Shang Ti = YHWH??

[patrick457]

上 in Mandarin is typically tone four, the falling tone, as in the name of the city, 上海, which is transliterated as Shànghǎi in pinyin.

I stand corrected. I must be thinking of Cantonese there (where 上 can be either seung5 = ‘light (yang) rising’, i.e. low rising or seung 6 = ‘light departing’, i.e. low level). In Min Nan (aka Southern Min), meanwhile, the character can either be read as siōng (siong7, ‘light departing’; i.e. mid level), siāng (siang7), chiū[sup]n[/sup] (*chiu[sup]n[/sup]), or chhiū[sup]n[/sup] (*chhiu[sup]n[/sup]*7). In Hakka, you have song (song4 = ‘departing’; i.e. high falling) and sông (song1 = ‘dark (yin) flat’; i.e. high tone), and so on and so forth. (Cf. the traditional four tones classification)

上

Chinese Etymology å—æº

Oracle bone script

Chinese Etymology å—æº

Bronzeware script

Chinese Etymology å—æº

Seal Script

An ideogram showing the concept of up by showing one line above another.

1.) (prep) above, over
2.) (adj) last, former, prior
3.) (adj) above, higher
4.) (v) go up, send up

Old Chinese: daŋʔs, daŋʔ (Starostin); daŋʔ-s {[d]aŋʔ-s} (Baxter-Sagart); *ȡi ̯aŋ (Karlgren); *ʑiaŋ (Wang Li); *djaŋʔ (Zhengzhang Shangfang); *djaŋx (Li); *djaŋʔ (Baxter, Pan Wùyún)
Middle Chinese: *ʒ́àŋ, *ʒ́áŋ (Starostin); *dzyangX, *dzyangH (Baxter); *üiaN (Karlgren, Li Rong); *düiAN (Zhou Fagao, Shao Rongfen); *ü˜(aN (Wang); *düÄŒN (Zhengzhang); *üjAN (Dong Tonghe); *düjŒN (Pan)

Mandarin: shàng (shang4)
Hakka: song (song4), sông (song1)
Min Nan (Taiwanese Hokkien): siōng (siong7), siāng (siang7), chiū[sup]n[/sup] (chiu[sup]n[/sup]), chhiū[sup]n[/sup], (*chhiu[sup]n[/sup]*7)
Min Nan (Teochew): zion6, zion7, siang6, siang5
Yue (Cantonese): seung5, seung6
Wu (Shanghai): zaon2, zaon3
Wu (Shaoxing): zan2, zaon2, zaon3
Wu (Quzhou): zhan3
Wu (Wenzhou): yi2, yi3

Japanese (on’yomi): jō (go’on), shō (kan’on), shan (sō’on)
Korean: sang
Vietnamese: thượng

商

Chinese Etymology å—æº

Oracle bone script

Chinese Etymology å—æº

Bronzeware script

Chinese Etymology å—æº

Seal Script

1.) Shang Dynasty
2.) commerce, business, trade

Old Chinese: *taŋ (Starostin); *s-taŋ (Baxter-Sagart); **ɕi ̯aŋ * (Karlgren); *ɕiaŋ (Wang Li); *hljaŋ (Zhengzhang); *hrjaŋ (Li); *hjaŋ (Baxter); *qhjaŋ (Pan)
Middle Chinese: *śaŋ (Starostin); *syang (Baxter); *þiaN (Karlgren, Li Rong); *þiAN (Zhou, Shao); *þ˜(aN (Wang); *þÄŒN (Zhengzhang); *þjAN (Dong); *þjŒN (Pan)

Mandarin: shāng (shang1)
Hakka: sông (song1)
Min Nan (Hokkien): siong (siong1)
Min Nan Teochew: siang1
Yue (Cantonese): seung1
Wu (Shanghai): saon1
Wu (Shaoxing): san1, saon1
Wu (Quzhou): shan1
Wu (Wenzhou): shi1

Japanese (on’yomi): shō (shau)
Korean: sang
Vietnamese: thương*

 

[patrick457]

Yes, we can even take China as an example to all these religions. They started monotheistic, and after the most corrupt emperors came, their original pure monotheistic religion degraded into the worship of idols and demi-gods, until, in an attempt to restore the religious harmony Confucionism, Daoism and Buddhism were established. The same thing happened to the other countries? Yes, I would think so…

Eh, Buddhism came from India. (No, the historical Buddha was not a fat Chinese monk; if anything I expect him to be underweight, at least during one point in his life.) Confucianism and Daoism, meanwhile, were two of the so-called Hundred Schools of Thought which flourished in the chaos of the Warring States Period (770-221 BC).

Confucius held a humanist philosophy. He believed that in a perfect society, people know their respective places within it. The only effective system of government necessitated prescribed relationships for each individual: in other words “Let the ruler be a ruler and the subject a subject.” To him, the functions of government and social stratification were facts of life to be sustained by ethical values like filial piety or loyalty or proper etiquette; thus the ideal human in Confucianist thought, who were supposed to be the role models for society, was the so-called junzi (君子, lit. ‘lord’s child’), the “gentleman,” who combined all the values within himself.