Page:Elementary Chinese - San Tzu Ching (1900).djvu/140

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275.	披	蒲	編	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	One opened out rushes and plaited them together;
	P'i¹	p'u²	pien⁴
	Open	rush	plait

P'i is composed of 手 shou hand as radical, with 皮 p'i skin as phonetic (line 273), and originally meant to grasp from the side. It now means to spread out, etc.

P'u is composed of 艸 ts'ao vegetation as radical, and 浦 p'u a reach of a river as phonetic.

Pien is composed of 糸 ssǔ silk as radical and 扁 pien (line 116) as phonetic. It means to arrange in order, to compile, etc. [This line refers to 路温舒 Lu Wên-shu, a shepherd under the Han dynasty (line 214), who copied out on a sheet of plaited reeds, being too poor to buy the costly books of the period, portions of the Book of History.]

276.	削	竹	簡	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	another scraped tablets of bamboo.
	Hsiao¹	chu²	chien³
	Scrape	bamboo	tablet

Hsiao is composed of 刀 tao knife as radical, with a common phonetic (line 271).

Chu see line 87.

Chien is composed of 竹 chu bamboo as radical, with 間 chien a space as phonetic. It also means to abridge, terse, to choose, negligent, etc. [This line refers to 公孫弘 Kung-sun Hung, died B.C. 121, a swineherd who at the age of fifty borrowed the Spring and Autumn Annals and copied it out on bamboo tablets, subsequently rising to high office. Eitel entirely misses the meaning of these two lines. He translates, "Men like Lu Wên-shu split reeds and bamboo slips, or polished bamboo tablets to write on."]