간지
천간(天干) Heavenly Stems
The ten Celestial or Heavenly Stems (Chinese: 天干; pinyin: tiāngān; Korean: 천간) are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appear during the Shang dynasty, ca. 1250 BCE, as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-period ritual as names for dead family members, who were offered sacrifices on the corresponding day of the Shang week. The Heavenly Stems were used in combination with the Earthly Branches, a similar cycle of twelve days, to produce a compound cycle of sixty days. Subsequently, the Heavenly Stems lost their original function as names for days of the week and dead kin, and acquired many other uses, the most prominent and long lasting of which was their use together with the Earthly Branches as a 60-year calendrical cycle.[1]
(from "Celestial_Stem", Wikipedia)
| Heavenly Stem |
Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Original | Modern | |
| 甲 갑 | shell | first (book I, person A etc.), methyl group, helmet, armor, words related to beetles, crustaceans, fingernails, toenails |
| 乙 을 | fishguts | second (book II, person B etc.), ethyl group, twist |
| 丙 병 | fishtail [2] | third, bright, fire, fishtail (rare) |
| 丁 정 | nail(fastener) | fourth, male adult, robust, T-shaped, to strike, a surname |
| 戊 무 | lance | (not used) |
| 己 기 | threads on a loom [3] | self |
| 庚 경 | evening star | age (of person) |
| 辛 신 | to offend superiors [4] | bitter, piquant, toilsome |
| 壬 임 | burden[5] | to shoulder, to trust with office |
| 癸 계 | disposed grass [6] | (not used) |
(from "Celestial_Stem", Wikipedia)
지지(地支) Earthly Brahches
The Earthly Branches are an ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, and zodiac. This system was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter. Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections to follow the orbit of 歲星 Suìxīng (Jupiter, the Year Star). In correlative thinking, the 12 years of the Jupiter cycle also identify the 12 months of the year, 12 animals (mnemonics for the system), directions, seasons, and Chinese hour in the form of double hours.
| No | Earthly Branch |
Chinese zodiac |
Direction | Season | Lunar Month | Double Hour | Western Zodiac |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 子 | 鼠 Rat |
0° (north) | winter | Month 11 | 11pm to 1am (midnight) | |
| 2 | 丑 | 牛 Cow |
30° | Month 12 | 1am to 3am | ||
| 3 | 寅 | 虎 Tiger |
60° | spring | Month 1 | 3am to 5am | |
| 4 | 卯 | 兎 Rabbit |
90° (east) | Month 2 | 5am to 7am | ||
| 5 | 辰 | 龍 Dragon |
120° | Month 3 | 7am to 9 am | ||
| 6 | 巳 | 蛇 Snake |
150° | summer | Month 4 | 9am to 11am | |
| 7 | 午 | 馬 Horse |
180° (south) | Month 5 | 11am to 1pm (noon) | ||
| 8 | 未 | 羊 Goat |
210° | Month 6 | 1pm to 3pm | ||
| 9 | 申 | 猿 Monkey |
240° | autumn | Month 7 | 3pm to 5pm | |
| 10 | 酉 | 鷄 Chicken |
270° (west) | Month 8 | 5pm to 7pm | ||
| 11 | 戌 | 犬 Dog |
300° | Month 9 | 7pm to 9pm | ||
| 12 | 亥 | 猪 Pig |
330° | winter | Month 10 | 9pm to 11pm |
- ↑ Smith (2011).
- ↑ Wenlin Dictionary: Picture of a fish tail.
- ↑ Wenlin Dictionary: 己 may have depicted thread on a loom; an ancient meaning was 'unravel threads', which was later written 紀 jì. 己 was borrowed both for the word jǐ 'self', and for the name of the sixth Heavenly Stem (天干).
- ↑ Wenlin Dictionary: "The seal has 𢆉 'knock against, offend' below, and 亠 above; the scholastic commentators say: to offend (亠 = ) 上 the superiors"
- ↑ Wenlin Dictionary: 壬 rén depicts "a 丨 carrying pole supported 一 in the middle part and having one object attached at each end, as always done in China" --Karlgren(1923). (See 扁担 biǎndan). Now the character 任 rèn has the meaning of carrying a burden, and the original character 壬 is used only for the ninth of the ten heavenly stems (天干).
- ↑ Wenlin Dictionary: 癶 "stretch out the legs" + 天; The nicely disposed grass, on which the Ancients poured the libations offered to the Manes
Bebliography
Smith, Adam (2011). "The Chinese sexagenary cycle and the ritual origins of the calendar". In John Steele (ed.). Calendars and years II : astronomy and time in the ancient and medieval world (PDF). Oxford: Oxbow. pp. 1–37. ISBN 978-1-84217-987-1. [1]
