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Study on the Meaning of Ancient Oviparity (卵生) by the Analysis of the Ancient Letter ‘Egg (卵)’

  • The Journal of Chinese Cultural Studies
  • 2020, (48), pp.191~210
  • DOI : 10.18212/cccs.2020..48.008
  • Publisher : The Society For Chinese Cultural Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature > Chinese Literature > Chinese Culture
  • Received : April 7, 2020
  • Accepted : May 12, 2020
  • Published : May 30, 2020

Bak, Seong-woo 1,  Moon， Chi-Ung 2

1명지대학교
2홍익재단

Accredited

ABSTRACT

We recognize many myths about the founding of ancient times or the birth of kings in Korea and in China history literature. A brief definition of myth is more of an imaginary or mysterious story. We cannot understand myths as any historical event that has actually occurred. It is unscientific and impractical that humans are born from eggs. This paper is the basic work of understanding the oviparity myth among the various myths recorded in the historical literature of Korea and China. We examined the various meanings of oviparity in various ways through the analysis of the contents of ancient Korea and China literature. In addition, examples of use of egg used in the records of the literature on a particular person were analyzed to examine the use of oviparity by focusing on its meaning and extended meaning changes along with the flow of time. Various literature analyses have shown that egg has been used to refer to male genitals and to mean egg. It gradually developed into a symbolic egg that represented the nest before the birth of life. Furthermore, the meaning was extended to the expression of metaphor to indicate the birth of a great person or king by taking good care of a particular person. People cannot be born from an egg. The oviparity story about certain person being told is unscientific and unrealistic. This is the result of a lack of literal understanding of the egg. Therefore, oviparity about a person is a metaphorical expression that emphasizes the birth or emergence of a great person and the content of the relevant kings expressed in the literature should be understood from a historical perspective, not a myth.

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