Taxonomy of meanings for 戈:　　

Additional information about 戈

說文解字: 【戈】，平頭 𢧢 也。从弋，一橫之，象形。 〔小徐本「象形」下有「也」。〕 凡戈之屬皆从戈。 【古禾切】

Criteria
• WEAPON
  

  1. The general term for weapons and the military political realm which dominates this semantic field is wǔ 武 (ant. wén 文 "civil affairs") which refers to any military force or weaponry of any kind, defensive or offensive, and the word is very often abstract in meaning, referring to the abstract matters of military policy.

  2. Bīng 兵 refers to warfare as a military practice rather than as a political means to achieve ends, and it is significant that the word has no obvious antonym.

  3. Gān gē 干戈 is a current expression for weapons of war in general.

• SAW
  

  1. General term for a saw is jù4 鋸. It can be made of bronze, and since the Warring States period of iron. Saw was used not only like a working implement, but also for mutilating punishments (the oldest evidence dates the Shang period: REFERENCES TO BE FOUND). Besides this, in the Warring States period, the word was in the state of Yan used for a kind of weapon otherwise known as jǐ 戟 (combination of the gē 戈 halberd with a spearhead).

• SHIP
  

  1. The general term for any ship, large or small, is zhōu 舟. [The word occurs already in the oracle bone inscriptions and in SHIJING. According to some opinions it originally referred to the boat made of one piece of wood, but it is not certain. The earliest forms of the character resemble the small ship made already from several planks. Note that in Western Zhou times, ship also played certain role in some rituals performed by the king, which probably took place in the pool within royal palace.

  2. Chuán 船／舡 is a colloquial general term for a ship which emerged in Warring States times and became current under the Han. The word can refer specifically to larger ships. The word is still unknown in LUNYU and ZUOZHUAN, where the only general term for a ship is still zhōu 舟.

  3. Háng 杭／航 refers specifically to a ferry and became current first in Han times. (From the Warring States period, only the former character is known, the latter form came to be used in Han times. The word refers specifically to a ferry, but can be used also as a general term for a ship.

  4. Sōu 艘 is another general word for a ship which was in use particularly from the Han till Tang, and it was usually used as a measure word for a ship.

  5. Yú 俞 refers in SHUOWEN and HUAINANZI to the boat made of one piece of wood, the monoxylon. Whether the term referred to this type of boat in general already since early times is not certain. Note that one monoxylon (3,9 m long) dating from Shang times was found in Shandong province.

  6. Bó 舶 originally referred specifically to the large sea ships of the foreign traders reaching Canton area. Later it came to refer generally to large or sea ship.

  7. Fāng chuán 方船, fāng 舫 (the latter word first appeared in the Warring States period and became more current in Han times) refer to the double ship, ship consisting of two joined boats. This kind of ship could be used for various purposes (for transportation of goods or soldiers, as a warship, or to cross a river), and was in use at least from the Warring States period till Tang; the period during it most flourished was neverthless Jin dynasty.

  8. Gě 舸 refers generally to a large ship; according to FANG YAN, in Han times the word was used in an area on the middle reaches of Chang jiang.

  9. Biàn 艑 refers to the large ship, used probably mainly for transportation of goods, which was used in the middle and lower reaches of the Chang jiang.

  10. Tà 榻 is the general word for a large ship, which was in use mainly from the North Southern dynasties till Tang period.

  11. Cáo 艚 is the post-Buddhist word referring to the transportation ship. It was large and slow.

  12. Líng (written like 舟令 ) refers specifically to the small ship with vindows. In the Warring States and Han period, it was in use particularly in the area of ancient states Wu and Yue.

  13. Dāo 刀 / (written like 舟刀 ) refers to a small boat. The word occurs already in SHIJING.

  14. Mù sù (written like 舟冒; 舟宿 chā 艖 ) all refer to the small and narrow boats, and according to FANG YAN, were used in the middle reaches of Chang jiang.

  15. Tǐng 艇 refers to the boat even smaller than the previous, with space for one or two people. According to HUAINANZI, this was originally used in the area of Sichuan.

  16. Qióng (written like 舟共 ) refers to the small boat used mainly in the middle reaches of the Chang jiang.

  17. Lì 麗 refers to a small boat. The word occurs already in ZHUANGZI.

  18. Dié 艓 refers to the small boat.

  19. Zé měng 舴艋 refers to the small boat.

  20. (I can not find a character in the dictionary: written like 舟鳥 ) refers to the small and narrow boat.

  21. Sān yì 三翼 refers to the battleships which were in use in the southern states of Wu and Yue in Chunqiu and Warring States times. It seems that they were divided to three categories according to their size. According to Han sources, the largest ones had a space for 91 men, those of middle size for 50 men, and minor for 26 men. Note that the earliest ship battle is mentioned in ZUOZHUAN to 549 B.C., and it took place on a river; the first sea battle is dated to 484 B.C. As can be seen on pictorial presentations dating from the late Chunqiu and early Warring States period, ship battles esentially resembled battles on the earth; the ships pulled with oars came close one to the other and warriors staying on the higher board attacked enemies with arrows, halberds, and spears.

  22. Yú huáng 余 / 艅皇 / 艎 was in Chunqiu times the name of the large battleship belonging to the kings of Wu. Later it came to be used as a general term for a large battleship.

  23. Mào tū 冒突 came to use in the Eastern Han period and referred to the battleship which could directly clash into the ship of enemies.

  24. Lóu chuán 樓船 refers to the battleship with several boards. These came to use already in the late Chunqiu period, and were used till Ming times.

  25. Gē chuán 戈船 refers to the large battleship which was in use from the late Chunqiu till the Southern and Northern dynasties. It obtained its name from halberds and spears put on its board; perhaps general word for a battleship (???).

  26. Méng chōng 艨童舟童 refers to a smaller battleship used to clash into the battleships of enemies. It has two boards, the lower for oarmen and higher for warriors; moreover it was covered with fresh oxen skins to defend firearrows of the enemies. In use since the Three Kingdoms.

  27. Jiàn 艦 refers to the large battleship with wooden battlements which came to be used in the Three Kingdoms.

• WARFARE
  

  1. The current general word for warfare is bīng 兵.

  2. Róng 戎 refers to military service or military action.

  3. Gān gē 干戈 (ant. yù bó 玉帛 "jade and silk") is a periphrastic way of referring to military affairs.

  4. Wǔ 武 "military affairs" (ant. wén 文 "civil affairs") refers not so much to battles and military action, but to the administration of military affairs in general.

Word relations
• Object: (LANCE)援/TAKE1 Attribution
• Assoc: (LANCE)劍/SWORD Jiàn 劍refers to the weapon with two edges which can be worn on a belt. Sword became common in China relatively late; although short bronze swords were widely used in northeastern China from Shang till early Chunqiu period, there are only few pieces known from the graves of the Western Zhou and Chunqiu aristocracy. In the middle and late Chunqiu period bronze swords came to be wider used particularly in the southern states of Wu, Yue, and Chu; the earliest textual evidence I have found for the word also dates from this period (MOZI and inscriptions on the swords of Wu and Yue). In Warring States times sword became usual weapon. Iron swords for the first time appeared in the late Chunqiu period and by the early Han completely replaced bronze pieces. Note that in Han times both aristocrats and officials worn swords like symbols of their status. 1 Attribution