The Discovery of Genesis (66 page)

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The desolate new world which met the remnant’s gaze required coinage of words to describe the changed conditions. A new way of life also emerged, necessitating additional vocabulary with corresponding words that could be used as ideograms. Accordingly, the Chinese appear to have incorporated the
eight
progenitors of this second world into many characters descriptive of the altered conditions.

When Noah’s family left the ark, they may have lived in a large cave hollowed out by the receding waters, for there were no trees with which to build a house. At least the Chinese seem to have pictured them as living in a
cave
, as this figure would indicate, for it is composed undeniably of a
roof
with the figure
eight
under it.

Since all of the earth’s vegetation had been washed away, it was necessary for the family to begin to plant seed and gardens in order to grow food to sustain themselves. When the eight kinsmen went to work in the fields, the cave, of course, was empty. Thus, by adding
work
to the
cave
, the character
empty, hollow
is formed — nobody is at home in the cave. They have all gone to work.