天命

Chinese

day; sky; heaven life; fate
simp. and trad.
(天命) 		天 命

Etymology

Attested earliest on Zhou dynasty's bronze inscriptions,[1] though during the Western Zhou period, the concept was not exactly worded as 天命 (tiānmìng) but 大令 (dàlìng), 大命 (dàmìng), 魯令 (lǔlìng) & 天令 (tiānlìng) (however, 令 (lìng) and 命 (mìng) were indeed used interchangeably).[2] Goldin (2017)[3] links Zhou's concept 天命 (tiānmìng) to Shang's concept 帝令 (dìlìng) "the Deity's command" attested in the Shang's oracle bones.

For the era name, see also Manchu ᠠᠪᡴᠠᡳ
ᡶᡠᠯᡳᠩᡤᠠ (abkai fulingga).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 天 命
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial (聲) 透 (6) 明 (4)
Final (韻) 先 (85) 庚 (111)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) IV III
Fanqie 他前切 眉病切
Baxter then mjaengH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/tʰen/ /mˠiæŋH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/tʰen/ /mᵚiaŋH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/tʰɛn/ /miaŋH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/tʰɛn/ /miajŋH/
Li
Rong 		/tʰen/ /miɐŋH/
Wang
Li 		/tʰien/ /mĭɐŋH/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/tʰien/ /mi̯ɐŋH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		tiān mìng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		tin1 ming6
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 天 天 命
Reading # 1/2 2/2 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		tiān xiān mìng
Middle
Chinese 		‹ then › ‹ xen › ‹ mjængH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*l̥ˁi[n]/ /*l̥ˁi[n]/ (W dialect: l̥ˁ- > Hàn-time *xˁ- > MC x-) /*m-riŋ-s/ (dialect: *m-r- > *mr-, *-iŋ> *-eŋ)
English heaven heaven command (n.)

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 天 命
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 12387 8275
Phonetic
component 		天 令
Rime
group 		眞 耕
Rime
subdivision 		1 0
Corresponding
MC rime 		天 命
Old
Chinese 		/*qʰl'iːn/ /*mreŋs/
Notes 令轉註字

Noun

天命

  1. the myriad of things in nature which make up the law of nature or natural law
  2. the will of heaven
  3. the Mandate of Heaven
  4. one's fate or destiny
    盡人事而聽天命／尽人事而听天命  ―  jìn rénshì ér tīng tiānmìng  ―  to do one's best and leave the rest to fate
  5. one's nature or natural instincts
  6. one's innate skills or gifts
  7. one's life span or life expectancy

Synonyms

  • (way of nature or the cosmos): 道 (dào), 法 (fǎ)
  • (the Mandate of Heaven): (literary) 大命 (dàmìng), (literary) 景命 (jǐngmìng)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (天命):
  • → Japanese: 天命(てんめい) (tenmei)
  • → Korean: 천명(天命) (cheonmyeong)
  • → Vietnamese: thiên mệnh (天命)

Proper noun

天命

  1. (historical) the Tianming era (a Chinese era name; the era of Nurhaci as khan of the Later Jin, from the proclamation of the dynasty in 1616 until 1627)

Coordinate terms

References

  1. ^ Chen, Sanping (2002) “Son of Heaven and Son of God: Interactions among Ancient Asiatic Cultures regarding Sacral Kingship and Theophoric Names”, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume 12, number 3
  2. ^ Valmisa, Mercedes (2018). "Is the ideology of the 'Mandate of Heaven' already present in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions?", presented at International Consortium for Research in the Humanities. Erlagen. 2012 version
  3. ^ Goldin, Paul Rakita (2017) “Some Shang Antecedents of Later Chinese Ideology and Culture”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society‎[1], volume 137, number 1
  4. ^ Shim, Jae-hong (2012) “An Ever-contested Poem: The "Classic of Poetry"'s "Hanyi" and the Sino-Korean History Debate”, in The Journal of Asian Studies‎[2], volume 71, number 2, pages 475-497
  5. ^ Grundmann, Joern Peter, transl. (2022), “Moral Speculation and the Conception of a Sky God”, in Space, Time, Myth, and Morals: A Selection of Jao Tsung-i’s Studies on Cosmological Thought in Early China and Beyond (Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i, Volume: 3), pages 220-277

Japanese

Pronunciation 1

Kanji in this term
天 命
てん
Grade: 1 		めい
Grade: 3
on'yomi

Noun

天(てん)命(めい) • (tenmei) 

  1. mandate of heaven, will of heaven; divine decree; fate, destiny
Derived terms
  • 天(てん)命(めい)を知(し)る (tenmei o shiru)
  • 天(てん)命(めい)不知(しらず) (tenmei shirazu)
  • 天(てん)命(めい)思(し)想(そう) (tenmei shisō)

Pronunciation 2

Kanji in this term
天 命
いのちなり
Grade: 1 Grade: 3
irregular
  • IPA(key): [ino̞t͡ɕina̠ɾʲi]

Noun

天命(いのちなり) • (inochinari) 

  1. (archaic) fate, destiny

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 “天命”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎[3] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here

Korean

Hanja in this term
天命

Noun

天命 • (cheonmyeong) (hangeul 천명)

  1. hanja form? of 천명

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
天命

Noun

天命

  1. chữ Hán form of thiên mệnh
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