The Extension Of Word Meaning In Pre - Qin Dynasty And Its Cultural Connotation

"Qi" is a very important word in the Chinese traditional culture. As early as the pre-Qin Dynasty,"Qi" has become a word with rich meaning and profound cultural connotation. On one hand, the meaning of "Qi" developed because of the internal reason of the language. On the other hand, the meaning of "Qi" developed because of the promotion of social culture. There is interaction relationship between language and culture. We can speculate the extended process of "Qi"’s meaning based on the social and culture of the pre-Qin Dynasty. We can also get a glimpse of the social and cultural development of the pre-Qin Dynasty from the change of "Qi"’s meaning. This article will study "Qi" from both language and culture by using this relationship.This article will discuss "Qi" from three aspects:the original meaning, extended meaning and cultural connotation. First, explore the original meaning of "Qi" from its glyph, pronunciation, meaning system and ancient culture. In Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Xushen explained that the original meaning of "Qi" is "clouds". His viewpoint can be generally confirmed. But XuShen’s explanation is a little vague. Through referring to the pre-Qin literature and scholars’viewpoints, I summarized its original meaning as: a kind of flowing substance which can fill above mountains and rivers, can be visually perceived, can go up to the sky and change into clouds. Then, find out corpus about "Qi" from the important books in the pre-Qin Dynasty. Ascertain the appearance order of its each meaning according to the books in chronological order. Analyze the extended path of "Qi" by using cognitive linguistics theory. The focus of this part is to explore the relationship between each separation of meanings and the basis of meaning extension according to culture in the pre-Qin society and People’s cognitive rules. I will clearly present the development trajectory of "Qi"’s meaning. Finally, explain cultural connotation of "Qi". This section mainly describes the permeation of "Qi" in all aspects of social life. Analyze how people in the pre-Qin Dynasty used "Qi" as a cognitive tool to explore the natural meteorological, social ethics, the phenomenon of life and all things primitive, and how people created a rich and splendid civilization during this period; Analyze People’s unique way of thinking in the pre-Qin Dynasty by dissecting the cultural connotation of "Qi".