Chinese and Sumerian

22 THE CHINESE CLASSIFICATION OF "CHARACTERS

see P. 341 $£ ting, P. 373 St ch’éng, and P. 886 Ha shéng. Among the dialectical sounds of this character, which means ‘great’, are nyim, zing, nin, Zén or jén (pronounced zhunn). Compare the Sumerian ir (YTVY) NUM, NUN, ‘great’; a character which has also the values ZIL (from ZIN) and SIL (SIN): seeC. T. xii. 30. It is doubled in yyy NIR, SHER, male, husband, lord, hero, &c.; a character and word preserved in the Chinese -[ shi (zhi-t = zhir, shir), R. 33, in similar senses. The pictogram of a knife or sword (>>>) has in Sumerian the sound-values TAR, GAS GM, GUG KUR, KUD, SIL. The corresponding Ch. character (JJ) is read tao, tau, toa, to, from ¢at or fof, in agreement with TA-R; while as a Phonetic it is also £z#, kek, and sit (= KUR, KUD, GUG, SIL); see $4 kyt, k’Giik, syt, K. kiol, sél, P. 567 (G. 1053). [With GUG, ¢ ¥] kek, P. 216 (G. 6099).] The Chinese character for ‘dog’ (jt) has the Phonetic values 4 and “ot (P. 72; cf. PP. 462 and 505); thus agreeing with the Sumerian dog-sign (TY), which has the similar values LIG, LI, TAS. (With TAS, ¢f, also the Turkish sis tay, ‘hunting-dog’.) The Chinese }} ch‘ut, chu, ‘to go out’, ‘to beget’, springs from fw/, and as a Phonetic (P. 207) has also the sound Aud (in fa kit, ku, P. 442), like its Sumerian prototype +E] TUD, TUR, TU, GU (see Stgn-list, No. 8).

The Chinese FJ has the Phonetic values hwei, hui, OS. gut, to go round; return, and also kw'un, kin, kon, to surround (R. 31; P. 514; cf G. 5162f.; 3307). The Sumerian [J is read GUD, GUR (= gut), and doubled a it is NI-GIN, to surround.

See D. 449 f. The Chinese fj has the Phonetic values lu, tap, dip, as well as din (field; cf. E-DIN); see PP. 793; 881; 985; 1037@. The Sumerian prototype is read LU, DAB, DIB. See Sign-list, No. 100. The Chinese qf min, R. 205, as a Phonetic is also ding, dim (P. 922). It denotes various reptiles; a fly, and a cable: see G. 7936; 9886; 13313. The Sumerian symbol read DIM, a cable, is also read MUN (C.T. xii. 12), denoting worms, caterpillars, some serpents, and the like (¢/ Br. 331; 342; 98). See Sign-list, No. 92. The Chinese 3* instrument of writing, stylus, has the Phonetic values yut, but, pit, lut (R. 129; P. 252); so agreeing with the Sumerian GAD, GUD, PA (from PAD), BA, MUATI, LU. See Sugn-list, No. 101. The Chinese J~ han, Amoy gan, overhanging or bending over, R. 27, as a Phonetic is also ngam and ngat (ngot, ngut); P.2@; f P. 410, The Sumerian 4 GAM, to bow or bend, is also read GUR (ngot). Lastly, the Sumerian fresymbol has, among other values, the sound KUM, NE, NI, DE, and the derived Chinese character is kong, kom, in P, 288; nen, in P. 846 (Zan, J. zen, nen, kindle, burn); di, in P. 212, P. 352; and din, in yen, flame, P. 400. Moreover, the pronoun ni (G. 8211) may be modified from the same symbol (Szgz-“st, Nos. 64 ; 65). The other Sumerian values of the fire-symbol (BIL, PIL, BI, PI; 1Z, US, from GIZ, GUZ, GUS; GIR; LAM; SHEG, M. 3095; ZAG) are now expressed in Chinese

writing by the addition of other Phonetics to the fire-symbol used as a Determinative