Page:Elementary Chinese - San Tzu Ching (1900).djvu/155

 Wên see.

Chi is composed of 女 nü woman as radical and an obsolete character which must not be confounded with 臣 ch'ên. It was the name of a river where the Yellow Emperor was born, and was adopted by him as his surname. [Wên-chi is the personal name of 蔡琰 Ts'ai Yen, daughter of a famous statesman, 2nd and 3rd cent. A.D.]

Nêng see.

Pien is composed of two 辛 hsin acrid, which formed an old radical read pien, meaning two guilty persons incriminating one another, with a dot and a line between, and originally meant to decide, hence to discriminate.

Ch'in is composed of two 玉 yü jade, with the dots left out, as radical, and 今 chin present, now, as phonetic. At first the ch'in had only five strings, afterwards seven. [This young lady, who was a skilled musician, was listening to her father playing, when a cat in the room caught a mouse. Instantly she detected a timbre of slaughter in the tones of the instrument, and foretold disaster to her father, which shortly came to pass. Eitel misses the point with "Who was able to distinguish the tone of each string on the lute."]

Hsieh is composed of 言 yen words as radical and 射 shê to shoot with a bow as phonetic. It means to thank, etc., but is here a surname.