Pictogram (象形) – A vertical eye of a man looking downwards. As the individual character it is used as a metaphor meaning “to surrender”, while the meaning relating to eyes appears when used as a radical, such as in 臨 (“to look down at”).
In Old Chinese, nominalization with with nasal suffix of the verb 視 (OC *ɡljilʔ, *ɡljils, *ɢljils, “to watch”), hence literally "watcher; supervisor" (Schuessler 2007). In the archaic language of the Shang oracle bones (late second millennium BCE), this word referred to "royal officers, many of whose individual names were recorded, who served in the royal court, received the king's orders to launch military expeditions and other tasks, and received royal gifts" (Keightley 2012).
From:Oracle bone, late second millennium BCE, quoted and translated in Working for His Majesty: Research Notes on Labor Mobilization in Late Shang China (ca. 1200–1045 B.C.) by David N. Keightley
Jǐhài bǔ, zhēn. Lìng Wú xiǎo jí chén.[Pinyin]
Making cracks on jihai, divined: "[We] order Wu [?] to be the Junior Servitor for Cultivation.
Should Your Majesty rely on the multitude of your subjects and depend on the strength of your weapons, making use of the might with which you laid waste to Wei, with a desire to subjugate the lords of the world by brute force, your servant fears that there may be trouble later on.
Should Your Majesty rely on the multitude of your subjects and depend on the strength of your weapons, making use of the might with which you laid waste to Wei, with a desire to subjugate the lords of the world by brute force, your servant fears that there may be trouble later on.
From: Admiral Yi Sun-sin, 1597, quoted in《李忠武公全書》 (Collected Works of Yi, Duke of Loyalty and Martiality), 1795
자 임진(으로) 지우 오륙년 간(에) 적(이) 불감직돌어양호자(는) 이주사지액기로야(니이다). 금 신 전선(이) 상유십이(하니) 출사력거전(이면) 즉 유가위야(니이다). Ja Imjin[-euro] jiu o ryuk nyeon gan[-e], jeog[-i] bulgam jik dol eo Yangho ja[-neun], i jusa ji aek gi ro ya[-niida]. Geum sin jeonseon[-i] sang yu sibi[-hani], chul saryeok geojeon[-imyeon], jeuk yu ga wi ya[-niida].[Sino-Korean]
Through the five or six years after 1592, the enemy have not dared directly attack Jeolla and Chungcheong because our fleet guarded their route. Your servant still has twelve battleships today. If we defend with our dying strength, it can still be done.