Vol II: 戎

Hi, I tried a new way to do my passion blog on Chinese Characters. Hope you like it!

Transcript:

Hi, everyone, welcome to my passion. for the second episode of Origin of Chinese Character, let me use a more visualized method to talk about the charm of hieroglyphics.

So let’s take a look at the character for today

戎 Rong

This is the modern way to write it. Can you guess the meaning of the character by just looking at it? Hmm, may be not.

So let now trace back to the script used back in Qin dynasty around 221 BCE, called seal script.

Any clue so far?

Here is a hint, Let me draw a shield and dagger-axe.

Now separate the two parts of the character 戎 Rong, can you see it now? The left part is the shield and the right part is the dagger axe.

Interestingly, for this character, seal script is more graphic than the most ancient script, oracle bone script. (write out 甲骨文)

The irregular development of this character 戎 Rong is due to the change in technique. Back to the time of oracle bone script, the one on the left which was developed in 1300 BCE, ancient Chinese people start to use bronze to make weapon then iron age started. Till the time for seal script, most of the weapon is made in iron, which change the outlook of shield and dagger axe significantly.

So now you know how 戎 Rong character is developed, and it means army and military affairs.

Thanks for watching, hope you enjoy this episode.

Reference:

http://www.vividict.com/WordInfo.aspx?id=3680

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_metallurgy_in_China