I remember you making that comment years ago but I have been unable to verify it… can you pint to me an informed discussion? ( and thanks for the nice words!)
I can't claim authority, but Mark Lewis, in his Construction of Space in Early China, p. 92, says (following Xu Shen) that the character 家, home, is not a pig under a roof, but a child under a roof, as the seal-script hai 亥 looked a lot like shi 豕. In his notes Lewis has a quote from Lu shi chun qiu that illustrates the possible confusion:
Zi Xia was going to Jin and passed through Wei. Someone reading a historical chronicle said “The Jin army, three pigs, forded the Yellow River.” Zi Xia said, “That is wrong. This says ji hai”[己亥, one of the sexagenary cycle used to indicate the day] The character “ji 己”is close to three [san 三] and the character pig [shi 豕] resembles child [hai 亥]
Great stuff. Sharp and informed. You might enjoy my ancient post at Frog in a Well: "Pigs, Shit, and Chinese History' https://www.froginawell.net/frog/2007/01/pigs-shit-and-chinese-history-or-happy-year-of-the-pig/
Also, it seems that it's not a "pig" under that roof in the 家 character, but an ancient form of "child."
I remember you making that comment years ago but I have been unable to verify it… can you pint to me an informed discussion? ( and thanks for the nice words!)
I can't claim authority, but Mark Lewis, in his Construction of Space in Early China, p. 92, says (following Xu Shen) that the character 家, home, is not a pig under a roof, but a child under a roof, as the seal-script hai 亥 looked a lot like shi 豕. In his notes Lewis has a quote from Lu shi chun qiu that illustrates the possible confusion:
Zi Xia was going to Jin and passed through Wei. Someone reading a historical chronicle said “The Jin army, three pigs, forded the Yellow River.” Zi Xia said, “That is wrong. This says ji hai”[己亥, one of the sexagenary cycle used to indicate the day] The character “ji 己”is close to three [san 三] and the character pig [shi 豕] resembles child [hai 亥]
Thank you! That is very helpful.
ineluctably!
That was for you!