Etymology of the Chinese word for "philosophy" (22/9/2021)

(22/9/2021)

The following shares a correspondence I had with a Chinese-Vietnamese-Canadian scholar. 

"Xu Shen's [许慎] Lexicon [说文解字] is not a perfect source for Chinese etymology. It's not Xu Shen's fault. He didn't have Oracle Bones and archeology to help him with his research. For example, you had explained the word for "philosophy" [哲] at your Confucius-Plato lecture as a hand, an axe, and a mouth. On the surface, that is correct, but [哲] is actually a word with a phonetic component on top and the pictogram of a mouth below. But even that is incorrect. The earliest form of this word (so far discovered) is a Bronze character [金文] with several variations. Check this one out.

The top part is the phonetic [折], meaning "break," with the optional "eye" to indicate learning from observation. I would like to add that the phonetic may also carry the connotation "to break apart," hence to analyze. The lower pictogram is a "heart" rather than the "mouth" in the modern character. The heart is of course for learning and understanding, and in ancient Chinese culture, equivalent to the "mind."

​The phonetic [折] is a late derivative from Oracle Bone script. It is incorrect to describe it as a hand and an axe. Check out the Oracle Bone character.

Those are not hands on the left but a piece of wood cut in half by the axe on the right (the wood is broken, hence the meaning "break"). 

While the superficial etymology of philosophy [哲] is violent with a hand and an axe, and relates to expatiating with the mouth, the true etymology is based on observation and analyzing with one's heart and mind. It is closer to the Greek etymology for "philosophy," which means "love of knowledge" or "love of wisdom."

This is not to say the Lexicon is useless, ​far from it, but we should understand that it is no longer the Bible. It hasn't been for a long time."