Where Did “She” Come From?

There are many speculations about the origin of the word “she”, the third person singular feminine pronoun in English language, but it has proved difficult to establish with any certainty. It appears to have arisen in the 12th century, probably evolved from Old English “seo”, or possibly Irish word “sí”. On the other hand, the origin of the Chinese word for She (她）has a much more recent and more definite source, even down to the time of the day the word was believed to be created.?

In the evening of the 4th of September 1920, Liu Bannong(刘半农), a Chinese student sitting in a London flat, wrote a short poem, not knowing it would become one of the most popular Chinese poems of the century. A sequence of four short stanzas of identical format bearing the title “How could I not miss her”. Liu’s wife was with him at the time and they just had their twins the prior month. Most historians believe the poem was written as a reflection of his longing for his motherland, rather than a faraway lover.

The poem is obviously very sentimental and poetic, but more significantly, Liu invented a new Chinese character in the poem for “She”, or “Her” in the English context (Chinese uses the same character for “She” and “Her”). During the time in London as a linguistic student, he was involved in translating western literature into Chinese. It was then he often encountered the difficulties in translating English “she” to Chinese since Chinese at the time had only a word equivalent to “he”. He often had to refer “she” as “the other female” or “female he” which were obviously awkward. It is interesting to note that the equivalent expression in Japanese today still uses 彼 (かれ) for male and 彼女 (かのじょ) for female by adding the word female to the word for “he”, though it is more customary to use their name, or social or family role, rather than a third-person pronoun.

When Liu was writing the poem, he decided to create a new character for “she” (她) which was similar to the Chinese character for “he” (他), but he replaced the left side of character with a radical which literally means female (女).

In retrospect, it is a brilliant creation but at the time was very controversial. Not just the conservatives in China at the time attacked Liu for his creation, even some females who were advocating for gender equality questioned the wisdom of separating the word by gender. Today, the character “She” (她) is used mostly for a third person female, but also symbolically for motherland or other beautiful things in life. In a way, it is not just Liu’s creativity but his willingness to break the status quo and develop anew where few have dared to go. That is innovation and that is leadership.

How Could I Not Miss Her? By Liu Bannong

Tiny clouds drift in the sky, A breeze blows on the ground. Ah! The breeze rustles my hair, How could I not miss her?

The moonlight makes love to the sea, The sea makes love to the moonlight. Ah! This sweet silvery night, How could I not miss her?

Fallen flowers slowly float on the water, Small fish slowly swim beneath the water, Ah! My swallows, what are you saying? How could I not miss her?

The withered tree sways in the chilled wind, The prairie fire burns at twilight. Ah! Remnants of sunset’s orange clouds are still in the west. Tell me, how could I not miss her?

教我如何不想她, 刘半农

?天上飘着些微云，地上吹着些微风。啊！微风吹动了我头发，教我如何不想她？

?月光恋爱着海洋，海洋恋爱着月光。啊！这般蜜也似的银夜，教我如何不想她？

?水面落花慢慢流。水底鱼儿慢慢游。啊！燕子你说些什么话？教我如何不想她？

?枯树在冷风里摇，野火在暮色中烧。啊！西天还有些儿残霞，教我如何不想她？

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