Shen (Chinese religion)
| Shen | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 神 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | spirit | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | thần | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 신 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 神 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 神 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | 1. かみ 2. しん |
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin |  shén |
| Wade–Giles | shen |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | san4 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | sîn |
| Middle Chinese | |
| Middle Chinese | Zyin |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | sin |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Revised Hepburn | 1. kami 2. shin |
Shen are Chinese gods. For discussion of them, see the article Chinese gods and immortals.
The following is material that belongs at :
Shén (in rising 2nd tone) is the Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation of 神 "spirit; god, deity; spiritual, supernatural; awareness, consciousness etc". Reconstructions of shén in Middle Chinese (ca. 6th-10th centuries CE) include dź'jěn (Bernhard Karlgren, substituting j for his "yod medial"), źiɪn (Zhou Fagao), ʑin (Edwin G. Pulleyblank, "Late Middle"), and zyin (William H. Baxter). Reconstructions of shén in Old Chinese (ca. 6th-3rd centuries BCE) include *djěn (Karlgren), *zdjien (Zhou), *djin (Li Fanggui), *Ljin (Baxter), and *m-lin (Axel Schuessler).
Although the etymological origin of shen is uncertain, Schuessler (2007:458) notes a possible Sino-Tibetan etymology; compare Chepang gliŋh "spirit of humans".
The Chinese shen 神 "spirit; etc." is also in other East Asian languages. The Japanese Kanji 神 is pronounced shin (しん) or jin (じん) in On'yomi (Chinese reading), and kami (かみ), kō (こう), or tamashii (たましい) in Kun'yomi (Japanese reading). The Korean Hanja 神 is pronounced sin (신).
The Zihui dictionary notes that 神 had a special pronunciation shēn (level 1st tone, instead of usual 2nd shén) in the name Shen Shu 神荼, one of two "gods of the Eastern Sea", along with Yu Lu 鬱壘.
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