Traditional chinese etymology. Comparative analysis with spanish in its romance and indo-european context

Abstract

Xu Shen established in his book Shuo Wen Jie Zi 說 文 解 字 the following six categories of writing structures: pictograms, ideograms, semantic composites, phono-semantic composites, etymological extensions and false loanwords. In the present work, we analyze from the traditional Chinese etymology three pictograms, 水 ‘water’, 犬 ‘dog’, and 人 ‘man’, to set a comparative analysis with Spanish in its Romance and Indo-European context. The aim is to study both the semantic-etymological convergences and divergences which may occur. The visual value that Mandarin Chinese has preserved throughout time is proved. In this language each graphic component is a conventional symbol, more or less arbitrary, which keeps an important iconic ontological-cultural motivated value, both internal and external. Not only it conveys a reference to a reality or a concept, but it also promotes an unequivocal ocular and mental vision of a metaphorical image.

https://doi.org/10.17398/2660-7301.40.135