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Social Status of Ancient Chinese Males Seen from Male-related Chinese Characters

Lee In Kyung 1

1단국대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article examined ancient China's social aspects and consequent changeof male status through male-related characters. As heritage of father ‘氏’ in contrast to ‘姓’ - heritage of mother- developedthrough the ancient society, it was used mixedly with ‘姓’ and also became anindex to identify status as well as whether being noble or mean. Therefore, ‘氏’may have reflected change of male status. Chinese character ‘祖’, which adds ‘示’ meaning worship or ancestral rites on‘且’ - appearance of phallic symbols - reflected worship for male ancestorsarising from worship of phallic symbol. During the period when society changedfrom matriarchal one to patrilineal one, ‘祖’ was commonly used to represent males above the generations of grandfathers. Original meaning of ‘父’ was an adult male working with a stone ax andturned into a common name for adult males one generation older thanchildren's generation in line with development of society and form ofmatrimony. Along the way, ‘父’ extended its meaning to refer to anauthoritative father. Original meaning of ‘夫’ was an adult male wearing an ornamental hairpin atthe time of becoming an adult and later changed to mean a husband. Patriarchal society in ancient China functioned to establish a firm position ofhusbands in families, and this concept of male domination was reflected in ‘夫’,eventually leading to mean an authoritative husband ‘夫’ in contrast to anobedient wife ‘妻(婦). Original meaning of ‘男’ was a male working hard for the harvest in farmlands. In agriculture-based ancient Chinese society, authority and status ofmales continued to increase, which was reflected in letters of ‘男’ and ‘女’ as is. Originally, ‘君’ meant an august man delivering orders or congratulatorymessages with a position commanding the tribes, while ‘士’ meant a high-rankedwarrior with a large ax in the battlefield. Meanings of ‘君’, ‘士’, and most ofother names in ancient China, derived from this root, reflect respect, authorityand good feelings for males.

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