Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron W.
In particular, I would like someone who can elaborate a little on the combining of simple symbols that leads to complex symbols in Chinese writing, and whether it is appropriate to read into them the way that is done in the link.
True, complex characters are made by combining simple symbols or characters; however, the way the link takes apart each complex character and looks at the meaning of each element individually and assigns value to them all is only one way to look at it and not applicable to all complex characters. For example, take the character for fish: 魚. The four dashes on the bottom represent "fire," and the boxy character in the middle represents "field," (not "garden," as the link mentioned). I'm not even going to pretend I know what the thing on top is. Now you tell me, how does ? + field + fire = fish?
Sometimes, elements of a character are used for phonetic purposes. Take the characters for mama (mother): 媽媽. Girl (女) + horse (馬) = mama? I don't think so. However, when you take how 'horse' (馬) is pronounced (ma) and pair it with "girl" or "female" (女) for meaning, you get "mama".
Some of the interpretations have been stretched to fit in with the Bible verses. In the slide for "sorrow" (ancient + weeds = sorrow), the symbol for what they call "weeds" is actually "grass." When combined with other elements to give a character meaning, it is usually indicative of all vegetation, dead or alive. What if you want to take it to mean "weeds" anyway? In a country where most of the population was (and still are) farmers, I would imagine that weeds destroying their crops was indeed a most sorrowful event.
And, like I mentioned before, 田 does NOT mean "garden." There is a different character for "garden" altogether. This character means "field," as in rice fields (
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eld_china2.jpg see the resemblance!).
Just a few more quick examples:
- The character they use for ShangDi is the same one they use for "command," just written differently (some characters take on two forms). To demonstrate or command is a more accurate definition, and it does not mean God or god, or even to demonstrate or command in a godly way.
- In the "Migration" slide, "division" is actually the basis for the word "holiday."
- About the "two trees"- 木 is most accurately defined as wood, and yes, I know, it's understood that wood comes from trees. Still, when you put two together to create a new character, it does not mean "two trees" (again, there is a more complicated character for "tree"). 林 actually means forest; the full term is 森林 (cute right?). If interpreted in the link's manner, apparently the ancient Chinese thought there were only five trees to a forest.
- In the slide about the fruit and nakedness- why is fruit (果) not further broken down as they've done with all of the other characters? We've seen the same elements in previous slides, it's "field" + "wood." I'm sure the answer is obvious.
- Righteousness does not equal me + sheep. When the character sheep is shortened and placed atop of another character, it is indicative of a headdress made of goat horns and feathers. Perhaps only the righteous got to wear it, I don't know.
Here's what I think happened: someone broke down a character into all of its separate elements and then looked for corresponding words or numbers in Bible passages. Some meanings were stretched, and methods were not consistent. And so, my reply to the people behind the link is this: "You're reading it out of context."
tl/dr; nice try, wbschool.
Background Information:
- I am Chinese.
- I went to a terrible place called Chinese School every Saturday from K-9.
-
Two Chinese tutors my sophomore year in high school got me a 790/800 on my Chinese SATII, wtfail.
- Three additional years of Chinese in college (for that easy A).
- Most importantly, I have nine Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionaries!
If anyone wants more examples... I may or may not do. Have you ever tried looking something up in a Chinese dictionary?
Last edited by csma; 02-20-2009 at 04:00 AM.