Watch picture and learn character (29) Arrow - 矢

 The Evolution of the Character Arrow

 

From Left to Right

Shell Bone, Bronze, Big Seal, Small Seal, and Clerical Scripts

 

Pinyin of character Arrow: shi3.

 

Explanation 

 

Shell Bone Script: Represents a simple arrow. The arrow tail looks like bent vine or bamboo, suggesting that ancient arrows were made this way. During this period, bronze was available, but iron was not.

 

Bronze Script: Looks like an arrow, but there's a large black circle in the middle. It’s unlikely this represents a piece of metal, as it would affect the arrow's speed and direction. Instead, it may represent a weather vane. Though weather vanes from the Big Bone period haven't been found, possibly due to rust, a similar concept existed in 12th century Europe.

 

Example of a European weather vane:

    

A rooster standing on an arrow.

    

It's plausible that ancient Chinese weather vanes were also arrow-shaped. The Han dynasty used birds for weather vanes, known as "Following Wind Bird" (相風鳥).

Example of a Han Dynasty weather vane:

 

A bird-shaped weather vane used to measure wind direction.

 

The large black circle in the Bronze Script might indicate the balance point of a weather vane, allowing it to pivot with the wind.

 

Thus, the character had dual meanings: 1) arrow and 2) weather vane. Big Bone Script likely represented an arrow, while Bronze Script depicted a weather vane, imbuing "矢" with connotations of direction: vector and determination.

 

Big Seal Script: Similar to Bronze Script but with a black dot above and longer strokes above the dot. The black dot represents the pivot point of the weather vane.

 

Is this an indicative character? The black dot doesn't necessarily convey the meaning of the character, unlike "本" where the horizontal stroke indicates the root of a tree. Instead, the dot marks the pivot point, not the meaning itself, suggesting it's not strictly an indicative character.

 

Small Seal Script: Similar to Big Seal Script, but the central dot is replaced by a short horizontal stroke due to the absence of dots in Small Seal Script.

 

Clerical Script: The arrowhead becomes asymmetrical, and the lower strokes split apart, losing its pictographic resemblance.

 

Given the dual meanings of "矢" (arrow and direction), it caused confusion, leading to the creation of a specific character for "arrow" (箭). Over time, "矢" more strongly conveyed meanings related to direction and measurement.