Research on Excavated Texts, Issue 3

Author: Chief Editor: Hu Houxuan et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-10-01
Features:
Fragment: The theoretical core that runs through the entire Shuowen Jiezi is the "Six Books" theory. Since the beginning of this century, a large number of ancient characters from Shang-Zhou oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, Warring States, Qin, and Han bamboo slips that have been unearthed were not seen by Xu Shen. These characters are the perfect materials for us today to verify the "Six Books" theory and to reassess it. The oracle bone inscriptions from Yinxu are the earliest systematic writing system that can be seen in China today. This paper examines the methods of character formation in Yinxu oracle bone inscriptions using the theory of the "Six Books" to test the completeness of the "Six Books" theory and to verify the accuracy of the explanations of the "Six Books" theory by scholars of previous generations. Using the theory of the "Six Books" to study Chinese characters requires a brief review of the naming and explanations of the "Six Books" by scholars of different dynasties. Li Xiaojing's Table of Differences in the Names and Order of the Six Books compares the naming of the "Six Books" by scholars of different dynasties. The following is copied for comparison:
| Name of Person | Book Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|----------------|-----------|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ban Gu | Book of Han·Bibliography | Image | Image | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Zheng Zhong | Commentary on the Rites of Zhou | Image | Image | Image | Process | Process | Sound |
| Xu Shen | Preface to Shuowen Jiezi | Pointing | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Gu Ye Wang | Yupian | Image | Pointing | Sound | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Chen Pengnian | Guangyun | Image | Image | Sound | Pointing | Sound | Sound |
| Zheng Qiao | Tongzhi·Brief on the Six Books | Image | Pointing | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Zhang You | Fuguo Chapter | Image | Pointing | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Zhao Guzhe | Basic Meaning of the Six Books | Image | Pointing | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Wu Yuanman | Commentary on the Six Books | Image | Pointing | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Dai Dong | Compendium of the Six Books | Pointing | Image | Image | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Yang Huan | Origin of the Six Books | Image | Image | Pointing | Sound | Sound | Sound |
| Wang Yingdian | Compendium of the Same Characters | Image | Image | Pointing | Sound | Sound | Sound |
From the table above, it can be seen that among the names of the "Six Books," "Image," "Sound Loan," and "Sound Mutual Reference" are consistent across all schools. As for the name "Pointing," Ban Gu called it "Image," Zheng Zhong called it "Process," and after Xu Shen, it was consistently called "Pointing," indicating that Xu Shen's naming was quite accurate and no further objection is needed. Regarding the name "Image-Sound," there were slightly more differing opinions. Ban Gu called it "Image-Sound," while Zheng Zhong, Chen Pengnian, Zheng Qiao, Zhang You, Zhao Guzhe, Wu Yuanman, Dai Dong, Yang Huan, and Wang Yingdian called it "Sound-Image," except for Gu Ye Wang, who followed Xu Shen's view. The so-called "Image-Sound" characters refer to characters whose structure contains both semantic and phonetic components, while the names "Image-Sound" and "Sound-Image" only indicate the phonetic component of this type of character and do not consider its semantic component. Therefore, we believe that Xu Shen's name "Image-Sound" is still preferable.
In summary, we believe that Xu Shen's naming of the "Six Books" is basically reasonable and applicable. It should be noted that the names "Image" and "Image-Sound" require some explanation. Chinese characters originated from images, as stated in "far taking from things, near taking from the body," "following the body's shape," and "drawing to form things." However, after long-term development and extensive use, for the sake of simplicity and convenience, it has long been impossible to "follow the body's shape" or "draw to form things" for every character. In daily use, the complex strokes have gradually been simplified, transforming the pictographic images into symbols. The transformation from pictographs to symbols is the general trend of early Chinese character development. In Yinxu oracle bone inscriptions, characters like deer, fish, chicken, horse, and monkey can still show deer antlers, deer eyes, fish heads, fish eyes, fish tails, fish fins, horse heads, horse manes, and horse hooves, but it is rare to recognize them as deer, fish, horses, or monkeys. Many characters, originally created based on the principle of images, had evolved into symbolized characters by the Shang Dynasty, making it impossible to directly recognize the original form. For example, characters like ox, sheep, tiger, dog, and pig. These characters still resemble the images of the original objects in bronze inscriptions used as clan names, such as those recorded in the appendix of Compendium of Bronze Inscriptions, which even people unfamiliar with ancient script can easily identify. However, in Yinxu oracle bone inscriptions, these characters are no longer immediately recognizable as images and require imagination to identify the original objects they represent. At this stage, the characters have become symbolized image characters.
After the development of Chinese characters into Han Dynasty clerical script, the component of images had almost completely disappeared. Characters like deer, fish, horse, ox, sheep, and tiger in Han clerical script are far removed from their original forms. Calling such characters "image" refers to the method used at the beginning of their creation. Similarly, "Image-Sound" characters are the same. The "Image" in "Image-Sound" characters also refers to the method of using images to create the "Image Component" at the beginning of their creation, but they no longer resemble images today. Strictly speaking, Qiu Xigui's proposal to use "Semantic" to replace "Image," "Image Combination," and "Pointing" is more accurate, and using "Semantic-Phonetic" to replace "Image-Sound" is also more appropriate. However, the name "Semantic" is too vague, and there are indeed differences between "Image," "Image Combination," and "Pointing." Therefore, modern and contemporary sinologists still follow Xu Shen's naming of the "Six Books." By convention, "Semantic-Phonetic" is not adopted, and "Image-Sound" is still used due to habit.
Regarding the definitions of the individual items of the "Six Books," Xu Shen's explanations are basically accurate, but the explanations of scholars of different dynasties differ slightly, and a brief discussion is needed to clarify the key points. We believe that Xu Shen's explanations of "Pointing" (recognizable at a glance, understandable upon observation), "Image" (drawn to form things, following the body's shape), "Image Combination" (comparing and reasoning, indicating the meaning), "Sound Mutual Reference" (building a category with one head, mutually accepting the same meaning), and "Sound Loan" (no character exists, relying on sound to represent the meaning) are already clear and need no further elaboration. The only exception is the explanation of "Image-Sound": "using the event as the name, taking the sound to complete it." This seems inappropriate and unclear. "Using the event as the name" can still represent the semantic component of "Image-Sound" characters, but "taking the sound to complete it" does not fully express their phonetic component. Many sinologists have pointed out that Chinese characters follow the common rule of phonetic and semantic correlation. For example, "ku" and "kù" are examples of phonetic and semantic correlation. Both "ku" and "kù" are empty with walls, capable of holding things inside, and thus "taking the sound to complete it." However, "kuā" and "kù" (or "kù") only share the same sound but not the same meaning. Therefore, not all characters are phonetically and semantically related. "Sound Loan" characters are "no character exists, relying on sound to represent the meaning." The character "zǎo" is used as "zǎo" (early), and there is no correlation between their sound and meaning. "Taking the sound to complete it" cannot reflect characters like "kù." Even if "kù" is created using the method of "taking the sound to complete it," "using the event as the name, taking the sound to complete it" does not reflect its phonetic component. Defining "Image-Sound" characters as "using the event as the name, taking the sound to complete it" is therefore not accurate or complete.