The word "女" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a pictographic character. A woman is kneeling with her hands crossed on her chest. In the bronze calligraphy strokes, the kneeling posture is not obvious, but the small seal script seems to have returned to the kneeling posture. At the beginning of the official script, the vertical stroke of kneeling became a horizontal stroke, gradually becoming the style we see today.
The reason why we talk about "female" first is because "female" and "mother" are derived from the same word.
"Mother" is the same pictographic character that originated from oracle bone inscriptions. It is also a woman sitting sideways and kneeling with her hands stretched forward and crossed. In fact, it is the character for "女" we just mentioned. The difference is that in the middle Two more dots are added to the part to represent female breasts, which is obviously related to fertility and breastfeeding. The bronze inscriptions inherit the form of oracle bone inscriptions, without bending the knees or adding an extra horizontal pattern. The seal scripts are more like oracle bone inscriptions, and the official script fonts are greatly deformed, and the human shape can no longer be seen. ?
Another view is that during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the words "mother" and "daughter" did not have a clear division of labor, and were used interchangeably in oracle bone inscriptions and inscriptions.
"Shuowen Jiezi": "Mother, animal husbandry." "Mu" means nurturing. The mother is a daughter, which also expresses the distinction between genders.
The original meaning of "mother" refers to mother, and later it was extended to mean nurturing and nurturing. By extension, it also refers to female elders, such as "aunt", "aunt", etc.; people refer to the language of the people where they grew up as the "mother tongue", which is also called mother tongue in English; we call the people we have studied and lived in The school is called "alma mater", and these titles contain strong feelings and a sense of close bond.
Today is Mother’s Day, and I found two Chinese and foreign works among the many poems praising maternal love.
The poem "Kaifeng" comes from "The Book of Songs Bei Feng". A hard-working mother raised her seven sons. The poem uses the warm south wind and the nourishing cold spring as a metaphor for mother's kindness, and also uses the yellow... The chirping of birds is so gentle, which reflects that it is difficult for a son to comfort his mother's heart and repay her mother's kindness.
Tagore’s poems are dreamlike and picturesque, often making people fall into reverie. The poet lost his mother when he was young. The poem "As if" was written in his later years, although the true love he received from his biological mother was far away. Go, he left people poems, but they are truly mother's love that can be heard, seen and smelled.
This is a way to thank my mother and those who give motherly care to others.
The Book of Songs Bei Feng Kai Feng
Anonymous [Pre-Qin]
The Kai Feng comes from the south and blows the thorny heart. The heart of the thorn is young, and the mother's family is tired.
The glorious wind comes from the south, blowing away the thorny firewood. My mother is holy and kind, and I have no one to ask for.
Is there a cold spring in love? Under the dredging. He has seven children, and his mother works hard.
The yellow bird carries its sound. If you have seven children, don’t comfort your mother’s heart.
As if
Tagore
I don’t remember my mother
Just in the middle of the game
Sometimes it seems There's a tune
whirling on my toys
it's her rocking my cradle
those tunes
I don’t remember my mother
But on the morning of early autumn
The fragrance of albizia flowers floats in the air
The fragrance of morning prayers in the temple
It’s like my mother’s breath is blowing to me
I don’t remember my mother
Only when I look out at the distant blue sky from the bedroom window
I seem to feel
my mother’s gaze on me
fills the entire sky
References and sources
1. "Word Origin", edited by Li Xueqin, published by Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, first edition in December 2012
2. "Oracle Bone Calligraphy Dictionary", edited by Fan Zhongyue and Chen Daying, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, first edition in April 2019
3. "Shuowen Jiezi", (Eastern Han Dynasty) Xu Shen
4. "Modern Chinese Dictionary (7th Edition)" , compiled by the Dictionary Editorial Office of the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Commercial Press