君
This is KUN (jūn in modern Chinese, which I'm adding for our students of that language), meaning 'ruler.' Wieger, author of Chinese Characters, 1915, says that the upper character means 'a magistrate, to govern, a hand that exerts authority.' The lower character is a mouth, in this case a mouth that makes law.
Pronounced kimi, this character also means 'you' (in masculine speech). Is calling someone a ruler a politeness gesture to indicate that the one spoken to is of high status?
No comments:
Post a Comment