Oracle bone script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:31, 4 April 2024

Revision as of 16:09, 7 April 2024

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[[File:Oracle mu4 eye.svg|thumb|upright=0.2|Oracle bone form of {{zhi|c=目}} 'eye']]

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Along with its contemporary [[bronzeware script]], the oracle bone script of the late [[ShangLate dynastyShang]] period appears pictographic. The earliest oracle bone script appears even more so than examples from late in the period (thus some evolution did occur over the roughly 200-year period).{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=64}} Comparing the oracle bone script to both Shang and early [[Western Zhou]] period writing on bronzes, the oracle bone script is clearly greatly simplified, and rounded forms are often converted to rectilinear ones; this is thought to be due to the difficulty of engraving the bone's hard surface, compared with the ease of writing them in the wet clay of the molds the bronzes were cast from. The more detailed and more pictorial style of the bronze graphs is thought to be more representative of typical Shang writing using bamboo books than the oracle bone forms; this typical style continued to evolve into writing styles of the Western Zhou period, and then into the [[seal script]] within the [[state of Qin]].

[[File:Shang_Bronze_and_Oracle_Script.svg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|Comparison of characters in the Shang bronzeware script (first and fourth rows), oracle bone script (second and fifth rows), and [[regular script]] (third and sixth rows)]]