HIST 11 |
| Modern (Western) chemistry nomenclature was introduced into China by foreign missionaries in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Each Chinese character (in the standard Han script) of an element's name included two “radicals”. The first radical indicated the property of the element in its natural state (metal, gas, “stone”, or liquid). The second radical served as a phonetic aid to how the element name might be pronounced. This talk will present some observations on how chemical substances were represented in some earlier alternative scripts used by two Chinese ethnic groups, the Naxi and Yi people. Of some interest was the pictographic script used by the Dongba priests. This is in contrast to the more abstract ideographic/syllabic characters found in the writings of the Yi people. |
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General Papers
1:30 PM-4:40 PM, Sunday, August 19, 2007 Seaport -- Plaza C, Oral
Sci-Mix
Division of the History of Chemistry |