In the oracle bone inscriptions of Yinxu,the graph transcribed as"qiu 囚"interpreted by predecessors as hun 殙/yun 殒 is often seen in a large number of royal divination inscriptions around the time of king Wuding.This graph's group distribution is complementary to the graph si 死,and its contextual meaning is no different,so it should be regarded as a variant form of the graph si.Si,which means dying is a high-frequency word,and there are several hundred examples of divination inscriptions for the Wuding period related to"dying",this is consistent with other groups,and as such reading the graph as"dying"provides a more natural explanation.The graphs si and zang 葬 originally shared a single graphic form used for different words,and was already differentiated in oracle bone inscriptions.The traces of their differentiation can be seen in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shi-group and the Li-group.
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