CHALFANT: EARLY CHINESE WRITING “ie 
tat ching, “a well,” soon became +f, discarding the well mouth and retaining 
only the curb. It now appears as ##. The ancient division of land into nine plots, 
thus, FF, had for its symbol #. ‘This, from its resemblance to the symbol for 
“well,” gave rise to the expression “well-field” in common parlance. Doubtless 
this had some influence in simplifying the sign for “ well.” 
$4 si, “retainer,” became 5) (modern 4) by rejecting the significant sign 
(modern %) “bind.” It passed through the meaning of “ petty-officer” to that of 
the verbal sense ‘ manage.” 
& hsin “heart,” originally a picture of that organ, is now merely «Wy. 
*» kung “together,” originally two pairs of hands united, became i. 
£y kung “fear” was at first “hands raised as in terror,” but is now reduced to H 
(used only in combination). Many of the earliest extant forms had already been 
contracted from more elaborate ideograms, now lost, thus rendering their original 
significance difficult to determine. 
2. Hxpansion of Karly Simple Forms. 
At an early stage in the development of the language, confusion arose out of the 
coincidence in form of symbols having widely different meanings. ‘Thus , shih 
“ten” gradually became +, and coincided with an existing symbol + which meant 
“at” or “here.” The latter was accordingly expanded to 7 tsai by the addition 
of £ a sign of disputed significance. A like confusion arose between + “ten” and 
+ an early contraction of P kia (now P) “finger-nail.” The latter resumed its 
more complex form. 
F tso “left-hand” and 3 yu “right-hand” seem to have been satisfactory 
signs till after B. C. 1000, when they became respectively & (&) and A (4). Why 
the sign T (“labor”’) should have been added to strengthen the idea of “left” is hard 
to say, unless the left-hand was once used to such an extent as to make it the impor- 
tant member for work. tJ “mouth” was added to emphasize “right-hand,” pos- 
sibly because that member was used in eating. Whatever may have been the 
significance of these additions, the fact remains that the older symbols were thus 
amended. 
Another strange instance was that of or ¥ tso, ‘‘ make,” to which ]| “man” 
was added, thus, (IE (modern {#) as if to indicate that man is the prime inventor.” 
6 Some writers in describing these signs have reversed them. The right hand naturally points toward the left and 
vice versa. This is plainly shown in the old forms for ven and a viz, 2) and E- 
"The sign ad is of very obscure origin. It resembles an inverted ax (fr) with stroke added. Possibly an ax or 
adz in position of chopping. ‘This is a mere conjecture. 
