June3] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.
Thesaying Then ta ktvo shdn, "Heaven is greater than the
gods," presentsus with shdn, old shin, dialectic shdn, sin,zang
(=shin,sin, zig), "spirit"; a term correspondingto the Accadian
zi, shi, "spirit," " divine being" (zi-anna, zi-kia). TheChinese
say that shdn denotesthe yang(yeung, yong=GYts,gan), "the
powersabove,the superior of the dual powersin Nature, the male
(Accadiangin)as opposed to the female or receptiveelement,"which
is called yin,dialecticyarn, im, yang ( = gim, im, gig = Accadian
cf.Mi, gin, "maid," "girl"), and which means "a shadow, dark,
Hades(gig,g£, the Accadian for "night," "dark"), the inferior of
the dual powers." Hencewe understand whyzangis also Shanghai
for Jan, " man," and whyshi, Amoy si, means " strength " and
" virility of males," and shi-lih,Amoy se-lek, " strength, prowess"
(= Accadian silig).
But when the Chinese speakof a particular god,as the God of
War,or the God of Fire, theyuse the term ft, ti, a character of
obscureorigin,whichis defined to mean " one who rulesby his own
power, a god, a divine being," and, likethe Accadian dingir,
dimmer, is also appliedto the sovereign ; while like»-},it also
means"Heaven," Thetermis, I think, identicalwiththe Accadian
~<y< ti, til, "to live" {balatu), and "to dwell" {asdbu); and the
character is not altogether unlike the archaic -<r^, that is,
j. ThisAccadianti, til, is closely related to <K, old form X,tin, Dm, meaning "tolive"{balatu), "seeing"{haitu), "strong
drink" or " spirits " (sikaru), and " male" (zikaru). Comparing
thiswith what has been said above, it becomes highlyprobable
that the fundamental idea is seeing. The seeing are the living
(0/ ySXeVovTev); the living are endowed withlife or spirit; the male is
the spirited animal,and the source of life or spirit by procreation ;
whilethe transfer to strong liquidswhich rouse the spirits is natural
enough. Hencethe Chinese writerwhosaid, " Ti means a lord of
living things," came nearer to the truth than he was aware of.
Hencetoo we understand betterwhya god is represented by an
eye (p. 401); andwe may feel justified in drawing up the series zi,
Z1N,SHI,SHIN,Dl, DIN (nIn), TI, TIN, GIN,KIN —" to See," "to live,"
"spirit,""man."
* Cp. the Egyptian •+-, inch,"living," the prominent attributeof gods
and of the blessed dead.
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