I'm reading a book on Confucius right now.
It touches on alotta Taoist concepts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao
Tao or Dao (道, Pinyin: About this sound Dào (help·info) ) is a Chinese word meaning 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes more loosely, 'doctrine' or 'principle'. Within the context of traditional Chinese philosophy and religion, Tao is a metaphysical concept originating with Laozi that gave rise to a religion
The etymological linguistic origins of dao "way; path" depend upon its Old Chinese pronunciation, which scholars have tentatively reconstructed as *d'ôg, *dəgwx, *dəw, *luʔ, and *lûʔ.
Victor H. Mair proposes a Proto-Indo-European etymology for dao 道, supported by numerous cognates in Indo-European languages, and semantically similar Arabic and Hebrew words.
This links it to the Proto-Indo-European root drogh (to run along) and Indo-European dhorg (way, movement).
The most closely related English words are "track" and "trek", while "trail" and "tract" are derived from other cognate Indo-European roots.
D - well how about that.
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3 comments:
I noticed that the Toki Pona symbol bears a resemblance to the Tao symbol in Chinese.
As well as being really cute!
Hi. I can't figure out how to contact you from the blog, so, off-topic I wanted to let you know that Ceqli is active again. I have a Ceqli Wiki HERE. Be sure to click the links "Ceqli Through Pictures" and "Ceqli Blog." Thanks!
The oldest usage of 'dao' by sinologists is as a simple 'path'..to traverse or bridge across; it is a man manufactured 'dike'..to trek a flooded rice field. Too often the reversal of 'taoism's philosopical constructs being backwards applied as a 'way' or journey...this further muddied by modern 'established' usages. a tao is not a taoism.
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