史

It is a pictograph depicting a hand holding a brush, symbolizing the act of recording or writing something.

Although the radical 口 (mouth) is associated with 史, modern scholarship agrees this is a later misinterpretation and that the character originally had no relation to 口.

Some people try to analyze 史 as a combination of 中 (middle) and 又 (again), but this is also incorrect.

Based on analysis of oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, 史 originally meant a person performing a ritual offering to the gods, holding a ceremonial or shamanic tool in their hand.

Later, officials in charge of recording royal decrees and state affairs evolved the meaning to what is now understood as “history.”

The person who fully established the modern concept of 史 as “history” was the famous Sima Qian (司馬遷) of the Han dynasty (Western Han).

His historical text, Records of the Grand Historian (史記), deeply influenced the whole East Asian cultural sphere and shaped the concept of 史 in later historical records.

Characters such as 使 (to dispatch), meaning “to cause” or “to make,” and 吏 (official), meaning “government official,” were influenced by the character 史.

According to oracle bone script evidence, these characters shared the same early form and later diverged into 史, 使, 事, and 吏.