Lexicon
The dictionary department: short, close readings of single charged words and characters. Where the Atlas catalogues marks, the Lexicon dwells on meanings — one headword at a time.
How to read a source: documented a dated record, a named author, a standards texttraditional long held within a tradition; no primary recordfolk widely repeated, unsupported — printed here to be corrected
Opening mǎo · 卯 the fourth branch; the hour the gate is thrown open Noon wǔ · 午 the seventh branch; the horse hour; the day at its hinge Pulse mài · 脈 the channel through which the body’s tide moves, and the reading of it Pivot shū · 樞 the door-hinge; the unmoving point on which all turning depends Sign sêma · σῆμα a mark that stands where something is not Symbol súmbolon · σύμβολον a thing broken in two, so that the halves prove each other Pattern wén · 文 markings on a surface; then writing; then civilisation Image xiàng · 象 the elephant — and the shape of what nobody has seen Interval jiān · ma · 間 the space between — and the pause that is doing the work Crack bǔ · 卜 the split in a heated bone, read as an answer Omen zhào · 兆 the paired cracks; then the shape of what is coming; then a unit of scale Altar shì · 示 the offering-stand — and the marker of a whole domain Glyph glúphō · γλύφω a mark named after the tool that made it Icon eikṓn · εἰκών a likeness — and centuries of argument about whether one is permitted Forbidden tapu · tabu marked off, and untouchable because of it