Page:Elementary Chinese - San Tzu Ching (1900).djvu/116

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214. upon which followed the struggle between the Ch'u and the Han States.
Ch'u3 han4 chêng1
Ch'u han contend


Ch'u is composed of 林 lin a forest (line 66), one half of which is the radical under which it is now classed, and 疋 (now p'i3 a piece or bale) an old form of 足 tsu foot, as phonetic. Its chief meanings are to punish, clear, perspicuous; but it is here only the name of a State (line 210).

Han is composed of 水 shui water as radical, and a contraction of 難 nan difficult as phonetic. It originally meant waves, and is the name of a famous river. It has also been applied to the Milky Way, and is here the name of a State.

Chêng is composed of 爪, chao claws, its modern radical, which is the picture of a hand with the back uppermost, 又 yu a hand (line 18), and an obsolete character meaning to drag, i.e. two hands tugging.


215. Then Kao Tsu arose,
Kao1 tsu3 hsing1
Kao tsu rise


Kao see line 89.

Tsu see line 89. [Kao tsu is a "temple name," often bestowed after death upon the first Emperor of a dynasty (line 239). The Emperor here in question was 劉邦 Liu Pang, a quondam beadle, who in B.C. 202, after a successful revolution, mounted the throne as first Emperor of the Han dynasty.]

Hsing is composed of 臼 chiu a mortar with 同 t'ung (line 106) inserted, the lower portion being originally a pair of hands holding up the mortar (cf. line 87). It means by extension to prosper. [Eitel wrongly translates "Kao Tsu, being victorious."]