Tobydaly1: January 10, 2020, 9:34pm
“What is the relationship between the construction of the character for liver (gan ?) and the particular
characteristics and functions of the liver? On the right side of the character for liver, there is the character gan (?).
Explaining Writing and Analyzing Characters says: “Gan (?) means to offend or violate.” The Erya says: “Gan
means to ward off or protect”. The Kangxi Dictionary says “Gan is a shield.”
Liu Lihong
Classical Chinese Medicine 2019
michaelmax: January 15, 2020, 3:49am
Wait… what!?! ?means to ward off or protect? The Liver is a shield!
Pretty cool stuff. Thanks Liu Lihong!
jingqishen: January 15, 2020, 7:57am
I’ll throw a few notions into the ring starting from general to specific …
Chinese language (and culture) is context/field/subjective based rather than object/objective based as are Western
cultures and languages. By way of example, one need only compare the relative epistemologies and working
models of Asian and Western medicines.
One result of this difference is that it is often not possible to say what a particular character “means” in and of
itself. Rather, it must be understood in context. I think of it as useful to consider characters as existing on a
spectrum of low-context to high-context.
Some characters are low-context — for example, “?” pretty much always just simply means “book”. Its meaning
is highly bounded and stable and not easily influenced by the other characters it is linked with or the meaning
context in which it is embedded.
“?” is an example of a very high-context character. Looking it up in the dictionary yields a large number of
seemingly unrelated meanings. Its meaning is not clearly bounded, but rather it has a general valence – a general
tendency towards certain trajectories of meaning. That tendency is then brought into more concrete manifestation
by the characters to which it is linked and the context within which it is embedded. How might the various
potential meanings be connected? Which meanings are the relevant ones for understanding the etymology of
“Liver”?
Here are a few possibilities …15/01/2024, 17:34
Etymology of the character ? – Qiological Community
https://forum.qiological.com/t/etymology-of-the-character/828/print2/2
The primary meaning I’d point at for “?” would be “stem”. Consider the usage of stem within “????” –
Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. I’m coming at my understanding of TCM theory from the internal martial
arts neigong and medical theory I learned in Taiwan, so I’m not sure how much that framework is part of the
conceptual toolkit of TCM as taught and practiced in the US and therefore how much explication would be
required here for that to be useful. An explication of that here would be beyond the scope of this one post. Perhaps
another day.
Consider the possible meaning valences of “?” as “stem”. “Stem” points toward center/trunk/source-cause
whereas “branches” refer to limbs/periphery/result-outcome.
The other component of the character for Liver – “?“ is “?”. The literal, low-context meaning valence for “?” is
“moon”. Its more inclusive high-context meanings are essentially synonymous with “Yin” as in “Yin-Yang”. Note
the presence of this “?” radical within the character for “Yin” — “?”.
So combining the two meaning atoms of “?” and “?” can generate meaning molecules along the lines of …
“source of yin” (note: “Yin” is itself a very high-context character. Feel free to swap in a lower-context more
specific meaning for “Yin” as is useful.)
“center of yin”
“axis of yin”
What other meaning valences seem useful to you?
Chinese is a high-context culture, and unlike in the West where things are held/valued as either true or untrue,
Chinese culture and language tend to hold things as useful/relevant or not. If you can create your own meaning
molecule translation from the component radicals which provides a meaning tool that facilitates you having a
useful understanding – an understanding that allows you to do something useful, then it is considered to be a
correct understanding and translation.