The ancient creators of these Chinese ideograms actually understood how to merge the phonetic components and simple roots of combined/complex characters to tell a meaningful story, i.e., while using both aspects of the individual character components. Those that nit-pick some of these interpretations, more often than not, want to reject the history and reach of the Bible. Ah, rejecting the Bible--now, that IS sinister! (Also, the parallel Japanese character for "8" confirms the interpretation.)
The ancient creators of these Chinese ideograms actually understood how to merge the phonetic components and simple roots of combined/complex characters to tell a meaningful story, i.e., while using both aspects of the individual character components. Those that nit-pick some of these interpretations, more often than not, want to reject the history and reach of the Bible. Ah, rejecting the Bible--now, that IS sinister! (Also, the Japanese character for "8" confirms the meaning is correct.)
The other thing totally overlooked in these attempts to connect Chinese characters with the Bible is that most Chinese characters have a phonetic component whose purpose is to provide the SOUND of the ancient character, and have nothing at all to do with the meaning of it. Yet she takes those same parts and ascribes meaning to them where there was none in the original characters. Example: "boat" is supposedly "boat + eight + person" but it's really "boat" + a meaningless phonetic component.
Worse still, even IF the part analyzed as "eight + people" were not just present as a pronunciation key, even if it WERE there as a semantic component, again (as in the misinterpretation of the word "flood") the two strokes that LOOK like "eight" in the word "marsh" actually mean "divide or separate" and the part she says means "person" really just means "an opening"...together the original pictograph represented an outlet from a RAVINE...it has nothing at all to do with "eight".
The fanciful fabrications continue with some of the characters which contain a "sheep" component, where, again, that part is present only to provide the sound, so she's wrong when she talks about the meaning "sheep" having some part in the overall meaning of those characters. Her conclusions totally ignore and misinterpret the true nature of these phonetic components. It's like ascribing some sinister meaning to the given name "Shelly" just because it contains the word "hell".
Most of these supposed etymologies of Chinese characters are false. The shapes of ancient characters, originally pictographs, evolved over 1000s of yrs, often losing their original form and mutating into other shapes that LOOK just like other modern characters but which have nothing at all to do with them. Example: the character for "flood" was originally a pair of hands at the bottom and the number TWENTY above. So the only REAL number associated with that character is TWENTY, not EIGHT.
Certainly, any comparison to the Bible is imperfect. Yet at the same time, anyone denying the Bible, must believe in some false idea or evil notion. However, it is not false that the ancient Chinese peoples acknowledged a supreme deity as Shang-Di, the Emperor Above. He was honored with necessary sacrifices. The lamb/sheep was an important aspect in their worship. These similarities only hint at the truth of the Bible: Google "tjv13n1chinese_lamb" and click on "TECHNICAL JOURNAL 13#1 COMPLETED".
The ancient creators of these Chinese ideograms actually understood how to merge the phonetic components and simple roots of combined/complex characters to tell a meaningful story, i.e., while using both aspects of the individual character components. Those that nit-pick some of these interpretations, more often than not, want to reject the history and reach of the Bible. Ah, rejecting the Bible--now, that IS sinister! (Also, the parallel Japanese character for "8" confirms the interpretation.)
idster 4 months ago
The ancient creators of these Chinese ideograms actually understood how to merge the phonetic components and simple roots of combined/complex characters to tell a meaningful story, i.e., while using both aspects of the individual character components. Those that nit-pick some of these interpretations, more often than not, want to reject the history and reach of the Bible. Ah, rejecting the Bible--now, that IS sinister! (Also, the Japanese character for "8" confirms the meaning is correct.)
idster 4 months ago
The other thing totally overlooked in these attempts to connect Chinese characters with the Bible is that most Chinese characters have a phonetic component whose purpose is to provide the SOUND of the ancient character, and have nothing at all to do with the meaning of it. Yet she takes those same parts and ascribes meaning to them where there was none in the original characters. Example: "boat" is supposedly "boat + eight + person" but it's really "boat" + a meaningless phonetic component.
leisulin 5 months ago
@leisulin
Worse still, even IF the part analyzed as "eight + people" were not just present as a pronunciation key, even if it WERE there as a semantic component, again (as in the misinterpretation of the word "flood") the two strokes that LOOK like "eight" in the word "marsh" actually mean "divide or separate" and the part she says means "person" really just means "an opening"...together the original pictograph represented an outlet from a RAVINE...it has nothing at all to do with "eight".
leisulin 5 months ago
@leisulin
The fanciful fabrications continue with some of the characters which contain a "sheep" component, where, again, that part is present only to provide the sound, so she's wrong when she talks about the meaning "sheep" having some part in the overall meaning of those characters. Her conclusions totally ignore and misinterpret the true nature of these phonetic components. It's like ascribing some sinister meaning to the given name "Shelly" just because it contains the word "hell".
leisulin 5 months ago
Most of these supposed etymologies of Chinese characters are false. The shapes of ancient characters, originally pictographs, evolved over 1000s of yrs, often losing their original form and mutating into other shapes that LOOK just like other modern characters but which have nothing at all to do with them. Example: the character for "flood" was originally a pair of hands at the bottom and the number TWENTY above. So the only REAL number associated with that character is TWENTY, not EIGHT.
leisulin 5 months ago
Certainly, any comparison to the Bible is imperfect. Yet at the same time, anyone denying the Bible, must believe in some false idea or evil notion. However, it is not false that the ancient Chinese peoples acknowledged a supreme deity as Shang-Di, the Emperor Above. He was honored with necessary sacrifices. The lamb/sheep was an important aspect in their worship. These similarities only hint at the truth of the Bible: Google "tjv13n1chinese_lamb" and click on "TECHNICAL JOURNAL 13#1 COMPLETED".
idster 1 year ago