The Discovery Of Genesis

Study Notes and References
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been ideographic, or the radicals would never have been
combined in the first place. Once the radicals had
been brought together and had a certain phonetic
sound attached (taken from the original ideograph), thev
then became a phonetic set, and could be used to form
other characters by phonetic sense only. If one examines
all the characters listed phonetically carrying the same
radical combination, the original must be the ideogram
For example, let us examine the characters listed in
Mathew’s Chinese-English Dictionary under “fu,” to
fill, a roll of cloth S . This radical combination by itself
does not appear to be ideographic. One would de-
%d
duce that originally it must have been part of a larger
ideographic character. Then there is to fall prostrate, to
v crawl on hands and knees &J (not ideographic); a strip of
Tat
cloth, a hem or border l@ (also not ideographic). Hap-
happiness piness, prosperity, good fortune #j is a character which
can be analyzed ideographically, if one were familiar
with primeval history as revealed in sacred Scriptures.
The first happiness known to man was God’s ;?: gift to the
first - person P (Adam) of landedproperty, the Garden
w of Eden. It is logical to deduce, therefore, that the
radical combination “fu” g originated in this ideographic
character for happiness (which incidentally is a
very ancient and simple character).
Furthermore, a bat 36 (also used as an emblem of
111 happiness, from the sound), is obviously a phonetic character
formed on the basis of @j and would also
contribute to the theory that a was the original combination.
Many characters may appear to be phonetic if one
is not acquainted with the historical basis of the forma-
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