『說文解字』 ‘足’部 한자의 자형과 의미유형 小考

Abstract

The 說文解字 the ‘足’ section contains 85 Chinese characters and four 重文, and this thesis targets 85 Chinese characters except for 重文. Mainly, this research was carried out in three main sections: the literal view, the semantic view, and the ‘足’ Chinese character, which is used to date. First of all, from a literal perspective, I classified ‘足’ Chinese characters into the concept of 六書, before classifying them with the characteristics of 訓釋 and the characteristics of the self-interpretation. Next, I divided the Chinese characters into nouns and verbs in a semantic perspective. The Chinese characters used as nouns include human or animal feet as body parts, foot disorders, barefoot conditions or frozen feet, and further include footwear and walking track. In the case of Chinese characters used as verbs, most of the foot movements were included: sitting, walking, running, stepping, kicking, crossing, hesitating, falling, uncomfortable foot movements, and punishment on the feet. Lastly, in approaching modern Chinese characters based on modern Chinese characters, I looked through the general usage in modern Chinese characters and the type of Chinese characters currently used as simplified characters. As for the change of meaning, I compared the meaning of '說文解字' with that of modern Chinese characters, and found that the more common Chinese characters were used, the more diverse the meaning was derived as dividing characters with derived meanings and with displaced meanings. The above study shows that the Chinese characters involved in the ‘足’ section not only include human feet and related movements but also animal feet and movements, indicating that the study of the ‘足’ Chinese characters is widely recognized from the static to the dynamic parts of the foot. Therefore, I think that the study of the ‘說文’ Chinese characters can expand the range of the perspectives of ancestors on feet and the cultural phenomena revealed through them.