Comments for chinese-characters.org http://chinese-characters.org/discussion Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:57:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 Comment on Discussion of the character 片 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=20010#comment-646 Bright Outlook Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:04:18 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=20010#comment-646 <p>WK, Thank you for your comment. I've come to realize that, as you point out, it would be better to indicate Bronze and Oracle forms of the archaic versions. In my next site revision I'll try to find a way to do this.</p> <p>You discovered a mistake on the "archaic" image for 片. I did some checking and discovered that 片 and 爿 were originally the same character. Check http://chinese-characters.org/meaning/7/723F.html for the Oracle form of both. (At that time a character and its mirror image were considered the same character.)</p> WK, Thank you for your comment. I’ve come to realize that, as you point out, it would be better to indicate Bronze and Oracle forms of the archaic versions. In my next site revision I’ll try to find a way to do this.

You discovered a mistake on the “archaic” image for 片. I did some checking and discovered that 片 and 爿 were originally the same character. Check http://chinese-characters.org/meaning/7/723F.html for the Oracle form of both. (At that time a character and its mirror image were considered the same character.)

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 片 by WK Choy http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=20010#comment-645 WK Choy Sun, 09 Jun 2013 08:07:56 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=20010#comment-645 Thank you for a great site. My only misgiving is that I would prefer certainty whether archaic forms shown are from Oracle Bones pre circa 1,000 BC, or from Bronze objects which may date to a much later period and could be forgeries. I would be grateful if you could clarify whether the arachaic form shown for ? is from Oracle Bones or Bronze. Thank you for a great site. My only misgiving is that I would prefer certainty whether archaic forms shown are from Oracle Bones pre circa 1,000 BC, or from Bronze objects which may date to a much later period and could be forgeries.

I would be grateful if you could clarify whether the arachaic form shown for ? is from Oracle Bones or Bronze.

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 將 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=60295#comment-644 Bright Outlook Thu, 30 May 2013 06:14:21 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=60295#comment-644 Very comprehensive discussion of this character here: http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3188/semantic-radical-and-dictionary-header-for-%E5%B0%86 Which also refers to this page: http://www.hanziyuan.com/result.php?zi=%E5%B0%86 These are both high-quality sources of information about the development of 將. For example, it seems highly probable that this character was originally composed of 爿 and ⺼. I must disagree with the first site, though, and say it is very likely that 爿 plays a phonetic role in the character. I've done a careful comparison with other characters containing 爿 and they are very similar in sound to this one. That must mean that ⺼ is the semantic part of the character. The original meaning of 將 seems to be: To bring, to arrange, to lead, support, provide for. The "meat" radical fits with this basic concept. Meat - food, that is - is a necessary provision and a leader needs to provide it. I'm going to update my "etymology notes" on this character to reflect that I no longer agree that "醬 abbreviated" is phonetic. This explanation has been accepted for nearly 2000 years but is based on reasoning we can now probably discard. Many of the "abbreviated phonetics" that 許慎 refers to in the 說文解字 probably weren't abbreviated at all but the two simply shared a pronunciation with each other. I base my reasoning on Boltz' claim that ancient Chinese characters had more than one pronunciation. When I have the time and inclination I'll write a post on this topic but for now the short version can be found here: http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/10621#comment-194745 Very comprehensive discussion of this character here:
http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3188/semantic-radical-and-dictionary-header-for-%E5%B0%86

Which also refers to this page:
http://www.hanziyuan.com/result.php?zi=%E5%B0%86

These are both high-quality sources of information about the development of 將. For example, it seems highly probable that this character was originally composed of 爿 and ⺼. I must disagree with the first site, though, and say it is very likely that 爿 plays a phonetic role in the character. I’ve done a careful comparison with other characters containing 爿 and they are very similar in sound to this one.

That must mean that ⺼ is the semantic part of the character. The original meaning of 將 seems to be: To bring, to arrange, to lead, support, provide for. The “meat” radical fits with this basic concept. Meat - food, that is - is a necessary provision and a leader needs to provide it.

I’m going to update my “etymology notes” on this character to reflect that I no longer agree that “醬 abbreviated” is phonetic. This explanation has been accepted for nearly 2000 years but is based on reasoning we can now probably discard.

Many of the “abbreviated phonetics” that 許慎 refers to in the 說文解字 probably weren’t abbreviated at all but the two simply shared a pronunciation with each other.

I base my reasoning on Boltz’ claim that ancient Chinese characters had more than one pronunciation. When I have the time and inclination I’ll write a post on this topic but for now the short version can be found here:

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/10621#comment-194745

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 節 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=40955#comment-643 Bright Outlook Tue, 28 May 2013 06:08:21 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=40955#comment-643 Good discussion of this character: http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2012/12/party-down-with-节 Good discussion of this character:
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2012/12/party-down-with-节

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 網 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=61245#comment-642 Bright Outlook Tue, 28 May 2013 06:06:34 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=61245#comment-642 Good discussion of this character: http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2013/02/untangle-the-history-of-网 Good discussion of this character:
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2013/02/untangle-the-history-of-网

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 球 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=50425#comment-640 Bright Outlook Tue, 21 May 2013 05:45:39 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=50425#comment-640 Good discussion of this character here: http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3147/did-a-king-ask-for-a-ball-how-did-%E7%8E%8B-%E6%B1%82-become-%E7%90%83 Good discussion of this character here:
http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3147/did-a-king-ask-for-a-ball-how-did-%E7%8E%8B-%E6%B1%82-become-%E7%90%83

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 冏 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=31260#comment-636 Bright Outlook Sat, 09 Mar 2013 05:38:42 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=31260#comment-636 Gurf, Thanks for pointing out the mistake. I admit I didn't enter the definitions myself. In the future we'll have improved definitions on this site. In the meantime I hope the site's unique features justify putting up with some errors. Gurf,

Thanks for pointing out the mistake. I admit I didn’t enter the definitions myself. In the future we’ll have improved definitions on this site. In the meantime I hope the site’s unique features justify putting up with some errors.

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 冏 by Gurf Yeo http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=31260#comment-635 Gurf Yeo Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:31:10 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=31260#comment-635 You've left a letter out of yr English definition: "the noise of shoting in battle; to shout in triumph". Presumably it should be shouting, not shooting? Regards, Gurf You’ve left a letter out of yr English definition: “the noise of shoting in battle; to shout in triumph”. Presumably it should be shouting, not shooting?

Regards,
Gurf

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 或 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=43030#comment-634 Bright Outlook Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:13:06 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=43030#comment-634 good discussion of this character here: http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2848/what-is-the-classical-chinese-meaning-of-%E6%88%96 good discussion of this character here:
http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2848/what-is-the-classical-chinese-meaning-of-%E6%88%96

]]> Comment on Discussion of the character 焚 by Bright Outlook http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=42565#comment-632 Bright Outlook Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:10:57 +0000 http://chinese-characters.org/discussion/?p=42565#comment-632 Discussion of this character here: http://study-and-learn-chinese.blogspot.ca/2012/04/chinese-character-fen.html Discussion of this character here: http://study-and-learn-chinese.blogspot.ca/2012/04/chinese-character-fen.html

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