to form
[ming] _ming_ "bright." There is as yet no suggestion of phonetic
influence. The combined character has a sound quite different from that
of either of its component parts, which are _jih_ and _yueeh_
respectively.

In like manner, [mi] "sun" and [mu] "tree," combined as [dong], "the sun
seen rising through trees," signified "the east"; [yan] "words" and
[gua] "tongue" = [hua] "speech"; [you] (old form [Illustration]) "two
hands" = "friendship"; [nue] "woman" and [zi] "child" = [hao] "good";
[nue] "woman" and [sheng] "birth," "born of a woman" = [xing] "clan
name," showing that the ancient Chinese traced through the mother and
not through the father; [wu] streamers used in signalling a negative =
"do not!"

From [lin] "two trees," the picture of a forest, we come to [sen] "three
trees," suggesting the idea of density of growth and darkness; [xiao]
"a child at the feet of an old man" = "filial piety"; [ge] "a spear"
and [shou] "to kill," suggesting the defensive attitude of individuals
in primeval times = [wo] "I, me"; [wo] "I, my," and [yang] "sheep,"
suggesting the obligation to respect another man's flocks = [yi] "duty
toward one's neighbour"; [da] "large" and [yang] "sheep" = [mei]
"beautiful"; and [shan], "virtuous," also has "sheep" as a component
part,--why we do not very satisfactorily make out, except that of course
the sheep would play an important role among early pastoral tribes.
The idea conveyed by what we call the conjunction "and" is expressed in
Chinese by an ideogram, viz. [ji], which was originally the picture of
a hand, seizing what might be the tail of the coat of a man preceding,
_scilicet_ following.

The third and greatest step in the art of writing was reached when the
Chinese, who had been trying to make one character do for several
similar-sounding words of different meanings, suddenly bethought
themselves of distinguishing these several similar-sounding words by
adding to the original character employed some other character
indicative of the special sense in which each was to be understood.
Thus, in speech the sound _ting_ meant "the sting of an insect," and was
appropriately pictured by what is now written [ding].

There were, however, other words also expressed by the sound _ting_,
such as "a boil," "the top or tip," "to command," "a nail," "an ingot,"
and "to arrange." These would be distinguished in speech by the tones
and suffixes, as already described; but in writing, if [din