A BOOKISH THING

At around quarter to eight I was outside enjoying the fog, which had come billowing in yesterday evening while I was smoking the last pipe of the day. Nowadays I get up around six A.M., swill the first cup of coffee and swallow my pills, and head out with a pipe before the crazies, street people, and multitudes of maskless cretins are awake and stirring. Just auntie with the pistachio ice cream hued hat, grumpy uncle, the woman who recognizes me even though all of us white people look alike, and other cautious souls.

So enjoyable. With the hill tops in three directions disappearing into the mist, and trails of moisture still lingering at lower elevations it always reminds me of motoring through the Ardennes and Luxembourg.

Once when we were walking several miles from the hotel where we were staying we encountered a hollow surrounded by cliffs, on which were carved runes and animal symbols. If cell phones had been invented at that time it would have made a lovely multi-page photo album. The floor of the ritual space was densely covered with leaves, the air was still. A perfect place, you might think, to light up one's pipe and pause a while.

It was two years before I took up smoking (still using snuff at that time), and my familiarity with rune script was still minor, so I have no clue what the ancient texts said.


These days I am a little more conversant with such things. But not in the same category. One of my hobbies is exploring Chinese script forms and carving seals using the characters that were in standard use two thousand years ago (篆書 'suen syu'). Which of course every half-assed literate person would naturally do.



And trust me, half-assed is the right term. While I have the ability to recall ancient forms of very many words, I am too often stumped when it comes to less common characters. I'm still learning.

If you look at the illustrations below, you will understand why that is so. Often the modern form and the ancestral form do not seem related.

HUA (Cantonese 'waa'): Elegance, flowery; China (as an ablaut of the name of the first dynasty). The character shows two grass radicals at the top, followed by stamens and the calyx underneath, rising from the ground. Originally it meant 'flower', but the meaning expanded and a different character is now used for that word. 華

JUAN (Cantonese 'kuen'): Scroll, book, volume, a chapter, curled, something rolled up. Also shows up as signific element in a number of other words with related meanings, and as the phonetic element in yet further words.
Hands coming to together over a tool or signifying object, holding the scroll flat or laid out. 卷

QIU (Cantonese 'yau'): Hill, mound, hillock; a cerrito, kopje, or tor. Also a less common surname which I've encountered only once.
Two men seated back to back on a higher area, with the signific for territory or area to their right. 邱






Seals carved with such characters are not antiques, though they appeal to people with antiquarian sensibilities. They are still used today. Complete name seals to sign documents, office or department seals, nick name or literary name chops, collector and artist signatures, vanity names, even complete phrases expressing one's hobbies, interests, or personal philosphy.

Collectors of books, paintings, and calligraphic scrolls often have numerous personal seals, one or two of that may be used to mark their pieces, which is useful for the art historian in dating, or establishing provenance. Painters and calligraphers often also have a selection; Qi Baishi is a good example of that, as his self-chosen name (bai shi) refers to having carved a hundred or more seals before he considered himself in any way proficient.

At this time I rarely carve seals for other people. But I still study seal script, because it fascinates me, and I often practice calligraphy. I find the seal script elegant and expressive. Plus there's a great satisfaction in discovering striking designs and etymological relationships.

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