587
2010-02-18T02:08:13.568428Z
587
2010-02-18T06:02:47.315477Z
590
590
Node-path: stuff/汉字.html
593
593
Prop-content-length: 10
594
Text-content-length: 2243
595
Text-content-md5: 3125d1d29343a90cf01bcb98f824d402
596
Text-content-sha1: 905e31105198247600ee91fcd2a927b987b20e73
594
Text-content-length: 2261
595
Text-content-md5: 79001f02413b7ca6a112f63b9620114c
596
Text-content-sha1: 6bcd1f0d18447c2dd83b209e29cb6eba1862de3a
601
601
<head><title>Chinese character (汉字)</title></head>
603
<p>From Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character">Chinese character</a></p>
604
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character">Chinese character</a>
605
606
<h2>Ideogrammic compounds</h2>
606
607
<ul><li>会意字 / 會意字; huìyìzì</li></ul>
607
<p>Translated literally as logical aggregates or associative compounds, these characters symbolically
608
combine pictograms or ideograms to create a third character. For instance, doubling the pictogram 木
609
mù "tree" produces 林 lín "grove", while tripling it produces 森 sēn "forest". (It is interesting to
610
note (see below) that 林 and 森 both have the same *-ǐǝm reconstructed Old Chinese final.[40])
611
Similarly, combining 日 rì "sun" and 月 yuè "moon", the two natural sources of light, makes 明 míng
612
"bright". Other commonly cited examples include the characters 休 xiū "rest", composed of the pictograms
613
人 rén "person" and 木 mù "tree" and 好 hǎo "good", composed of the pictograms 女 nǚ "women" and 子 zǐ "infant".</p>
608
<p>Translated literally as logical aggregates or associative compounds, these
609
characters symbolically combine pictograms or ideograms to create a third
610
character. For instance, doubling the pictogram 木 mù "tree" produces 林 lín
611
"grove", while tripling it produces 森 sēn "forest". (It is interesting to
612
note (see below) that 林 and 森 both have the same *-ǐǝm reconstructed Old
613
Chinese final.[40]) Similarly, combining 日 rì "sun" and 月 yuè "moon", the
614
two natural sources of light, makes 明 míng "bright". Other commonly cited
615
examples include the characters 休 xiū "rest", composed of the pictograms 人
616
rén "person" and 木 mù "tree" and 好 hǎo "good", composed of the pictograms
617
女 nǚ "women" and 子 zǐ "infant".</p>
614
618
<p>Xu Shen estimated that 13% of characters fall into this category.</p>
615
<p>Some scholars flatly reject the existence of this category, opining that failure of modern attempts
616
to identify a phonetic in a compound is due simply to our not looking at ancient "secondary readings",
617
which were lost over time.[41] For example, the character 安 ān "peace", a combination of "roof" 宀
618
and "woman" 女, is commonly cited as an ideogrammic compound, purportedly motivated by a meaning such
619
as "all is peaceful with the woman at home". However, there is evidence that 女 was once a polyphone
620
with a secondary reading of *an, as may be gleaned from the set 妟 yàn "tranquil", 奻 nuán "to quarrel",
621
and 姦 jiān "licentious". Supporting this reasoning is the fact that modern interpretations often neglect
622
archaic forms that were in use when the characters were created.</p>
623
<p>These arguments notwithstanding, there are some characters that do appear to genuinely belong to this
624
category. It is doubtful that secondary readings can be found for many cases, and the characters 林, 森,
625
明, 休, and 好 are all attested in oracle bone script, with the same components as the modern forms.</p>
619
<p>Some scholars flatly reject the existence of this category, opining that
620
failure of modern attempts to identify a phonetic in a compound is due
621
simply to our not looking at ancient "secondary readings", which were lost
622
over time.[41] For example, the character 安 ān "peace", a combination of
623
"roof" 宀 and "woman" 女, is commonly cited as an ideogrammic compound,
624
purportedly motivated by a meaning such as "all is peaceful with the woman
625
at home". However, there is evidence that 女 was once a polyphone with a
626
secondary reading of *an, as may be gleaned from the set 妟 yàn "tranquil",
627
奻 nuán "to quarrel", and 姦 jiān "licentious". Supporting this reasoning is
628
the fact that modern interpretations often neglect archaic forms that were
629
in use when the characters were created.</p>
630
<p>These arguments notwithstanding, there are some characters that do appear
631
to genuinely belong to this category. It is doubtful that secondary readings
632
can be found for many cases, and the characters 林, 森, 明, 休, and 好 are
633
all attested in oracle bone script, with the same components as the modern