象
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Stroke order | |||
Stroke order in simplified Chinese |
象 (Kangxi radical 152, 豕+5 in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean, 豕+4 in simplified Chinese, 12 strokes in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean, 11 strokes in simplified Chinese, cangjie input 弓日心人 (NAPO), four-corner 27232, composition ⿱⺈⿻口𧰨(G) or ⿳⺈𫩏𧰨(HT) or ⿸⿳⺈𫩏⿹⿱丿㇁⿱丿丿⿺乀丿(JKV))
Historical forms of the character 象 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Shang | Western Zhou | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) |
Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
Old Chinese | |
---|---|
潒 | *l'aːŋʔ, *ljaŋʔ |
像 | *ljaŋʔ |
象 | *ljaŋʔ |
橡 | *ljaŋʔ |
蟓 | *ljaŋʔ, *hljaŋs |
襐 | *ljaŋʔ |
勨 | *ljaŋʔ, *laŋʔ |
鱌 | *ljaŋʔ |
嶑 | *ljaŋʔ |
Pictogram (象形) - pictographic representation of an elephant. ⺈ represents the trunk, 𫩏 represents the head, and 𧰨 represents the body.
This character is used to represent two semantic fields ‘elephant; tusk’ and ‘to outline; to depict; to delineate; to represent; to resemble; to map’. Both fields are found from the earliest layers of the edited literature onwards, whereas only the first meaning is amply attested in oracle bone inscriptions.
Traditionally, the two senses are treated as related, with the sense of ‘to depict; to resemble’ considered a derivative of the sense of ‘elephant’. The derivation from the ‘elephant’ meaning to the ‘likeness’ meaning is explained in Han Feizi First attested in c. 221 BCE: “Men rarely see living elephants. As they come by the skeleton of a dead elephant, they imagine its living form according to its features. Therefore it comes to pass that whatever people use for imagining the real is called 象.”
Modern etymology studies on Old Chinese have challenged this opinion.
As for the ‘elephant; tusk’ sense, this is a widely used area word in East and Southeast Asia. Literature opinions differ on the origin and immediate relationship of this Chinese word; some (e.g. Schuessler, 2007) believe the Chinese form is a loanword from a Southern language, since it is unlikely that peoples all over Southeast Asia and the Himalayan foothills would borrow a word from Northern China to denote an indigenous animal. Others believe the direction of borrowing is reversed (i.e. Tai-Kadai borrowing from Chinese), and that Chinese 象 should be compared with Tibetan གླང (glang), གླང་ཆེན (glang chen, “elephant”) arising from a common Proto-Sino-Tibetan *glaŋ (“ox, bull; elephant”), which may ultimately have an Austroasiatic origin (Behr, 2004). The second viewpoint is supported by the early attestation of this character and the archaeological findings of the historical ranges of elephants. However, Schuessler disputes that second viewpoint and links ST *glaŋ to 犅 (OC *klaːŋ, “ox, bull”).
See below for a tentative borrowing history of the various forms of this general area word.
Rime | |
---|---|
Character | 象 |
Reading # | 1/1 |
Initial (聲) | 邪 (17) |
Final (韻) | 陽 (105) |
Tone (調) | Rising (X) |
Openness (開合) | Open |
Division (等) | III |
Fanqie | 徐兩切 |
Baxter | zjangX |
Reconstructions | |
Zhengzhang Shangfang |
/zɨɐŋX/ |
Pan Wuyun |
/ziɐŋX/ |
Shao Rongfen |
/ziɑŋX/ |
Edwin Pulleyblank |
/zɨaŋX/ |
Li Rong |
/ziaŋX/ |
Wang Li |
/zĭaŋX/ |
Bernhard Karlgren |
/zi̯aŋX/ |
Expected Mandarin Reflex |
xiàng |
Expected Cantonese Reflex |
zoeng6 |
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) | |
---|---|
Character | 象 |
Reading # | 1/1 |
Modern Beijing (Pinyin) |
xiàng |
Middle Chinese |
‹ zjangX › |
Old Chinese |
/*s-[d]aŋʔ/ |
English | elephant |
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; |
Zhengzhang system (2003) | |
---|---|
Character | 象 |
Reading # | 1/1 |
No. | 13664 |
Phonetic component |
象 |
Rime group |
陽 |
Rime subdivision |
0 |
Corresponding MC rime |
像 |
Old Chinese |
/*ljaŋʔ/ |
象
Others:
For pronunciation and definitions of 象 – see 像 (“picture; image; photograph; figure; statue; figure; sculpture; etc.”). (This character is the former (1964–1986) first-round simplified form of 像). |
Notes:
|
Chess pieces in Mandarin · 國際象棋棋子 / 国际象棋棋子 (guójì xiàngqí qízǐ) (layout · text) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
王 (wáng), 國王 / 国王 (guówáng) |
后 (hòu), 皇后 (huánghòu) |
車 / 车 (jū), 城堡 (chéngbǎo) |
象 (xiàng), 主教 (zhǔjiào) |
馬 / 马 (mǎ), 騎士 / 骑士 (qíshì) |
兵 (bīng) |
(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 𧰼)
/zau/ → /zɔː/ → /zoː/
From Middle Chinese 象 (zjangX, “elephant; image, resemblance”). Compare modern Cantonese reading zoeng6.
The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.
象 or 象 • (zō) ←ざう (zau)? (counter 頭)
/sjau/ → /sjɔː/ → /ɕɔː/ → /ɕoː/
From Middle Chinese 象 (zjangX, “elephant; image, resemblance”). Compare modern Min Nan reading siōng or Mandarin xiàng.
The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.
From Old Japanese. Cognate with 橒 (kisa, “wood grain”), from the way that ivory also has a grain.[3]
From Middle Chinese 象 (MC zjangX). Recorded as Middle Korean 샤ᇰ〮 (syáng) (Yale: syang) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.
Wikisource 象 (eumhun 코끼리 상 (kokkiri sang))
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