Characters
Most Chinese characters are written with a "phonetic" element that roughly indicates pronunciation with a "radical" or "signific" that suggests semantic field. Shen's standard 蜃 and antiquated 蜄 characters combine the chen 辰 "Dragon (zodiac), duodecimal 5th of the 12 Earthly Branches; period from 7-9 AM; time period; occasion; star; celestial body" phonetic with the chong 虫 "insect; reptile" radical.
A variety of other characters utilize this phonetic chen 辰 "5th; dragon", which the Wenlin says "may have depicted an ancient kind of hoe" in ancient oracle bone script (cf. nou 耨 "hoe; rake"). Some etymologically significant examples include:
- chen 晨 (with 日 "sun") "dragon star"
- zhen 震 (with 雨 "rain") "thunder; quake" (also a bagua trigram ☳ "The Arousing")
- zhen 振 (with 扌"hand") "shake; stimulate"
- zhen 娠 (with "woman") "pregnant"
- shen 脤 (with 肉 "meat") "sacrificial meat"
This chen 晨 or chenxing 辰星 "dragon star" is an asterism in the traditional Chinese constellations, a morning star within the Azure Dragon that is associated with east and spring. Specifically, the "dragon star" is in the 5th and 6th lunar Twenty-eight mansions, with its xin 心 "Heart" and wei 尾 "Tail" corresponding to the Western constellations of Antares and Scorpius.
Read more about this topic: Shen (clam-monster)
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that’s basically a conservative view of life.”
—Jane Smiley (b. 1949)
“Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“Socialist writers are made of sterner stuff than those who only let their characters steeplechase through trouble in order to come out first in the happy ending of moral uplift.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)