The "graphic design" for 旅 'troops' and 車 'chariot' in oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper argues that there were in the minds of the creators of Chinese characters what we refer to as "graphic designs" (abbreviated as "GD"—for the other acronyms used hereinafter, see "Symbols and Abbreviations of the Frequently Used Terms and the Authors' Names" at the end of the paper). The GD is generally inseparable from the underlying lexeme, and this paper is a case study of the two, and other related, words, in connection specifically with their graphic representations. The GD for the OBI graphs [inline-graphic 01], [inline-graphic 02], and [inline-graphic 03], which appear to be pictographs, is as simple as the UM of the word chē 車 'chariot', namely, "chariot/wheel". Its presumed sound—*k-hla~*ka-hla—and the meaning may not have participated in any WF in Shāng Chinese because it was a loan word from an IE language and was not yet integrated in the contemporary lexicological system. A basis for this is that another reading jū , assumed as *ka~*kəlja, had not yet developed. The simplicity of the GD and UM of 車, however, is in contrast with the complexity of its origins and its uses: (1) what is the phonetic in lǚ [inline-graphic 204], [inline-graphic 205] and in BI graphs like [inline-graphic 04], [inline-graphic 05], [inline-graphic 06]? If all these write the word 旅, a question arises: which (pre-)OC form, chē /*k-hla~*ka-hla or jū /*ka~*kəlja, was original? We have suggested that the latter arose after the original, chē /*k-hla~*ka-hla, was sufficiently circulated and came into being as a result of the mono-syllabification of *ka-hla 車; (2) since many IE languages have the initial k- for 車 'wheel/chariot', reconstructing the pre-initial *k- for this Chinese loan word makes sense; (3) we have narrowed down the introduction of the chariot and its word into China to ca. 1200 BC, during the reign of King Wǔ Dīng 武丁 (ca. 1230–1171 BC); (4) we have also tried to answer the question: can we account for the frequent use in the late Shāng-early Zhōu BI of the 車 element, and its disappearance after early Western Zhōu? This question has taken us to examine the history of warfare, the ancient industry of chariot and wheel making, and the utilitarian and symbolic value of the chariot in ancient China. 摘要: 本文提出造字之初造字者已有所謂"造字設計"或者"古文字構形設計"(即 "graphic design"，以下簡稱為"GD"；文中所用英文縮寫皆見文末 "Symbols and Abbreviations of the Frequently Used Terms and the Authors' Names"附表)，而這種"GD"基本上是與原本的詞位不可分割的。本文將以(早期)上古漢語中"旅"與"車"兩詞為例探討兩者及與其相關諸詞的古文字構形問題。