SELF    自己

PERSON that is NOT OTHER.
Old Chinese Criteria
1. The most general-use word referring to oneself is jǐ 己, and this word refers regularly to the highest subject in the whole sentence in which it occurs. In reflexivising object position of a main verb it serves as a "heavy" reflexive pronoun like German "sich selbst", Latin se ipsum. 2. Zì 自 is preverbal and typically makes any transitive verb it precedes reflexive, when another object is present it refers to an action being performed not by any other subject than the grammatical subject. As a reflexivising pronoun often glossable as 自己把自己 the pronoun has the double function of emphatic subject AND identical object. 3. Shēn 身 typically refers to the subject in a contrastive way, and the word is often hard to distinguish from the nominal concept of a PERSON. Adverbially, the word is different from PERSONALLY in that it does not connote distinction in the agent. 4. Gōng 躬 is a fairly rare archaic and idiomatically restricted word referrring to the agent himself.
Modern Chinese Criteria
自己 自家 自個兒 自各兒 自身 本身 一己 自我 本人 小我 自己 我 自 己 rough draft to BEGIN TO identify synonym group members for analysis, based on CL etc. 18.11.2003. CH ／ LU JIANMING
Hyponym
  • ONESELF　SELF AND NOT the SPEAKER (anc: 9/0, child: 0)
  • PERSONALLY　ACTING ONESELF. (anc: 9/0, child: 0)
Antonym
  • OTHERDIFFERENT THING of the SAME CATEGORY.
See also
  • EGO[GRAMMAR] PRONOUN (or pseudo-pronoun) USING WHICH A SPEAKER REFERS to HIMSELF.
Hypernym
  • PERSON　HUMAN as an ABSTRACT THING which FEELS, THINKS AND DECIDES, AND HAS RIGHTS AND DUTIES. (anc: 7/0, child: 4)
  • HUMAN　ANIMAL which HAS TWO LEGS AND LACKS FEATHERS. (anc: 6/0, child: 31)
  • ANIMAL　CREATURE ABLE to FEEL AND MOVE. (anc: 5/0, child: 12)
  • Vocabulaire européen des philosophies. Dictionnaire des intraduisibles ( CASSIN 2004) p. 1131

  • Historisches Woerterbuch der Philosophie ( RITTER 1971-2007) p. 9.292

    SELBST

  • 中國文化背景八千詞 Zhongguo wenhua beijing ba qian ci ( WU SANXING 2008) p. 127

  • The Encyclopedia of Philosophy ( BORCHERT 2005) p.

    SELF-KNOWLEDGE SELF

  • SYNONYMES FRANÇOIS, LEURS DIFFÉRENTES SIGNIFICATIONS, ET LE CHOIX QU'IL EN FAUT FAIRE Pour parler avec justesse ( GIRARD 1769) p. 2.402:269

    SOI-MEME.LUI-MEME

    • Words (19 items)

    己  jǐ OC: kɯʔ MC: kɨ 621 Attributions

    The most general-use word referring to oneself is jǐ 己, and this word refers regularly to the highest subject in the whole sentence in which it occurs.

      Word relations
    • Object: 審/INVESTIGATE The most general words for investigating something are chá 察 "sort out clearly" and shen 審 "investigate carefully".

      Syntactic words
    • nab(post-N)(N's) Self (the current idiom 修己 can always be construed as involving this kind of nominalisation)
    • nab[post-N]metaphysicalone's own self and innermost natural inclinations, as a core part part of one's personCH
    • nabconceptthe Self, in particular as extrovert and socially interactive (as opposed to the EGO 我 which is not essentially interactive)
    • nabmetaphysicalthe Self
    • npro(.adN)his own contextually determinate NCH
    • npro+V{PRED}contrastivehe himself, she herself
    • npro.adNemphatic or contrastive form of 其； (often but not always contrastive:) one's his/her/its own N; all of one's own (and special)
    • npro.post:Vt+prep而自得之於己乎？(mostly contrastive:) himself, herself, themselves
    • npro.postVtcontrastivehimself, herself
    • npro.postVtcontrastivereflexive and contrastive (or sometimes at least emphatic)
    • npro.postVtmiddle voiceregarding oneself, non-contrastive
    • npro.postVtnon-contrastiveobject pronoun, resumptive, non-contrastive: oneself, himself, herself, themselves
    • npro.postVtnon-contrastive(often with coverbs:) non contrastive "himself, herself"
    • npro.postVtresumptiveoneself (as opposed to 彼 "someone else/other people" reference is not to the highest subject in the sentence but to the (sometimes unmentioned) speaker
    • npro[adN]his own [thing/interests]
    • npro[adN]one's own family affairsCH
    • nproanaphorichim/her/them(selves) (referring back to highest subject in the sentence)
    • npropluralthemselves
    • nproreference not highest subjoneself
    • npro{OBJ}+Vt(preposed object:) himself, herself, themselves
    • npro{PRED}reference=higher sentencepredicative: self
    • npro{SUBJ}+V{PRED}contrastivesubject pronoun: oneself, myself etc.
    • vtoNattitudinaltreat as oneself
    身  shēn OC: qhjin MC: ɕin 206 Attributions

    Shēn 身 typically refers to the subject in a contrastive way, and the word is often hard to distinguish from the nominal concept of a person. Adverbially, the word is different from PERSONALLY in that it does not connote distinction in the agent.

      Word relations
    • Ant: 人/OTHER Rén 人 refers indefinitely to other persons, in the singular (someone else) or in the plural (other people), but never as "the other person" or as "the other people."
    • Contrast: 形/BODY The general word for the body versus the heart and soul is xíng 形(ant. xīn 心).
    • Contrast: 生/LIVE The current standard word for being alive is shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "be dead").
    • Contrast: 親/PERSONALLY Qīn 親 (ant.* jiè 藉 and píng 憑 "via others") emphasises that a person who might have chosen not to condescend to do something personally actually decided to do it, and the word naturally tends to be limited to subjects of a fairly high social status.
    • Oppos: 國/STATE The dominant word is guó 國, and the word naturally focusses on the capital which defines the identity of the state, but from Warring States times the word does refer to the whole of the territory, as the term guó xiāo 國削 "the state was truncated" shows.
    • Oppos: 君/RULER Jūn 君 (ant. chén 臣 "minister") refers specifically to someone who is politically or administratively in charge of others as a ruler.
    • Oppos: 壽/LIVE Shòu 壽 (yāo 夭 "short life ended by an unnaturally early death") refers specifically to a lifespan as long as it naturally can be and should be.
    • Oppos: 妻/WIFE Qī 妻 (ant. fū 夫 "husband") refers to the regular main wife.
    • Oppos: 家/FAMILY The current dominant word is jiā 家 which refers to a whole household, including men, domestic animals and utensils as well as the whole clan system that defines its lineage affiliation.
    • Oppos: 民/PEOPLE The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers to the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state.
    • Oppos: 言/SPEAK Yán 言 is to speak up, propose, typically in public, and on one's own initiative, to maintain something, and the word can indroduce direct speech as well as occasionally very limited indirect speech.
    • Oppos: 軍/ARMY Jūn 軍 is a complete army as a unit, from Spring and Autumn times onwards, normally attached to an army camp. Complete parts of an army are always jūn 軍, rarely shī 師. Hence the expressions sān jūn 三軍, zhōng jūn 中軍, shàng jūn 上軍, xià jūn 下軍. An army is counted by the number of jūn 軍 in it, where each jūn 軍 is said to be 10 000 men, at least in the Qi system. Systems have varied in different states. For detals of the early history see the monograph by KOLB. [IMPERSONAL], [LARGE], [OFFICIAL]
    • Oppos: 他人/OTHER
    • Oppos: 國家/NATION The current standard word for the nation as represented by the leading families, and opposed to the state as mere territory and inhabitants, is guó jiā 國家.
    • Oppos: 天下/ALL Tiān xià 天下 is a quantifying noun phrase that refers universally to all mankind. >>NOMINAL; COLLECTIVE
    • Oppos: 支屬/FAMILY
    • Oppos: 社稷/NATION Shè jì 社稷 refers to the altars of the land and grain as symbols of the nation.
    • Oppos: 邦/STATE Bāng 邦 is an area-orientated old word referring to an extended state without emphasising the leading role of a capital in that state, and the word was increasingly replaced by guó 國 even before taboo rules related to the name of Liú Bāng had their impact.

      Syntactic words
    • ncontrastive: one's own person; oneself; himself
    • nadNpronominalself's> own; one's own
    • nadV身死人手"died themselves by the hands of others (quite apart from losing their states)": contrastive: himself; oneself; the person him/herself (also: 身雖無能
    • nnonreferentialcontrastive: oneself; one as an individuum
    • npost-Ncontrastive: oneself; the person him/herself 吾身,寡人之身
    • npronominalcontrastive: yourself
    自  zì OC: sblids MC: dzi 185 Attributions

    Zì 自 is preverbal and typically makes any transitive verb it precedes reflexive.

      Word relations
    • Ant: 人/OTHER Rén 人 refers indefinitely to other persons, in the singular (someone else) or in the plural (other people), but never as "the other person" or as "the other people."
    • Object: 恣/UNRESTRAINED The current general word for lack of restraint and indulgence is zī 恣 (ant. jié 節 "exercise moderation").
    • Oppos: 請/REQUEST Qǐng 請 is the polite term for a request addressed to a superior or an equal; and this term is currently used in early texts to refer to a suggestion made in the superficial rhetorical form of a request.

      Syntactic words
    • npro Vtt. V(Vtt=consider, make etc) oneself to VCH
    • npro+:vtt+N.+V[0]N=ownone's own N 自令身死
    • npro+Vt(oN)V the contextually determinate object oneself
    • npro+VtoNreflexive.自.ownN(V) one's own (N) 自為禍 "bring about one's own misfortune"
    • npro.adNone's own; their own; your own
    • npro.adVas one wishes oneselfCH
    • npro.adVfor oneselffor oneself; to oneself; by oneself > privately
    • npro.adVsubjectcontrastive: oneself, by oneself
    • npro1+Vt+.npro2adNowne.g. 自攻其主"attack one's own ruler" one's own (object)
    • npro1.post=npro2:+VsubjectI myself; you yourself; he himself..cf: 我自己DS
    • npro{OBJ}+Vt自己把自己 preposed object: oneself as the object, 自殺"kill oneself" 
    • npro{OBJ}+Vt.adVfor one's own sake perform the action VDS
    • npro{OBJ}+Vtfor oneselfself
    • npro{OBJ}+Vtreference=higher subject自輔 "help one" NOT: "help oneself"
    其  qí MC: gi OC: ɡɯ 43 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • npro.adNone's own, his ownCH
    躬  gōng OC: kʷɯŋ MC: kuŋ 22 Attributions

    Gōng 躬 is a fairly rare archaic and idiomatically restricted word referrring to the agent himself.

      Word relations
    • Contrast: 心/MIND The general word for the mental sphere of man is xīn 心 "HEART> mind" (ant. xíng 形 "physical shape, body", tǐ 體 "limbs, body").
    • Oppos: 事/WORK Shì 事 (ant. xián 閒 "be at leisure") refers primarily to an official or regular working effort made on behalf of and in the service of an employer or a ruler.

      Syntactic words
    • nadNthe N him/herself??? 躬君 "the ruler himself" [extraordinary!???]
    • nadVoneself, with personal effort; sometimes: in person
    • npro.adNone's ownCH
    • npro1.postadnpro1archaic, suffix to first and second person pronouns
    • npronominalperson; formal or poetic: his person
    自己  zì jǐ OC: sblids kɯʔ MC: dzi kɨ 13 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • NPself, ego
    • NPpro.adNone's own
    自家  zì jiā OC: sblids kraa MC: dzi kɣɛ 6 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • NPprooneself
    • NPpro.adNone's own N
    • NPpro.adVreflexiveyourself; for yourself
    我  wǒ OC: ŋaalʔ MC: ŋɑ 4 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • nprohimself
    • npro.adNN=owntheir ownCH
    • nproreflexiveplural: themselvesCH
    其身  qí shēn OC: ɡɯ qhjin MC: gɨ ɕin 4 Attributions

      Word relations
    • Oppos: 人/OTHER Rén 人 refers indefinitely to other persons, in the singular (someone else) or in the plural (other people), but never as "the other person" or as "the other people."

      Syntactic words
    • NPoneself
    己身  jǐ shēn OC: kɯʔ qhjin MC: kɨ ɕin 4 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • NPabpsychone's own person
    自其  zì qí OC: sblids ɡɯ MC: dzi gɨ 2 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • NPadNpronominalone's own; her own; his own
    遺體  yí tǐ OC: k-lul rʰiiʔ MC: ji thei 1 Attribution
      Syntactic words
    • NPadNborn of oneself> one's own (child etc)
    自身  zì shēn OC: sblids qhjin MC: dzi ɕin 1 Attribution
      Syntactic words
    • NPadVpronominaloneself; yourself
    • NPprooneself
    我軀  wǒ qū MC: ngaX khju OC: ŋaalʔ kho 1 Attribution
      Syntactic words
    • NP{pro}emphaticmy own selfCH
    躸  jī OC: kral MC: kiɛ 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • nabmetaphysicalself
    自業  zì yè OC: sblids ŋab MC: dzi ŋi̯ɐp 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • NPadVby one's own professional skills, using one's own talents
    之  zhī OC: kljɯ MC: tɕɨ 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • DELETEhimself
    己自  jǐ zì OC: kɯʔ sblids MC: kɨ dzi 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • NPpro.adNone's own
      Click here to add pinyin MC:  OC: 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • nproone's own, his ownCH