Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
It's not like they had drive-in fast food joints in those days...
What about "double checking"? I just wonder if, in certain contexts, the meaning can be extended to that. L
The Chinese characters we're working with here have to cover the whole territory of existence and experience with only 8000 words. Our Western languages have hundreds of thousands. The meanings that we gloss the characters with have to stay broad enough to do this. One thing that helps is to keep the concrete symbolic imagery as just that, and not force them into abstract concepts. That way they can still flex to describe more situations.
I've been thinking about this. Actually, while there isn't a translation of these lines, I don't think they prove that these are eleborate forms.Yes, I think it was. In the 金文引得 collection of bronze inscriptions a vessel classified as the 五年召伯虎 gui (Vol. I, entry 5034) contains the following sentences (characters between () are the modern equivalent of the preceding character; X are characters that are not in Unicode):
弋(秘)白(伯)氏從X(許)。公宕其參 (叄)。女(汝)X(則)宕其貳。公宕其貳。女(汝)則宕其一。
I don't know how I should translate these lines and I could not find a translation in any of my books. But we have here in three following sentences the characters 叄, 貳 and 一. 叄 is the elaborate form for 'three', 貳 is the elaborate form for 'two', and 一 is 'one'. Even though I don't know how to translate these sentences, I guess it shows that 貳 had the meaning of 'two' in Western Zhou times. The 五年召伯虎 gui is dated in the later part of the Western Zhou dynasty.
Harmen.
I'm still considering the hypothesis that 貳 at first meant "double," and that "2" is in fact a derived meaning, that came into use later, when the need arose with the use of checks and such.
"Línea 4/6: Ofrece vino en un cubo de madera y mijo en cesta de bambú, además de vasijas de barro cocido. La pobre ofrenda ha sido colocada fuera, debajo de la ventana del templo. Al fin de cuentas, no comete falta o error alguno.
La figura dice: Vino en un cubo de madera y mijo en cesta de bambú. Se sitúa entre la dureza y la blandura."
He offers wine in a wooden bucket (sic) and millet in a bamboo basket, plus earthenware vessels ("barro cocido" = fired clay, thus "earthenware"). The poor offering has been placed outside, below the window of the temple. At the end, he commits no offense or error whatsoever.
The image says: Wine in a wooden bucket and millet in a bamboo basket. He places himself between hardness and softness.
Línea 4/6: Es también posición peligrosa, exterior en el kua superior. Para salvarse de su mala situación, ofrece sacrificios de su pobreza. La 4/6 es femenina. Simboliza el vacío de las vasijas en las que ofrece su vino y su mijo.
Line 4/6: This is also a dangerous place, exterior in the superior gua. To save himself from his bad situation, he offers the poor sacrifices he can give. 4/6 is female. Symbolizes the emptiness (void, vacuum) of the vessels in which he offers his wine and millet.
That's not translating, that's interpreting. Gosh, how often can you bend the straight Yijing without without making it crooked?
Harmen.
BTW, I suppose you are talking about Elorduy "bending" the Yi. I only offered something that was new to me until this morning and found worthy of sharing.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).