The glyph type kai - a person seen sideways sitting down with his 3-fingered hand pointing towards mouth - is a picture of someone eating (kai). The meaning is primarily 'eating'. By extension the meaning then must become intake of nourishment of all kinds, and the growth resulting therefrom. The kai glyph type becomes an emblem of 'growth', and then indirectly also of youth:
The basic meaning of 'eating' also permits kai to be used to indicate 'feast' - an event which is characterized by plenty of eating. A pair of kai persons sitting back-to-back means one great season is ending and another is beginning. In e.g. Thursday (according to the text of H) the old solar year is shown at left as ending while at right the new vigorous spring sun is announced:
The Y-sign in Hb9-40 is the same as that seen in toa glyphs, meaning 'dry branches'. The time of the 'thunder twins' - who are ruling the time beyond midsummer - is now in the past. |
