‘春’, ‘秋’ 의미 분석을 통한 고대 계절 개념 고찰- 원형이론의 범주화를 통해서

Abstract

Gapgolmun (甲骨文) is the prototype of Chinese characters, pictograms of objects or phenomena. Chinese characters have continuously evolved and expanded from the gapgolmun. Some of the many Chinese characters in use today can be found in gapgolboksa (oracle-bones), while others do not. Of the Chinese characters representing seasons, 春 (Spring), 夏 (Summer), 秋 (Autumn), 冬 (Winter), only 春 and 秋 appear in gapgolboksa, signifying that a year was divided into two, 春 and 秋 in the ancient period. Numerous concepts can be grouped into single concept groups by their traits. The process of developing concept groups by continuously classifying similarities and differences of the traits is called categorization. Concepts belonging to a single category share significant similarities, and there exists a notable difference between categories. This study examines what classification ancient Chinese used to think of a year in terms of two categories of 春 and 秋. Then, the study analyzes what significant similarities the periods belonging to each category share, using Sipyijiji (十二地支), a method of Giwol (紀月, time recording). When examining changes in the meaning of 春 and 秋 and analyzing the traits shared by the periods within each category to parse out the ancient Chinese thought process for categorizing seasons, it goes beyond ruminating the meaning of letters to understand the way of thinking. It is hoped that this study serves as an opportunity to consider the close connection between the human thought process and language and how human cognitive process is projected onto their language.