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Cited by 21Chinese history and philosophyClassical Studies and PhilologyLinguistics and Language Studies

The Chinese Names of the Four Directions

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Sagart, Laurent·2004·Journal of the American Oriental Society
DOI 10.2307/4132154
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Abstract

It is shown that the Old Chinese terms for the four directions form two etymological pairs, one of which (north-south) relates to the notions of front and back (of the house: houses faced south in early China ) and the other (east-west) to notions of beginning vs. ceasing movement, applied to the sun. The relevant word families are adumbrated, the morphology explained and Sino-Tibetan cognates established.

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Crossref · 10.2307/4132154

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  • Early bone and bronze inscriptions from the late second to early first millennium BCE show that the resemblance of 東 to 日 and 木 came from formal reanalysis of an earlier four-line arrangement, two curved and two straight.

    “Early inscriptions on bone and bronze from the late second to the early first millennium bce show clearly that the resemblance of ⟨東⟩ to glyphs writing the words rì 日 'sun' and mù 木 'tree; wood' was the result of formal reanalysis of an earlier arrangement consisting of only four interlocking lines, two curved and two straight: 3”

    From Dōng 東 ‘East’ and the Chinese “Indian Circle” (2021) · cites this paper as Sagart 2004

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Authors
Sagart, L.
Affiliations
Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale (FR)
Corresponding author
Sagart, Laurent
ORCID
Sagart, Laurent
Venue
Journal of the American Oriental Society
Publisher
JSTOR
Published
2004-01
Volume
124
Issue
1
Pages
69
ISSN
0003-0279 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2307/4132154
OpenAlex
W1980599197
Cited by
21
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Journal of the American Oriental Society (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Chinese history and philosophy
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Classical Studies and Philology
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and Language Studies
Keywords
four cardinal directions, Chinese language

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