CHALFANT: EARLY CHINESE WRITING 3 
) vip 
XAR 
ro chung = “grasshopper.” This is contracted from ¥g which is made up of R 
chung = “multitude” and wW “insects.” This “ multitudinous insect” happened to 
be called “chung,” so that in selecting a phonetic sign “chung” a pun was apparently 
made by adopting the symbol 92 = “multitude.” Without doubt many phonetics 
add to the meaning of the symbol in which they occur. These we may call “sig- 
nificant phonetics” to distinguish them from such as are used without reference to 
their inherent meaning. 
It thus appears that in the Chinese language orthography and etymology over- 
lap. The key to the meaning of a sign lies in the ideogram itself. When we study 
the changes in the form of the symbols we also learn the history of their varied 
meanings. Besides the “ phonetic” we find another class of affixed signs intended 
to aid the reader in distinguishing the nature of the symbols. These have unfor- 
tunately been called “radicals,” whereas ‘“ determinatives” or “ classifiers’? would 
have been better. They determine the nature, class, or material of the symbol to 
which they are attached. Thus words of feeling will likely appear with the “heart 
(Y or 'f) radical” affixed. The names of wooden things contain the sign for “ tree” 
(#). The names of metallic objects are accompanied by the “metal (4S) radical.” 
There are now two hundred and fourteen radicals, reduced from the five hundred 
and forty “primitives” or “classifiers” of the Shuo Wén, A. D. 120, (see infra). 
Many of them designate incongruous groups of symbols not mutually related, and 
often utterly at variance with the meaning of the radical. ‘This has happened 
through the accidental coincidence of forms in many symbols which have been 
evolved from widely dissimilar roots.” A marked example of this incongruity is the 
group of symbols under Rad. 44 (#7 “corpse”’), very few of which have any relation 
to death. 
Familiarity with Chinese modes of thought, methods of work, and social customs 
aids much in determining the significance of certain old signs. The history of 
ancient institutions which haye now passed away, or been modified, also helps in 
the same manner. For example, it is a tradition among the Chinese that the East 
Palace was the hall of audience and place for administering the laws. When we 
find an old symbol for “judge” composed of the elements “east” CB) and “speak” 
(IJ) we see an appropriateness in the combination from the ancient custom of 
“judging” in the ‘Hast’ Palace.* 
?The Chinese name is z Bp tsi-pu ‘‘word-class’’ or “classifier.’’ The colloquial term is ee Fy tsi mu 
“ word-mother.’? 
8 This is usually termed the ‘‘gold radical.’? It means metal of any kind, and “‘ gold”’ only by its preéminence 
as a metal. 
‘The edict of Wu Wang (?), referred to elsewhere as the ‘‘San Edict,’’ was ‘‘given in the East Audience Hall.”’ 
