Libian

Libian refers to the gradual, systematic simplification of Chinese character forms during the 2nd century BC, by which the Chinese writing system transitioned from the seal script character forms to clerical script characters during the early Han dynasty period, through the process of making omissions, additions, or transmutations of the graphical form of a character to make it easier to write. Libian was one of two conversion processes towards the new clerical script character forms, with the other being liding, which involved the regularisation and linearisation of character shapes.

Not to be confused with Libyan.
Qin-era seal script (c. 200 BC)
Han-era clerical script (c. 200 AD)
Comparison of historical forms for 馬 'horse'. The clerical form more closely resembles modern regular script.
Libian
Traditional Chinese隸變
Simplified Chinese隶变
Literal meaningclerical change

Process

The earlier seal script characters were complicated and inconvenient to write; as a result, lower-level officials and clerics 隸; lì gradually simplified the strokes, and transitioned from writing with bowed ink brushes to using straight ink brushes, which both improved ease of writing.

The complexity of characters can be reduced in one of four ways:[1]

  • Modulation (調變): The replacement of character components with an unrelated component. For example, the ancient bronze script form of 射 'to shoot arrows' was written as , however the left-side component became replaced with 身 'body' during the transition to clerical script writing.
  • Mutation (突變): Some characters undergo modulation so suddenly that no clue hinting at the original form can be found in the new form. For example, the transition from the seal script character 'spring' to the clerical (and by extension, modern) form 春 completely drops any hints of the original 芚 component, instead replacing it with 𡗗 which seemingly has zero basis in relation to the original component.
  • Omission (省變): The complete omission of a character component. For example, the clerical script form of 書 'to write' (Old Chinese: *hlja) completely omits the phonetic component 者 *tjaːʔ at the bottom of the seal script form .
  • Reduction (簡變): Simplifies character components to a form with fewer strokes. For example, the ancient form of  / 僊 *sen 'celestial being' had the complex phonetic component 䙴 *sʰen simplified into 山 *sreːn, creating the clerical form 仙.

One consequence of the libian transition process is that many radicals formed as a result of simplifying complex components within seal script characters—for example, characters containing 'heart'  / 心 on the side had the component simplified into 忄, as seen in 情 and 恨, and these newly-formed radicals are still used in modern-day Chinese writing as the fundamental basis for constructing and sorting Chinese characters.

Examples of libian
Gloss OldNew PinyinDetails
year, harvest秊年nián Originally 秂 in ancient bronze forms, the character was an ideogrammic compound of a man 人 carrying grain 禾 on his back, e.g. a harvest; 人 also functioned as the phonetic marker for OC *njin. After the Western Zhou period, the ancient bronze form had an additional stroke added to 人 to give 千, which continued to function as a phonetic marker for *sn̥ʰiːn, creating , forming the basis for the seal script form 秊. After libian simplification, the resulting clerical script form became 年.[upper-alpha 1]
thunder靁雷léi Originally semantic 雨 'rain' + phonetic 畾 *ruːl, the bottom component became reduced into 田 during libian.[upper-alpha 2]
to offer for the dead奠diàn Originally a pictogram of an alcohol vessel 酉 placed upon a mat 一, two strokes 八 were added to later forms to represent overflowing alcohol, and a further two strokes 八 were subsequently added to the mat to form a table with two legs 丌. During libian, the 丌 mutated into 大, resulting in the clerical form.[upper-alpha 3]
because㠯以yǐ Originally a pictogram of a person 人 carrying an object, the seal script form was modulated during libian to create the clerical form 以.[upper-alpha 4]
to obtain𢔶得dé Seal script form , the 貝 initially simplifies into 目 during libian into earlier clerical variants; later variants further corrupt this component into 旦, and this clerical form is inherited by the modern character form.[upper-alpha 5]
to include圅函hán Seal script form .[upper-alpha 6]
to change㪅更gèng Seal script form , consisting of phonetic 丙 *pqraŋʔ + semantic 攴 'to tap'.[upper-alpha 7]
board game棊棋qí Seal script form , consisting of semantic 木 'tree' + phonetic 其 *kɯ, *ɡɯ. The 木 component was relocated to the left side during libian.[upper-alpha 8]
without橆無wú Ancient bronze form originally a pictogram of a man holding two objects in both hands while dancing, the seal script form became . During libian, the 木 components were modulated and resulted in the character becoming 無. This character is a phonetic borrowing for 'without', while  / 舞 consisting of phonetic 無 *ma + semantic 舛 'steps' retains the original meaning of 'dance'.[upper-alpha 9]
thought恖思sī Seal script form consisting of phonetic 囟 *snɯns + semantic 心 'heart', the 囟 component corrupted into the completely unrelated character 田 during libian.[upper-alpha 10][2]
forward歬前qián Seal script form originally depicting a foot 止 on a boat 舟 moving forward. During libian, 止 was reduced to 䒑, as was 舟 to 月. The addition of 刂 'knife' within 前 was originally used to represent the meaning of 'to cut' *ʔslenʔ, as seen in  / 𣦃 / 𠝣; however, because 前 became used to represent 歬 instead, an additional 刀 'knife' was added to 剪 for the purpose of representing the character for "to cut".[upper-alpha 11]
side by side竝並bìng Seal script form was a duplication of 立 'standing person'; underwent modulation during libian transition.[upper-alpha 12]
hill丠丘qiū Seal script form ; compare with representing 北 'north'.[upper-alpha 13]
to ascend椉乘chéng Seal script form originally representing climbing a tree 木 with visible feet  / 舛, which was later simplified to 禾 + 北 during libian.[upper-alpha 14]
to revolve around𠄢亘xuān Seal script form consisted of an ideogrammic compound 二 'two' + 囘 'turns'.[upper-alpha 15]
fourth earthly branch戼卯mǎo Originally depicted a Shang dynasty ritual of splitting a sacrificial body in half, as seen in seal script form .[upper-alpha 16]
death𣦸死sǐ Originally an ideogrammic compound consisting of  / 歹 'human remains' +  / 人 'man', as seen in seal script .[upper-alpha 17]
to rid㚎去qù Seal script form . Top component simplified to 土, bottom component simplified to 厶. Origin highly contested; Shuowen Jiezi suggests a phono-semantic compound with semantic 大 'man' + phonetic 𠙴 *kʰaʔ or *kʰas,[upper-alpha 18] while Axel Schuessler suggests that it depicts an anus beneath a man, representing 'to get rid of'.[3] Alternate interpretations include a man departing from a cave, lips departing from one another—re-borrowed from 呿 'to open one's mouth', or the 大 representing a cover atop an object re-borrowed from 盍 'to cover'.
also也yě The Shuowen Jiezi describes this character as a pictogram of a female vulva. Libian form is significantly simplified from the original shape.[upper-alpha 19]
summer夓夏xià The libian form removes the 𦥑 component and the legs of 頁 'head' from the seal script form .[upper-alpha 20]
what𠥄甚shèn, shén The libian form modulates the upper component of the seal script form , originally an ideogrammic compound of 甘 + 匹.[upper-alpha 21]
to live𤯓生shēng Seal script form represents a sprout 屮 emerging from the ground.[upper-alpha 22]
to use𤰃用yòng Seal script form *loŋs; variants 𠂦, 𤰆, 𠂵 originally depicted a pictogram of a water bucket; compare with 桶 *l̥ʰoːŋʔ 'bucket'.[upper-alpha 23]
alliance𥂗盟méng Seal script form , with 囧 'window' simplified to 日 'sun' during libian.[upper-alpha 24] 朙 was an ancient form of 明 *mraŋ 'bright'.[upper-alpha 25]
flower𠌶花huā Seal script form . The characters 𠌶 and 華  / 𦻏 were originally the same character, however were erroneously split into two separate entries within the Shuowen Jiezi.[upper-alpha 26] 華 *ɡʷraː 'to flower' is a derivative of 𠌶 *hʷraː 'a flower'.[upper-alpha 27]
𦮙葵kuí Seal script form 𦮙.[upper-alpha 28]
west㢴西xī Seal script form originally represented a pictogram of a bag or basket, which was then borrowed phonetically to mean 'west'.[upper-alpha 29]
edge𨘢邊biān The earlier bronze inscription form consisted of 辵, 自, 丙 and 方; the lower right component within the seal script form is the result of 方 becoming corrupted. As the clerical variant later took form, the 方 component made a reappearance in texts.[upper-alpha 30]
to eat𠊊食shí Seal script form . The bottom component of the modern libian form is a simplification of 皀 'food vessel', and is not cognate to the unrelated 良 or 艮 .[upper-alpha 31]
fantasy𠄔幻huàn Seal script form was originally an inversion of 予 'to give'.[upper-alpha 32]
hometown鄉xiāng Originally an ideogrammic compound consisting of 𠨍 'two people facing each other' + 皀 'food vessel' within bronze inscriptions, representing 'to feast'. During the transition to the seal script form, 𠨍 became corrupted into 𨙨 and 邑 . Following libian simplification, 邑 became simplified into the etymologically cognate 阝 radical, 𨙨 simplified into the unrelated 乡 radical—cognate to  / 幺, and 皀 was replaced with the unrelated 良 component. The meaning of 'hometown' was acquired via phonetic borrowing, while 饗 *qʰaŋʔ was adopted to represent 'feast'.[upper-alpha 33]
fragrant香xiāng Seal script form consisted of 黍 'proso millet' + 甘 'sweet'; the libian form simplifies 黍 into 禾 'cereal plant', and replaces the bottom 甘 component with the unrelated character 曰 'to say'.[upper-alpha 34]
fish𤋳魚yú Seal script form .[upper-alpha 35]
night𡖍夜yè Seal script form consisted of phonetic 亦 *laːɡ + semantic 夕 'crescent moon'; the bottom-right component of 夜 is a corruption of 夕 following libian, while the 亠 + 亻 is a reduction of 亦.[upper-alpha 36]
stomach胃wèi The pictographic component that visually represented a stomach was simplified into 田.[upper-alpha 37]
excrement𦳊屎shǐ Seal script form consisted of an ideogrammic compound 艸 'grass' + 胃 'stomach'. The form that gained widespread use in literature following the transition to clerical script is based on the bronze script form from the Warring States period.[upper-alpha 38]
to migrate徙xǐ The 止 portion of the left 辵 component was relocated to the right during libian, resulting in two 止 on top of one another, coincidentally becoming unified with the same structure as 歨 ; the Shang dynasty form of 步 'to walk'.[upper-alpha 39]

References

Citations
  1. "Learning and Teaching of Chinese Characters" (PDF). Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (in Chinese).
  2. Li 2016.
  3. Schuessler, Axel (2007). ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-824-82975-9.

Example lexemes
  18. Multi-function Chinese Character Database, 去
  27. Multi-function Chinese Character Database, 華
  • 漢語多功能字庫 [Multi-function Chinese Character Database] (in Chinese), Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014
  • 異體字字典 [Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants] (in Chinese), Academica Sinica, 2017

Works cited
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