün, leader. »

Thus in yung 720 we find the meaning bell, and workman, to both of which the action of the hand is

appropriate.

The forms

c'hun, « spring »

kung, and the upper part of 春

feng, « offer with both hands » 奏

tseu, « present a memorial » 春 shung

mortar,» always represent two hands.

쑤

ངོ

pound in a

The old form of fu « father » probably consists

of a hand and something with which blows are

inflicted. Fu is also a hatchet. The reason why

fu « father was written with this character would be identity in sound.

3. C'hen« true » consisting of hwa renovate, mu « eye,» and kin « hatchet, » as before described, indicates

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that the inventors of characters were, when this one was made, under the influence of Tauist doctrine, which teaches that a « true man» is one who has become renovated by meditation on stillness and purity.

The upper two strokes occur in 1hwa « renovate, »

hwo « goods »hwa « flower. » Flowers in their metamorphoses indicate that they possess the power of self renovation.

The effect of systems of thought on the formation of characters may be seen in kwei, the last of the cycle

of ten. Kwei means return to, come to an end. The Ku

wen form is found in the Tsan hwang monument :

Here Kwei is said to be a picture of water flowing to a centre from the four quarters of the horizon. It was in this way that the first inventors chose to indicate the place of the last in a cycle of symbols. So thought the Shwo wen. Another critic appears on the scene and overthrows this explanation by suggesting that it is simply two pieces of wood crossing each other, and is no other than an ancient implement used in levelling. This was called kwei and was used by builders in reducing land to a level. The root is

either connected with, K'wei to « guess at, » estimate, or

kwei« carpenter's square. »

The Li shu adopted the form where we easily detect pei north and shï arrow. The north belongs to winter and kwei is applied to both. « Both earth and water then become smooth and flat, and can be easily measured. >>

The preceding four characters in the Chwen wen are taken from a monument at Tsan hwang a small town belonging to the department of Cheng ting fu in the metropolitan province. It was found A.D. 1053 upon the T'an mountain close by, by an officer of the district, and was removed to the office of the magistrate within the city for safety. It belongs to the period, it is supposed, of the 10th century B.C. for it is mentioned in the account of the exploits of Mu wang of that time that he visited Tsan hwang and offered sacrifices on the mountain of that name. Of that sacrifice the inscription on this stone is believed to be a record. The name t'an means altar.

4. Pei is in page 80 written pu(t). Perhaps the fact that in Kw it is used in mau, mok instead of the right hand part of that character, indicates that it was anciently puk. For p changes to m. In Lw pok was used as the right hand phonetic. It was anciently used for pai << beat down.» (This favours final t) and fu << carry on the back. » (This favours final k.)

5. Very few of the ideographic signs are without pho

netic use. Thus the covers Jyen have the force dang, dom, meaning «< house» as in the phonetics 513786. These sounds became modified by loss and change into ying as in 874, yung as in 876, lim as in 878, liem as in 875.

Yet it is safer to view these as only ideographic. Thus lim « << granary »> lim « curtain» take the covering

symbol because they have the idea of closing or covering. Let it also be noted that the first of these covers is found in 879 tan where the old final is n. For some phonetics are also ideographic. The same character may be phonetic without being ideographic. Or it may be ideographic without being phonetic or it may be both at the same time.

6.

Tsang, «bury. » Si« the dead » placed between grass above and grass below. - Sw. In the Kw instead of « the dead, we find pe " white» doubled. White being the colour of mourning, it is evident that the inventors of the Chwen shu and Li shu have imitated the primary thought of the first makers of the Ku wen.