Origin
The Shang people believed that there were ten suns, each of which appeared in order in a ten-day cycle (旬; xún). The Heavenly Stems (tiāngān 天干) were the names of the ten suns, which may have designated world ages as did the Five Suns and the Six Ages of the World of Saint Augustine. They were found in the given names of the kings of the Shang in their Temple Names. These consisted of a relational term (Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother) to which was added one of the ten gān names (e.g. Grandfather Jia). These names are often found on Shang bronzes designating whom the bronze was honoring (and on which day of the week their rites would have been performed, that day matching the day designated by their name). David Keightley, a leader scholar of ancient China and its bronzes, believes that the gān names were chosen posthumously through divination. Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. The associations with Yin-Yang and the Five Elements developed later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.
The literal meaning of the characters was roughly as follows:
| Celestial Stem |
Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Original | Modern | |
| 甲 | shell | first (book I, person A etc.), helmet, armor, words related to beetles, crustaceans, methyl group, fingernails, toenails |
| 乙 | fishguts | second (book II, person B etc.), twist, words related to the ethyl group |
| 丙 | fishtail | third, bright, fire, fishtail (rare) |
| 丁 | nail | fourth, male adult, robust, T-shaped, to strike, a surname |
| 戊 | lance | (not used) |
| 己 | threads on a loom | self |
| 庚 | evening star | age (of person) |
| 辛 | to offend superiors | bitter, piquant, toilsome |
| 壬 | burden | to shoulder, to trust with office |
| 癸 | disposed Grass | (not used) |
Read more about this topic: Celestial Stem
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