A short entry on 鬯
鬯 exists as an independent character, but you won’t find any modern Japanese words that are written with it. It seems to stand for ‘sacrificial wine’. This is Wieger’s (26 E) account of how 鬯 should be analysed:
A vase 凵 (L. 38E) full of 米 grain which, when fermented, produced the liquor; at the bottom 匕 the spoon with which people drew up the liquor from the vessel.¹
Comparing Wieger’s notes about 鬯 and 食 (which have a similar etymology as a picture of a container of rice) with Henshall on 食, and also looking at the earlier forms of 鬯² it seems to me that the point in Wieger about 匕 being a spoon is likely to be a later reinterpretation. Originally the whole thing seems to have been picture of a rice container, probably with a firm bottom or foot. The element 匕 seems to have crept in as a result of new ways of writing characters (often involving abbreviations).
Comments
When I wrote the text above, I had only access to Henshall, Wieger, and the collection of Richard Sears’ digitized images.¹ But I still knew about standardization.² Clearly all early graphs for 鬯 were representations of a container of some sort, with dots expressing some additional meaning. And surely, the sign for spoon was a replacement for the more elaborate shape of the base of the container.
However, was spoon 匕³ chosen deliberately? Did the ancients use a spoon to pour or drink their wine? Xǔ Shèn seems to think so.⁴ He also cites the Yìjīng: 不喪匕鬯 “Do not lose the spoon and sacrificial wine”. Seemingly, 匕 is not an empty component, solely covering the space where the base of the vessel used to be.
Notes
References
- Henshall A guide to remembering Japanese characters, Kenneth G. Henshall. Tōkyō. Charles E. Tuttle Company. Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo 1990 [1988].
- Wieger Chinese Characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History, Classification and Signification, L. Wieger (Translated into English by L. Davrout, S.J.) Second edition, enlarged and revised according to the 4th French edition. Paragon book reprint corp. and Dover publications, Inc, 1965 [1927].
- Xiaoxuetang Database ＜https://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/＞
- Xǔ Shèn 說文解字, 許慎 Xǔ Shèn . [CE 121].
- Yìjīng 易經 / 易经 / 易経) [originally ca. 1000-750 BCE, edited ca. 500–200 BCE.] Also spelled as the I Ching, usually translated as The Book of Changes or Classic of Changes.
Comments: 5 December 2024
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