Jr*E3] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [189ah'iung,its force seemsto be "family" or "clan" (as in kia-ch'ang,
kia-tie, etc.). As a title kia also occurs in the phrases fien-kia,
" heaven-jba," and kivoh-kia, " country->hV7," meaningthe emperor.
It seems veryprobable that the Accadian 5is-ki (or ki-sissi) is
the ancient equivalent of the modem Chinese kia-h'iung; so that
the moon-godwas called"elder brother of the clan," or simply
" the elder brother." Thisremindsus of a great numberof Semitic
personal names, in which the Deity is claimed as kinsman or
brotherof the family ; Ammi-shaddai, Ahi-yah, etc
The archaic form of the Accadian <%Pfki, as exhibited by
the Stele des Vautours, viz., ^ , which whenrestoredto its original
upright position is ty , favours this opinion; for the Chinese
character JjJ with whichwe are comparing it, originally consisted
of a shelter andthreepersonsunderit, although nowJ§c shi, a pig,
has taken the place of the three men underthe roof, probablyby
confusionwithJ£ shi, "a family, clan,gens,a clansman"; a term
whichalsooncedenoted " the head of the clan," and accordingly
was anciently a title of honour. Thislast termis perhaps related
to the first element in sfssi.
But the Accadian E£w$^IT> sissi,means, "evil," "hostile"
(limnu),andnot only " brother." If, therefore, h'iunganswersto
the group in the one sense, it ought to in the other, assumingthat
the two terms are really related. Nowthe very nextcharacter
pronouncedh'iungin the Chinese lexiconis PJJ, h'tung, "unlucky,
baleful, malignant, cruel," and this is followed by 3E> ^'""V.
" malevolent, inhuman,cruel,malignant,wicked,vicious" ; meanings
whichare all included in the Assyrian limnu,"unlucky," of days
and events; "evil,malignant,cruel,"of demonsand humanenemies.
TheIdeogram<^ttt.
A distinguished foreignprofessorhas lately allegedagainst my
viewsthat"anyChinesewordmaymeananythingwhatever." The
language,however,is far from beingso accommodating to my com
parisonsas this wouldimply. In the present instance there are
onlyten leading characterspronouncedh'iung,andtheseare not all
independentof each other. Andas regards the tones makingall
the difference to the meaning, h'iung, "elder brother,"h'iung, un
lucky,"and h'iung, " malevolent," havethe same toneor shing, viz.,
the shang p'ingtone; and are thus perfectlyhomophonous, as we
shouldexpectthemto be, from theircommonoriginin the Accadian
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