Many Chinese characters composed of "sheep" have beautiful meanings, such as beauty, auspiciousness and light. People in China eat the most pork, but why do they have a soft spot for sheep?
Delicious and humiliating shape, full of treasures.
First of all, sheep is one of the earliest domesticated mammals. Sheep are full of treasures: mutton is delicious, wool keeps out the cold, and horns can be used as decorative sheep. These characteristics were very rare in the eyes of the ancients. It is precisely because of this intuitive feeling of sheep that our ancestors used "sheep" properly in the process of word-making.
"Shame" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's Writing
/24 1f 95 CAD 1c8a 786 a 09639 c 76 c 09 c 93d 7 1cf 50 be？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 "shame" Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
",this is the appearance of the ancient people when they sacrificed mutton with their hands. The ancients often chose the best sacrifices, and sheep were used for sacrifices precisely because it tasted more delicious than other animals. Therefore, "shame" can be used as both a verb to express sacrifice and a noun to express the meaning of food. In "it is hard to go", Li Bai wrote: "The cost of pure wine is a gold cup, a hip flask with 10,000 copper coins, and a jade plate. It is so shy that it needs thousands of dollars." Here, shame refers to delicious food. Because mutton is delicious, it is not a food that can be eaten at ordinary times. The ancients often didn't eat mutton in public, so today's "shame" means shyness and embarrassment.
/024 f 78 f 0f 736 AFC 3d e 744 cacb 8 19 ebc4 b 645 12fa？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 "shame" highlights the delicacy of mutton, while "beauty" focuses on expressing the beauty of horn shape. "Beauty" consists of "sheep" and "big" and comes from Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
/a2cc 7 CD 98d 100 1e 9 13 AC 67 c 6 b 30 e 7 bec 55 e 79762？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 Oracle Bone Inscriptions "sheep"
"We can also see that this is a man with horns on his head. There is an ancient ethnic minority Qiang nationality in the west of China. Their ancestors were good at herding sheep, and they were the first to think of decorating themselves with horns. The horn above the head is "beauty", and "beauty" originally refers to a pair of antlers. It turns out that the "beauty" we often talk about today is the horns of two animals in the eyes of the ancients!
/8326 cffc 1e 178 a 82087 c 0 c 69 FD 03738 da 877 E8 b 3？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 A sheep is a gentleman and modest.
China people like sheep, another more important reason is that sheep are gentle, neither as stubborn as cattle nor as lazy as pigs. The ancients thought that sheep had the appearance of gentlemen, just like those modest gentlemen with high morality, they were symbols of noble personality. Therefore, they also apply the affirmation and praise of sheep's moral character to word-making.
/f 636 AFC 3793 10a 55 1a 98 ad 3d BC 4543 a 98326 10be？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 "fresh" is composed of "fish" and "sheep", while the ancient writing is "
/0823 DD 54564 e 925882 a4 f 5279782d 158 CDB F4 e 62？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 "fresh" Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
Does not mean that cooking fish and sheep together can produce umami flavor. The word "sheep" here means beautiful. The ancients didn't master the technology of fish culture, and live fish were very scarce, so the ancients thought that live fish was the best fish, so the original meaning of "fresh" was live fish, and later it was extended to live, delicious and rare.
The "sheep" in "elephant" does not refer to specific sheep, but refers to a good sacrifice. "Elephant" is an ominous sign when the ancients offered sacrifices to the gods. Whether the omen is good or bad, the ancients believed that everything given by God was good.
/A8 ec8a 13632762d 02 c 7 ed 776 a bec 08 fa 503 dc6 b 3？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 In addition to the words "fresh and auspicious", China people can also see in the "goodness" and "righteousness" that they have always admired.
Good "kindness", Oracle Bone Inscriptions wrote:
/7 1 cf 3c 79 f 3d f 8d ca 0 adfc 58 c 6 1 1728 b 46 102862？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 Shan Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
A "sheep" plus two words "good" has two meanings: one is stuttering mutton, which means delicious food, so both "rice" and "eel" have "good"; Another meaning is that people should consult with each other when they speak, and don't call names. "Kindness" means speaking well, and the most basic requirement of "being kind to others" is not to hurt others with words.
"Easy to sort out traditional Chinese characters?" And "sheep" "I" was not a personal pronoun at first, but a weapon. Oracle Bone Inscriptions wrote:
/8b 13632762 d0f 7034 d0ee 6 1503 fa 5 13d 2797 c5bf？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85 Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
This can represent the scepter. "?" It originally refers to the sacrificial ceremony of slaughtering sheep. "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" said: "? The dignity of oneself, from me to the sheep ",emphasizes the appearance of people at the time of sacrifice, and good appearance should match good virtue. Later, "righteousness (? ) "to extend the meaning of justice and good virtue.
/3c 6d 55 fbb 2 FB 43 168 ba 309 b 32 ba 4462308 f 7d 3 BF？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality, q _ 85, gentle and honest, virtuous.
The ancients' cognition and positioning of sheep, cattle and horses were obviously different. They think the horse is very important, because it is indispensable in wars and other occasions, and it is a symbol of the strength of force; Cattle are respected because they work hard and have important practical needs in farming society; Only sheep is highly valued because it has the symbol of benevolence, righteousness and courtesy.
It is precisely because the docile sheep is consistent with the fine tradition of being gentle, honest and law-abiding that the Chinese nation has always respected, so the word "sheep" has the cultural connotation of "kindness, righteousness and beauty" and is regarded as the personality symbol of "benevolence, righteousness and virtue".
/962 BD 40735 FAE 6 CDE 924 D8 a 804 b 30 f 2443 a 70 f 62？ X-BCE-process = image/resize, m _ lfit, w _ 450, h _ 600, limit _ 1/quality and q _ 85, seemingly simple "sheep", are endowed with more moral meanings in the eyes of China people, which also reflects the thinking and wisdom of the ancients when they look at the world. There are many Chinese characters related to "sheep". If you are interested, you might as well start with "sheep" and start your journey of exploring Chinese character culture!
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