earticle

한국어

As part of a study aimed at elucidating the ancient Chinese cognitive system and conceptual formation processes as reflected in Chinese characters through cognitive linguistic theory, this paper examines the cognitive semantic expansion of the “大” component in the Xiaozhuan script of the Shuowen Jiezi (hereafter Shuowen). First, a preliminary morphological decomposition was conducted on a total of 10,020 Xiaozhuan script characters—including both principal seal (正篆) and alternate seal (篆文重文) forms—found in the Shuowen. From these, 45 characters containing the component “大” or its variant “亣” were selected. In these 45 forms, “大” embodies two prototypical meanings—“person” and “large”—demonstrating how ancient bodily and cultural experiences, together with metaphor and metonymy, extend across diverse semantic domains. Specifically, in characters whose prototypical meaning is “person,” salient metonymic and metaphorical expansions occur, such as “person (whole) → body part (part),” “person (agent) → concrete action (result),” and “part of a human body (the crown of the head) → highest point (heaven).” Conversely, in characters centered on the meaning “large,” physical scale expands into various abstract domains such as “brightness,” “spatial extension,” “intensity of emotion,” and “extravagance or exaggeration.” Notably, as “size” shifts to “importance” or “intensity,” metonymy and metaphor are layered in a multi-level process. These findings indicate that the component “大” does not merely represent “person” or “large,” but rather possesses a complex, multilayered semantic structure grounded in the bodily and cultural experiences of ancient Chinese society. Furthermore, investigating this cognitive semantic extension not only deepens our understanding of the principles underlying the formation of Chinese characters, but also offers significant insights into reconstructing ancient modes of thought and cultural symbolism.