■ Information 1:
Using the concept that alphabetic characters only express sounds but not pictographs to study the structure of characters makes some people feel at ease and convenient because they don't need to know the origin and development process of characters. In fact, because the ancestors of pinyin are pictographs, the existing pinyin has more or less retained the pictographic factors. Therefore, in the form of six Chinese characters, this book attempts to "explain Chinese characters" in English, and explores the origin of hieroglyphics with China traditional scholarship.
Explanation:
Bed, bed. B stands for something big and small, the backrest of the bed; D stands for no higher, the other end of the bed; E stands for bed board.
Get out, get out, get out. The sun o rises from the valley u and the tree t.
Eyes, eyes. Two eyes e are born on both sides of the nose y.
Live, live, fresh and rich. Seedling l gets water, I branch, V leaf, E.
Stand up, stand up, stand up. The number S is like a tree T, it stands upright, and. original intention
Stand with ...
The English letter "O" is the pictograph of "Day"; The letter "C" is the pictograph of "Moon"; The English word "Mount" consists of the macro outline m of the mountain and the elements of stone (O), valley (U), hole (N) and tree (T).
At least three English words are pictographic:
One is "eyes", and the word itself is structured like two eyes on both sides of the nose;
The second is "bed", the structure of the word itself is like a bed set up by bedsteads at both ends;
The third kind is broom, that is, B is the pictograph of broom, which is used to clean the room.
Take hieroglyphics as an example. O is "day" and c is "month".
Take the root affix as an example. It is the root of the pictograph, and cl is the stick in your hand, which means to hold fast.
Gl: Draw an L on the leg and foot G to indicate taxiing.
Taking pictographic characters as an example, eye-eye, noon and bud-bud can all be classified into this category.
Take the finger stroke letters as an example, Ff stands for weapons and Tt stands for trees.
Take radical affixes as an example, sp: facing, facing. The body s is in the same direction as the plane p.
Pro: does the sun o shine on r face p? As I said before, the picture above.
Take the demonstrative ——word for example, link = line+k-the end of the line is open and can be bitten.
Behind the ear = r+ea+R.
Knee = Knee +L- Knees in a line (L) on the ground.
Take the letter-stroke as an example, Ii stands for "water", where I stands for the rain between heaven and earth in a straight line;
I am a drop of water in a thread and a spring in a river.
Take radical affixes as an example. Co: Day and month mean * * *.
Seeing the flashing light in the dark means "going out".
Borrowed words: en→in: en = e window +n door = I+ house, including n→in.
Sub→supo people s drink u and then go down to the abdomen b and p to enrich themselves → down … and after …
■ Message 2:
The origin of the alphabet
Before the invention of pinyin, the writing technology was mainly owned by monks and professional scribes. The Egyptians in the ancient kingdom discovered the principle of using a symbol to represent a pronunciation (whether vowel or consonant). Because the ancient Egyptians were very conservative, they didn't make full use of it. Therefore, Dillinger believes that the ancient Egyptians did not write a single pronunciation in the form of letters, because if they implemented the alphabet rules, they would abandon their complicated hieroglyphic system with a special liking. On the contrary, Gardner did not hesitate to call this list of symbols representing a single pronunciation "alphabet". Although the Egyptians did not fully realize the full potential of this method of expressing a single pronunciation with a single symbol, they could not deny that they used this method. Although, as some people think, the early forms of alphabetic writing originated from Egyptian writing, it cannot be considered that Egypt is the real birthplace of alphabetic writing. Among all kinds of theories about the origin of the alphabet, the most likely one seems to be that at the beginning of the second millennium BC, a branch of the Semitic people connected with the Egyptians invented the alphabet, which was later developed in Palestine and may eventually be completed by the Phoenicians.
Some inscriptions unearthed in Sinai Peninsula and (recently) Palestine are considered as the precursors of the alphabet. These inscriptions on Sinai Peninsula are composed of linear symbols depicting bad things, most of which are obviously borrowed from or based on Egyptian hieroglyphics (Figure 556). It is generally believed that these symbols are letters, and various attempts have been made to translate them. Perhaps the most successful explanation recently is Albright's explanation. He thought it was a common Canaanite alphabet in the early 5th century BC/Kloc-0. He called it a "popular" Canaanite, and its dialect characteristics made it different from the contemporary inscriptions from Biblus. The latter, plus some short inscriptions from Ge Ji, Leckie and She Jian, can be considered as the original true letters of other predecessors.
Now, we must look at the two earliest representatives of real alphabets, Ugarit and Phoenician, whose spread provided a solid foundation for the later development of alphabets.
In Ugarit 1928, a French expedition led by Safr began to explore the ancient city of Ugarit-modern Las Shamlah. It is located on the northern coast of Syria, opposite to the eastern part of Cyprus. This port has a continuous history since people first settled in Syria, but its most prosperous period was BC 1800-BC 1200. The local people speak a dialect, which is very similar to Phoenician and Hebrew, but has phonetic characteristics. In the library of a temple, the expedition found a large number of clay tablets, many of which were written in ordinary cuneiform and easy to read, but about 600 pieces were written in characters different from any known cuneiform writing system (plate 30 B). Among them, the limited number of symbols indicates that this kind of writing is a letter. People soon discovered that they belong to an alphabet composed of cuneiform symbols, which were specially invented to represent the unique phoneme (side code 87) in the Semite dialect of Yugarit. 1949, Schaefer found a clay tablet on which the Ugarit alphabet was written alphabetically. People immediately noticed that except for the eight additional letters of Ugarit alphabet, the order was the same as that of Hebrew and Phoenician alphabet. Eight extra letters represent sounds that are not or cannot be expressed in Phoenician and Hebrew. The Ugarit alphabet distinguishes jaw sounds, teeth sounds and sibilant sounds, which is obviously similar to Arabic.
Scholars look for the origin of Ugarit letters from different directions. Considering its relationship with cuneiform, Egyptian, ancient Sinai and southern Semitic characters, it does not provide a satisfactory explanation. From the middle to the end of the second millennium BC, people experimented on the trend of the alphabet, but the experiment on Ugarit was doomed to fail, mainly because Phoenician was widely used and clay was not a natural writing material in Palestine. In addition, the invasion of maritime nationalities in the 3rd century BC/KLOC-0 led to the extinction of Ugarit civilization and the disappearance of their unique characters.
The earliest evidence of this linear writing, usually called Phoenician, appeared in a group of inscriptions belonging to the king of Biblus. The first of these inscriptions is Shaftebar, which is believed to be between BC 17 and BC 15. The second and most famous is Ahiram (Plate 3 1 A), and its sarcophagus dates from BC13rd century (Dillinger) to BC10th century (Albright). It shows a group of roughly carved linear symbols, on the one hand, related to the written records of Sinai and early Semite, on the other hand, obviously related to the later more perfect Misha stone pillars and the inscriptions on the Silla Canal. This northern Semitic inscription provides an alphabet with 22 letters, written from right to left. They only represent consonants, but like Hebrew, some of them must be used as vowels. It is difficult for us to explain the restrictions of various semitic alphabet systems on consonants, but it should be noted that all semitic languages are based on the roots of two consonants and three consonants. This gives the basic concept of Chinese characters, and vowels are only used to express relationships, conditions, moods and emotions.
■ Message 3:
The origin of English letters
A
Just as Chinese characters originated from hieroglyphics, each letter in the English alphabet began with pictures depicting the shapes of animals or objects, which eventually evolved into symbols. However, these symbols have little similarity with the shape of the object originally described. No one is sure what these hieroglyphs originally represented. Our explanation can only be an informed guess made by scholars based on historical materials. It is generally believed that Greek letters are the ancestors of all western letters, including Latin letters. In fact, the Greek alphabet was borrowed from the Phoenicians. About 3000 years ago, in the Phoenician alphabet, the letter A was pronounced aleph, which looked like the letter V, with a bar in the middle to represent the bull's head or horn. Later the Greeks wrote backwards. For ancient Phoenicians, cattle meant wealth and were indispensable for food, clothing and farming. This may be the reason why A is listed as the initial letter.
B
Like the letter A, the letter B can be traced back to ancient Phoenicia. In the Phoenician alphabet, b is pronounced beth, which stands for house. In Hebrew, B is also called Beth, which also means house. The letter B originally looked like a two-bedroom apartment in primitive society, and the lowercase letter B later evolved from the uppercase letter B. In today's West Bank, there is a Jewish and Christian holy place called Bethlehem, which still contains Beth elements. B ranks second in the alphabet, perhaps because shelter is second only to food and clothing for human survival. (see a)
C
The letter c is called gimel in Phoenician writing, which stands for camel. Its arrangement in the alphabet is the same as that of the Greek letter γ (gamma). In fact, its glyph evolved from the latter. C stands for 100 in Roman numerals. (see a and g)
D
D is a pictographic symbol, which depicts the shape of an ancient arch or door. In ancient Phoenician and Hebrew, it is called daleth, which means "gate" and is equivalent to the Greek letter δ (delta). (see a)
E
E is the most used letter in English. In Phoenician and Hebrew, e is a pictographic symbol representing a window, called He, which is equivalent to the Greek letter ε(epsilon. (see a)
F
F is the sixth letter of the English alphabet, which is derived from the sixth pictographic letter of Phoenicia. This letter is similar to today's English letter Y, which stands for cork or stud. Its name is waw in Phoenician and Hebrew. In the Middle Ages, the left cheek of a felon was usually marked with an F as a symbol of punishment. (see a, v)
G
In the ancient Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets, G is a hieroglyphic letter describing the outline of camel's head and neck, and its name is gimel. Later, the Greeks borrowed this symbol as gamma. In fact, the letters G and C come from the same Phoenician letter. There is no letter G in the original Latin alphabet, and words with G and K sounds are represented by the letter C. After the third century A.D., the ancient Romans created G according to C. Since then, C stands for K sound and G stands for G sound. (see a and c)
H
Like other letters, H can be traced back to Phoenician letters through Latin letters and Greek letters. In Phoenician, the letter corresponding to H has two horizontal bars, representing fences or fences, and the letters are named heth or cheth. (see a)
I
The ninth letter I in English comes from the Phoenician hieroglyphic letter yod/yodh, which is considered to represent human fingers. At first, the lowercase letter I had no dot, and the dot above I was added after 1 1 century to distinguish the double I hyphen (such as filii) from the letter U. In addition, before19th century, the written or printed forms of I and J were interchangeable, and dictionaries did not treat them as two different letters. For example, in the English dictionary compiled by samuel johnson (1709- 1784), iambic is between jamb and jangle. English I is equivalent to Greek ι (IOTA).
J
The letter J was born in the post-Shakespeare era and is about 1630. Together with V, it is called the youngest letter in the English alphabet. There is neither J nor J in the King James Bible published in 16 1. Just as G is based on C, J is derived from I, that is, a tail is added to I. However, until the19th century, the written or printed forms of I and J were interchangeable, and they were not completely separated. (see a, I)
K
The root of the letter K can also be traced back to the ancient Phoenicians. In the Phoenician alphabet, k is a hieroglyphic symbol, representing the human hand. It is called kaph in Hebrew, which means "hand (palm)". After borrowing from Greek, it becomes κ(kappa. In ancient Rome, a slanderer's forehead was marked with K, which stands for kalumnia, which is equivalent to slander in English. (see a)
L
In Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets, L is called lamed/lamedh, which is a hieroglyphic symbol representing ox drive or whip. The corresponding letter in Greek is ∧(lambda. (see a)
M
Like other letters, m can be traced back to ancient Phoenician. Phoenicians are brave in exploration and are famous for their maritime trade. They sailed all the way to the Spanish coast. M is a pictographic symbol representing the shape of waves in the Phoenician alphabet. It is called mem in Hebrew, which means "water". The corresponding letter in Greek is μ (mu). In the middle ages, anyone who committed the crime of manslaughter often branded the left thumb with the mark of M. M stands for 1000 in Roman numerals (mille in Latin). (see a)
ordinary
The letter N is wavy in Egyptian hieroglyphics, called nun in Phoenician, which means "fish", while the corresponding letter in Greek is nu. (see a, m)
O
Many languages have letters like O, which all represent people's eyes. In some ancient alphabets, a dot is added after O to indicate students. In Phoenician, O is called cayin, which means "eyes", and in old English, O is called oedel, which means "home". (see a)
P
The sixteenth letter P of the English alphabet was called pe by ancient Phoenicians and Hebrews, which means "mouth". The corresponding letter in Greek is ∏(pi). In the 6th century A.D./KLOC-,a Dominican monk named Placentius wrote a poem called Pugna Bockelen, which consisted of 253 lines and six steps. The first letter of every word in the poem is p, which is probably the only one in ancient and modern times. (see a)
Q
The letter q comes from the19th hieroglyphic letter in Phoenician and Hebrew. Q is shaped a bit like a monkey with its tail hanging. No wonder the Phoenicians called the letter qoph, which means "monkey". In English, q is almost always followed by u, which rarely appears at the end of words unless it is a foreign word. (see a)
rare
The18th letter r of the English alphabet evolved from the 20th hieroglyphic letter in Phoenician and Hebrew, which the Phoenicians called resh, meaning "head". Since ancient Roman times, R has been called a dog's letter or a growling letter, because its pronunciation is quite similar to a dog's howling R-R-R or GR-R-R. British playwright and poet ben johnson (1572-1637)1636 wrote in his book English Grammar for the benefit of all strangers: "R is the letter of a dog, with sadness in its voice; In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's nanny and Romeo said that Romeo and rosemary, a flower often associated with weddings, both start with the letter R and are called R dog names. (see a)
S
In Phoenician and Hebrew, s is called shin/sin, which means "tooth". The shape of letters is quite similar to that of today's W, but now the glyphs are gradually evolved after entering Latin. The corresponding letter in Greek is ∑(sigma. (see a)
T
Today's letter T is a variant of Phoenician hieroglyphic letters. Early hieroglyphics, like today's letter X, were called taw, which means "mark". The Greek letter based on this symbol is τ (τ). (see a)
U
The letter U comes from the letter V. For hundreds of years before19th century, these two letters, like I and J, have always been interchangeable and have never been distinguished in English dictionaries. For example, in books published in 16 and 17 centuries, upon is often spelled as vpon, while have is often spelled as haue. Even in 1847, the English dictionary published by Henry washburne Company in London still followed this convention. (see a, v)
V
V is one of the two youngest letters in the English alphabet (the other is J), which appeared after Shakespeare's time, about 1630. But V is also the ancestor of three letters, such as U, W, Y, and even F can be said to be derived from V, which originated from the sixth hieroglyphic letter in the Phoenician alphabet about 1000 BC. It is similar to the English letter Y today and is called waw, meaning "cork" or "wooden nail". After 900 BC, the Greeks borrowed this letter and derived two letters, one of which later evolved into the English letter F and the other into V and Y. Before19th century, the letters V and U were inseparable and interchangeable. In the Roman alphabet, v stands for 5. (participate in a, f, u, w, y)
W
W, like U and Y, is also derived from V. In fact, W is composed of double V, which should be read as double V..w is read as double U, because U and V were inseparable and interchangeable centuries before19th century. V is a symbol of both V and U. Even if it is pronounced as U, it is often written as V. For example, upon is often spelled as vpon. The French letter w is pronounced double v (see a, u, w)
X
The 24th letter X of the English alphabet is equivalent to the 22nd letter χ (chi) of the Greek alphabet. In fact, the former is borrowed from the latter, which comes from a Phoenician hieroglyphic letter representing "fish", which sounds like samekh. X stands for10 in Roman numerals; In algebra and mathematics, x is usually used to represent the unknown. When algebra was introduced into Europe from Arabia, the word shei, which means "unknown" in Arabic, was translated into xei, so the initials X became the common code name of unknown. There is another saying about the origin of the letter X: X was originally a pictographic symbol for kissing, written as χ, which really looks a bit like two mouths kissing. And this explanation may come from folk etymology. (see a)
Y
Y can be said to come from V, and its root can be traced back to υ (upsilon), which is called the letter of Pythagoras in Greek. In algebra, y is often used to represent the second unknown. (see a, v)
Z
Z is pronounced zed in British English, zee in American English, but izzard in old English. Z comes from the sixth letter zeta in Greek, which is borrowed from Phoenicia. Some people may ask, ζ is the sixth letter in Greek, but why is it the 26th and last letter in English? In fact, this is not always the case. When the Romans borrowed zeta from Greek, they thought that Z would be useless, so they removed it. Later, they found that Z was still useful, but at this time Z had lost its original position and had to come to the bottom. In fact, in English, Z is considered useless by many writers. Shakespeare once wrote, "You went whoring! Your unnecessary letter! " (King Lear Part II, Part II) (see A)