Etymology of the ideograms Da Chuang.34








The first ideogram used to illustrate hexagram thirty-four is one on the most common and one of the simplest. It suggests a Human Being standing on his two feet with his arms spread apart to express the universal symbol for Great, Large, Big…

Being, from the onset, the representation of a thing (pictogram) instead of the representation of an idea has given this ideogram great abstraction values. It has the properties for depicting the Heavens, as the roof of life on Earth, as well as the spiritual Heaven. By adding a horizontal stroke on top of the ideogram Da, it becomes the highest possible limit.

This ideographic filiation will serve as the basis for the idea of largesse, generosity, concerning the notion of Yang and its association with Heaven. In the context of the Yi Jing, considering the ideogram Da (Great) as the primitive denomination of the idea of Yang is approved by its being depicted four times in that scope: Da You.14 (Great Accomplishment), Da Xu.26
( Taming by the Great), Da Guo.28 (Great Excess) and Da Chuang.34 (Great Strength).




The second ideogram of Da Chuang.34 has two parts: on the right is the general symbol for Ground, Soil; the left part of the ideogram is the symbol for Tree.

Starting from the situation where someone is trimming the branches of a tree, Chinese ideography has attributed the right side of the tree – the side where the branches have fallen -, the function of designating what is Small, Fragile, Thin…and, to the left side – the side where the trunk rests-, the function of evoking what is Strong, Big, Solid, Thick…Still today, in the backcountries of China, most housing walls are build with clay using wood planks as a molding frame, which is then removed.

Through all these connotations, this ideogram has always portrayed a symbol of Strength that, emphasized by the mention of raw materials, Wood and Soil, add to the idea (very important in this hexagram) of the Vital Strength, itself raw.

During Antiquity, this ideogram was confounded with another one, very close in pronunciation (Qiang), and also similarly written (it is composed of the same left ideogram but on the right is the ideogram meaning Helmbard* instead of that of Soil), and which means Injury, Violent Destruction; it is encountered as such at the third level of Da Guo.62. Though the meaning of Strength is the one that prevailed, the idea of Injury is still in the background since one of the axis of the hexagram is to master this strength.

Together, these two ideograms naming this hexagram can be read differently, depending on the grammatical value given to each character. If one considers the first ideogram as a noun and the second as a verb, the meaning becomes: The Great (Yang) is Forcing (the situation); if, on the other hand, the first ideogram is an attribute and the second a noun, the meaning becomes: The Strength is Great. Neither of the two ways is entirely satisfying, but Great Strength tries to conciliate by giving great the same attribute common to all four hexagrams using this character in their name.

* weapon with a spike at one end and a blade at the other.

Confucius

confucius said:

The second ideogram of Da Chuang.34 has two parts: on the right is the general symbol for Ground, Soil; the left part of the ideogram is the symbol for Tree.

Click to expand...

The dictionary at http://www.zhongwen.com/ says that the second part, zhuang, pictures not the soil, but a "Scholar/warrior". The character may perhaps look deceptively similar to the one actually meaning earth, tu? Or have I overlooked something of vital importance?