14 MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 
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A certain writer has assumed the sign 5 to be the original of J, “sun,” and on 
this erroneous hypothesis he makes the imaginary sign 5 to correspond to “the tri- 
dent of the three seasons of Orion.” Had he noticed that H was once ©, such a 
conclusion would have been impossible. 
Wy pi, “ought,” a sign of duty or necessity, looks like “ heart” (&») cut by a 
stroke. Imagination might work out a theory based upon the heart cut or pricked 
by a sense of duty. No such psychological process is even hinted at by the early 
forms of this character, which are y X Se & K Jel. The last of these enig- 
matic forms ()k() is the “small seal” character of the Han Dynasty, which is the 
nearest chronologically to the modern “square character” JZ. The two vertical 
curved lines of the older form correspond to the right and left dots of the pres- 
ent form, while the part % has now become y, the central portion of the modern 
symbol. The resemblance to “heart” is thus merely accidental. None of the old 
forms have any suggestion of {¥, which is the old writing of, “ heart.’’* 
Incongrwity Between Form of Symbol and Meaning. 
Let us now glance at another phenomenon of orthographic evolution, the enig- 
matic form and sense of many Chinese symbols. 
Certain modern forms haye such a variety of unrelated and conflicting mean- 
ings as to raise the suspicion that they present under one form a common resultant 
from several different roots. Thus & t‘ai, “lofty, large,” is defined in the Shuo 
Wen as “slippery.” A comparison of the old forms shows a divergence, as we go 
back, toward two separate roots, viz., Loe which is three times the sign SR “large,” 
forming an intensive signifying “very great,’ and fy composed of “clay” +4, 
“hands” £3, and “water” 4, a very appropriate symbol for “slippery.” The 
modern symbol contains elements of both of these roots, though it retains only 
the meanings derived from its root 4. It is safe to conclude that & (‘ai is a com- 
posite of both of the old symbols described. 
The sign 3% jiie means “harmonious,” and also “a certain mythical tree.” 
These apparently incongruous definitions can be reconciled when we find among 
the old forms 4, three hands together, 7. ¢., “harmony.” gain, we encounter ste, 
which is a symbol of vegetation and suggests the “tree,” of which %& jiie is the 
name. These both coalesced in % and so give us the one symbol from the two widely 
different roots. 
2 lang, means “ought,” “count,” “considered,” ‘to pawn,” to “ obstruct,” 
2There is a striking analogy in some of the old forms of NZ) with those of I chao ‘‘omen,’’ viz., 
yh yy ) ( dN supposed to be lines on tortoise shell used for divination. 
