first

苏美尔语中代表动物的符号形似其生殖器

楔形文字中代表雌性和雄性动物的符号在形象上的互补性,表明这些符号的发明并不是随意确定的。《远古记事簿》(Archaic Bookkeeping)的作者将动物分类整理的方式与我不同,因为他们在写作这本书的时候,显然还没有意识到这些符号的互补关系,116页上的描述证实了这一点:“符号形状抽象且随意,与其代表的事物之间没有任何可理解的的关系,例如,圆形和十字形的组合代表‘小牛犊’。”圆形和十字的组合形成的是靶心,即可以瞄准的目标。性学家阿尔弗雷德·金赛(Alfred Kinsey)的研究表明,小牛犊正是适合早期雄性人类所垂涎的目标。根据金赛的数据(非常详尽),17%在农场里长大的男性承认自己曾经与农场动物发生过性关系。(我的丈夫开玩笑说其他83%的男性都在撒谎……) 但是,在《远古记事簿》(Archaic Bookkeeping)一书的第89页, 有如下插图: 也许是因为该书有四位作者,他们的意见并没有统一。 表意符号。用来指代名为AMAR的动物的性别符号分别是KUR和SAL,很有可能是代表雌雄二者的性器官;符号GA代表的是“奶”罐。 GU4: 指代阉割或未阉割过的公牛(符号形象刻画了带牛角的牛头) AB2: 母牛(符号形象刻画了尖角向下的母牛头) AMAR: 小牛(不带牛角的小牛头) KUR+AMAR: 小公牛 SAL+AMAR: 小母牛 AB2GA: 奶牛 AMAR GA: 哺乳期小牛 这些符号真的是随意的吗?…

Read More
david-at-trb-1-cropped

“Covert Sexism in Mandarin Chinese” by David Moser

Sino-Platonic Papers Number 74 January, 1997 David Moser Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures University of Michigan     Introduction Western linguists have been…

Read More

“Meow” is just another name for “cat”

Jennifer Ball Soochow University, Suzhou, China Email: [email protected] How to cite this paper: Ball, J. (2019). “Meow” Is Just Another Name for “Cat”. Open…

Read More

The shape of the letter “V” means “female” in three different cultures and times

The shape of the letter “V” means “female” in three different cultures and times: Discovered by Denise Schmandt-Besserat, this first character is a Neolithic…

Read More

Could Mayan Flowers Really Be Vaginas?

Is this first character really a Water Lily? Especially considering the package this jaguar is sporting? (See reddened circles.) The bisymmetry of the “u…

Read More
Mammals depicted in Linear B script including male and female characters Female characters are differentiated by an inverted letter V.

More evidence that the “V” shape means “female”— this time in Linear B (circa 1,450 BC)

Script depictions are from a no-longer functional website, but you can find equivalent source material here: https://linearbknossosmycenae.com/2014/04/26/linear-b-ideograms-level-5-0-advanced-ideograms-formed-by-combinations-of-syllabograms/ The vagina is the most consistently represented…

Read More

Sumerian symbols for animals depict their genitals

The complementary relationship between female and male animal signs in cuneiform suggests that these signs are not arbitrary. The authors of Archaic Bookkeeping did…

Read More

“V” has meant “female” for 6,400 years

The top character means “female sheep/ewe.” This marking and the examples below are taken from Before Writing Vol. I (©1992) by Denise Schmandt-Besserat, page 143. The complex…

Read More

Letter A: From Hawk to Ox

The oldest Egyptian hieroglyphs to have been discovered were inscribed around 3200 BC, fully formed, with no clear antecedent. This is more than 5,000…

Read More

Breasts, Vaginas, and Tools: Musings on the roots of our alphabet

If you want to describe something to someone, but neither of you speak the same language, drawing a picture is the simplest way to…

Read More