Page:Elementary Chinese - San Tzu Ching (1900).djvu/48

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The San Tzŭ Ching

more than a thousand years B.C. Chinese houses are as far as possible duly oriented, facing the south. See line 230.

Pei was originally composed of two men, back to back. How it came to mean north is not clear. It is now classed under radical 匕 pi a spoon.

62.	曰	西	東	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	we speak of east and west.
	Yüeh⁴	hsi¹	tung¹
	Speak	west	east

Yüeh see line 57.

Hsi was originally composed of a bird roosting on a tree, which was thought sufficient to suggest the time for roosting when the sun is in the western sky; hence, by an aphetic process on a gigantic scale, the west. It is now classed under radical 襾 hsia to cover.

Tung is explained as 日 jih the sun among the 木 mu trees as radical (lines 52, 66). The east is the place of honour, and 東家 tung chia is the master of a house (line 192). The phrase 東西 tung hsi east-west means a thing, and it is an insult to say that a man is not a thing, implying that he is only raw material.

63.	此	四	方	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	These four points
	Tz'ŭ³	ssŭ⁴	fang¹
	This	four	square

Tz'ŭ see line 59.

Ssŭ see title.

Fang see line 14.

64.	應	乎	中	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	respond to the requirements of the centre.
	Ying⁴	hu²	chung¹
	Answer	to	middle

Ying is composed of 心 hsin heart as radical, with an old form