The Meaning of the Chinese Ancient Character of "律"

Starting from the two basic components of the character 律,the meaning of the Chinese ancient character of 聿 and ㄔ will be analyzed.The original meaning of the oracle bone inscriptions of may be holding pitch pipe to blow,holding hard brush to inscribe and holding scepter to administer.Its extended meaning may even be unification,coordination,standards,differentiation,boundaries,among others.In the oracle bone inscriptions,ㄔ is ,which is half of the oracle bone inscription of 行().The meaning of ㄔis a small step,which probably derives from the 行.In the ancient times,the step is standard for measurement.The ancient people made use of the characters of 聿 and ㄔ to combine into the character of 律,which was used to refer to the standard of setting sound.The original meaning of the 律 was temperament as tool of setting sound.It had the meaning of norms and standards,and later evolved into the law of military and the standard of calendar.Shang Yang changed the 法 to the 律,since the norm function of the law had become increasingly important.Thereafter,the character of 律 gradually replaced 法 and has been used to refer to the code of law.