史

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

史 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 中大 (LK), four-corner 5000₆, composition ⿻口乂)

Derived characters

• 㳏, 鉂, 駛(驶), 𫢓, 𫩢, 𡶈, 𣐳, 𥑏, 𭨮, 𧲬, 𩰡, 𪗧, 𫙓, 𮍸, 𭨡, 𪀎, 𨽄, 𩂝, 𣬐, 𭉅, 𪠷, 𭆾
• 𰁈, 𰓐, 𰥶, 𰶽, 𰛘, 𰝓, 𰑗

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 173, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3249
• Dae Jaweon: page 384, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 571, character 2
• Unihan data for U+53F2

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 史
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs, “hand”) holding a fountain pen resembling 中 (OC *tuŋ, *tuŋs)

Etymology

"to send, to employ, to cause"

Causative derivation of 理 (OC rəʔ) "envoy (Zuo)" , "jail-official" (Guanzi), "marriage go-between", which is perhaps the same word as 理 (OC rəʔ) "to administer" (Schuessler 2007); the sense "scribe, historian" is derived from this.

"scribe, historian"

Possibly from Austroasiatic; Schuessler (2007) compared 理 (OC *rɯʔ), 吏 (OC *rɯs, “official”), 史 (OC *srɯʔ, “scribe, historian”), and 使 (OC *srɯʔ, *srɯs, “ambassador”) to Old Khmer re (“to move, change position”) & its derivatives Old Khmer pre (“to send, order, assign, appoint, delegate, use, employ, make”), in turn related to paṃre (“to serve; service, duty; servant, delegate, representative, minister”); with Sino-Tibetan causative *s- corresponding to Khmer causative *p-.

Alternatively, Unger (1990) and Starostin & Peiros (1996) derived 史 (OC *srɯʔ) "scribe, secretary" from 理 (OC *rɯʔ) "to mark, to draw lines", which, while cognate with Tibetan འབྲི ('bri, “to write, to draw”), apparently never meant "to write, to record".

Pronunciation

Definitions

史

1. history

   歐洲史／欧洲史  ―  Ōuzhōu shǐ  ―  European history

   近代史  ―  jìndàishǐ  ―  modern history

   史無前例／史无前例  ―  shǐwúqiánlì  ―  unprecedented (literally, “no precedent in history”)

2. (historical) court historian; scribe

   • 動則左史書之，言則右史書之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     动则左史书之，言则右史书之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE

     Dòng zé zuǒshǐ shū zhī, yán zé yòushǐ shū zhī.

     His actions were written down by the recorder of the Left, and his utterances by the recorder of the Right.

   • 董狐，古之良史也，書法不隱。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     董狐，古之良史也，书法不隐。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Dǒng Hú, gǔ zhī liángshǐ yě, shūfǎ bù yǐn.

     Dong Hu was a good historiographer of old time:—his rule for writing was not to conceal.

3. historical record; book recording history

   正史  ―  zhèngshǐ  ―  official historical records

   《二十四史》  ―  “èrshísìshǐ”  ―  Twenty-Four Histories

4. a surname

   史可法  ―  Shǐ Kěfǎ  ―  Shi Kefa

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. record, recording
2. history

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• On: じ (ji)
• Kun: ふひと (fuhito, 史); ふびと (fubito, 史); ふみ (fumi, 史); さかん (sakan)

Proper noun

史(ひろし) • (Hiroshi) 

1. a male given name

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 史 (MC sriX).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

史

Wikisource

史 (eumhun 사기(史記) 사 (sagi sa))

1. Hanja form^? of 사 (“history”).

Compounds

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

史: Hán Nôm readings: sử

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