Page:Elementary Chinese - San Tzu Ching (1900).djvu/162

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336. how can you become men?
Ho2 wei2 jen2
How become man


Ho is composed of 曰 yüeh to speak and an obsolete phonetic meaning vapour.

Wei see line 24.

Jen see line 1. [Père Zottoli has for this line "qui diceris homo," as though he had mistaken 爲 for 謂.]


337. The silkworm produces silk,
Ts'an2 t'u3 ssŭ1
Silkworm vomit silk


Ts'an is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect, doubled, with a common phonetic.

T'u is composed of 口 k'ou mouth, with 土 t'u earth as phonetic.

Ssŭ see line 87.


338. the bee makes honey.
Fêng1 niang4 mi4
Bee ferment honey


Fêng is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect as radical, with a common phonetic (line 325). It is a generic term for wasps, bees, hornet etc. [The colloquial term for a bee is 蜜蜂 mi fêng; 蜂蜜 fêng mi is honey.]

Niang is composed of 酉 yu which originally meant to make spirit or wine in the 8th moon when the millet is ripe, and is often used as radical in characters connected with wine, with a common phonetic (line 38).

Mi is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect as radical, with a common phonetic (line 309).