友

 We have learnt 朋 in our last post. Today we move on to the character which is always used together with 朋 as 朋友, which means friend.

what does 友 mean here?  Recall what we have learnt when we studied 有 (https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2015/12/learn-one-chinese-character-day_29.html) and 又 (https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2015/12/learn-one-chinese-character-day_27.html), we can tell that 友 is composed of two hands. And we would not be surprised that 友 sounds much like 又 as well as 有.

However till now, we cannot give any reasonable guess for what 友 represents. As usual, its ancient scripts should help us to have a better understanding of 友, as shown below:

evolution history of 友

From its Oracle script, it is quite clear that  is drawing of two hands (both right hands) (to work / point to same direction). It is more likely the same idea of picture below:

One of its Bronze script variant , with an extra 口 underneath two hands. We believe it means to SAY: "let us work together".

Thus 友 originally means "two person who works together for the same goal or purpose". That is why it is explained by 《文解字》 as "同志为友", which is translated to English as: people who share the same 志 are 友. What does 志 mean? 志 means where your heart is. Details can be reviewed at https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/08/learn-one-chinese-character-day_9.html .

Please note the subtle differences in the meaning of 友, comparing to 朋 in its original meaning.  But now 友 is always used as friend. For example 好友.

If 友 is used as verb, it means to make friends with. 友爱.

That is all for 友, time to enjoy Chinese calligraphy with 友 inside:

独山莫友芝书

自

Our new Chinese character today is 自. Looking at this modern form, it is not possible to guess the meaning of 自. Let us go through its ancient scripts and probably we will get hints there:

evolution history of 自

Oracle script might still be too simple to guess. but its Bronze script shows very clearly what 自 represents:

 

自

Now if we look back at its Oracle script , it is clear that also vividly represents the drawing of nose, but without mustache, as well. 

If you know the Chinese character which means nose - 鼻, now you can immediately tell that 鼻 is composed of 自 and 畀. From the regular pattern of how Chinese characters were created, 自 should be related to nose.

From the evolution history of 自, laziness of human nature demonstrates its power again, 自 is simplified from complex to , and further simplified during Seal script era:  . is every close to what we are writing today: 自.

Yes, 自 originally means nose, which is eventually replaced by the new character 鼻, for 自 was eventually borrowed to represent different meanings.

During our daily conversation, we usually point to our noses to mean me or myself. And sometimes even point to other-body's nose to mean him. Chinese ancestors took this scenario to use 自, which is nose, to mean me or self. for example 自己.

自己

 

The same hidden meaning of nose should be presented in western culture as well. In the fable story of Pinocchio, whenever he lied, his nose would grow longer, which probably represents the result of growing ego of a person.

And nose is the vital organ for breathe and airflow starts from it. 自 thus also contains the meaning of from, start and since. for example 自从.

That is all for 自, time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 自 inside:

和气人长寿；心宽福自来。

朋 | 倗

We have successfully interpreted the meaning of the sentence: "学而时习之，不亦悦乎？" its next sentence is "有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？" In our following learning journey, we will prepare ourselves to understand it properly.

Our character today is 朋. What does it mean by grouping two 月 together? We have learnt that 月 can represent either moon or meat when it is used as Chinese radical. You can review the related posts as below:

1. 月: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2012/02/learn-one-chinese-character-day_17.html

2. 肉: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2015/12/learn-one-chinese-character-day_28.html

3. 背: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2015/12/learn-one-chinese-character-day_31.html

So does 朋 means a lot of meat or kind of meaning "bright" like 明? After we see its Oracle scripts, it will be clear that 朋 has nothing related to 月 or 肉, as shown below:

evolution history of 朋

We can see from its Oracle script  of 朋 that it looks actually like a bunch of something stringed together. In one of Chinese classic literature《诗经》, there is a sentence called: “既见君子,锡我百朋”, which is translated into modern Chinese as: After visiting the officer, he rewarded me one hundred of 朋. It is a clear proof that 朋 is something related to currency. In ancient China, Chinese people started their currency with beautiful 贝. Details related to 贝 can be found here: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/05/learn-one-chinese-character-day_9.html

With above understanding, below image is a good representation what 朋 actually is:

Now we reach to the conclusion that 朋 is the drawing of two group of 贝 stringed together.

From the concept of "group" coming from the original representation of 朋, 朋 thus is used to mean grouping of people, for example 朋党.

And looking at the , it does not mean group of people only, it means a group of people who share the same value and standard, like your friends. for example 朋友.

Again from , it is a drawing of two strings of 贝, tied in sequence, parallel to each other, hang from top down. It is further evolved to mean students (which is a group of people) study under a same teacher, and of course, they share the same values and standards. That is why ancient Chinese says "同处师门曰朋".

From the series related to Oracle script, we can easily tell why 倗 is a variant of 朋.

That is all for 朋, let us enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 朋 inside:

有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？

Meaning of 学而时习之，不亦悦乎？

 As what we have mentioned in our last post, today we try to understand the meaning of the first sentence of the most important classic of Confucianism： 《论语》: 学而时习之，不亦悦乎？ To start, we will review the meaning of each Chinese character of it.

学 | 學: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2019/07/blog-post_22.html 
It is a drawing of the teacher shows the principle and knowledge of outside world to a kid sitting inside a house.

而: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2019/08/blog-post.html
It is a drawing of a lot of long beard, which represents the relationship of equality or similarity of things it connects.

时 | 時: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/10/learn-one-chinese-character-day.html
It represents the meaning of movements of Sun.

习 | 習: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2017/05/learn-one-chinese-character-day_25.html
It originally is drawing of a flying Sun, which represents the meaning of "keep doing something consistently as a routine".

之: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/08/learn-one-chinese-character-day.html
It originally means the place where the foot stands, then involves to be used as pronoun.

不: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2019/09/blog-post_22.html
It means not.

亦: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2019/10/blog-post_28.html
It means same, as well or too.

悦 | 悅: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2020/03/blog-post_28.html

It means happy, but more to it: Feeling happy because of fulfilling or achieving (something).

乎: https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2020/07/blog-post.html

It means shout loudly, or it can be understood as modal particle.

Before you check out our answer below, please take the last chance to try to reason the meaning of the sentence "学而时习之，不亦悦乎？" yourself.

.

.

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And here we go the answer, which is probably different than what you can get from other sources, but we think it is a better translation:

Modern Chinese first: "如果我们能够学习世界运转的知识和规律，并和太阳每天的运行一样，持之以恒的运用学习到的知识来更好的了解这个世界，这种自我成就的感觉难道不也会让我们非常开心吗？"

English next: "If we can learn the principle and knowledge of the universe, and consistently practice what we have learnt, as routinely as how Sun moves every day in the sky, to reach a better understanding of the universe, does not this self-fulfillment and self-improvement make us very happy?"

If you have a different mother tongue, you are welcome to provide translation for your own mother tongue. And of course if you have different translation for modern Chinese or English, you are welcome to provide your version as well.

That is all for today, let us enjoy again another Chinese calligraphy of "学而时习之，不亦悦乎"

学而时习之，不亦悦乎

乎

Our character 乎 today looks related to 于, which we have just learnt, with extra two indicators added. However looking at 乎, we cannot still guess its meaning yet. We will examine its evolution history to gain more ideas if any.

evolution history of 乎

From its Oracle script ,  relating to its current meaning, it is believed that it is a drawing of  coming out of , where  represents air flow or sound, and  represents a music instrument - horn.  Such usage of  can be approved by another Chinese character 号, which we will get into in near future. Below is image of a typical horn used by Chinese:

号角

When it came to Bronze script era -we can see that it is kind of changed to a drawing of  (the airflow or sound) made inside . here should be referring to 于, instead of a horn.

Why then did Chinese ancestors changed the music instrument in 乎 from a horn to a 竽? The meaning of 乎 can probably help to explain. 乎 was used during Oracle Script era to mean originally "making a very load sound", which was eventually represented by a new character 呼. While 乎 itself is then used as modal particle at the middle or end of a sentence and also it is used to represents a much more gentle sound.

That is all for 乎, it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 乎 inside:

顺乎天而应乎人

Now we have learnt all the Chinese characters of the first sentence of 《论语》: 学而时习之，不亦悦乎. Do you understand it now and then is able to translate it into English properly?

迂

Our character today is also related to 于 we just learnt - 迂. It is obviously composed of a 于 with a 辶. What could be the meaning combined?

辶 is a already known Chinese Radical character which is 辵, and its explanation can be found at https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2015/11/learn-one-chinese-character-day_14.html.

From the Oracle script of 于 - and , we know that it is drawing of the music instrument 竽 or its sound chamber. The air flow inside 竽 is circuitous to create sound. Adding 辵 to it, the direct guess is to walk like the air move inside 竽, which is to walk circuitously. for example 迂回.

When there is a direct / better path to the success, somebody however would rather take the detour, or even fail, in order to follow out-dated rules or rites. 迂 is thus extended to describe such a person or ideas: for example 迂腐.

That is pretty much all for 迂, let us check its evolution history to see if we can get more information from it:

evolution history of 迂

Oracle script of 迂 - kind of tells everything: walking () in the way of roundabout ().  Follow image is a good representation of the scene:

迂

And now it is time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 迂 inside:

不见倪迂今百年，故山乔木岭苍烟。
晴窗展卷观图画，淡墨依然景昔贤。

竽

Since we have mentioned 竽 while we studied 于, let us quickly re-visit the meaning of 竽. From the character itself - 竽, it is obviously composed of upper part 𥫗 (which we have known to be radical bamboo), and bottom part 于 which we just knew to be a Chinese music instrument originally.

As regarding to 竹, please refer to previous post https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/04/learn-one-chinese-character-day_8.html and 箭 at https://xiongzou.blogspot.com/2016/06/learn-one-chinese-character-day_25.html to re-gain the knowledge.

Simple enough for our character 竽 today is that: 𥫗 is added to 于 to represent the music instrument after 于 was borrowed to represent other meanings. So 竽 is as shown below:

竽

And we can double confirm it with its ancient scripts:

evolution history of 竽

That is all for 竽, time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 竽 inside:

众里笙竽谁比数；
胸中云梦自逶迟。