199. 周武王

Chou 1 wu 3 wang 1 

Chou wu king 

King Wu of the Chou dynasty 

Chou see line 141. 

Wu see line 189. 

Wang see line 190. 

200. 始誅紂

Shih3 chu1 chou4 

Begin slay Chou 

finally slew Chou Hsin. 

Shih see line 134. [The value of shih in this combination seems to have been missed by translators. The character carries within it a reference to the previous opposition of King Wu's father (line 190), who however had not achieved any tangible result. Hence King Wu shih was the first = finally. Pere Zottoli has "tunc occidit T'cheou;" but tunc is inadequate, and there is no aspirate in the proper name. Eitel has for the two lines, "The founder of the Cheu dynasty was Wu Wang, He having made a commencement by destroying the tyrant Cheu. " ] 

Chu is composed of 言 yen words as radical, and 朱 chu a pearl as phonetic, and originally meant to punish. 

Chou see line 198. 

201. 八百載

Pa1 pai3 tsai3 

Eight hundred year 

Pa see line 88. 

Pai see line 46. 

His own line lasted for eight hundred years, — 

Tsai see line 193. [The Chou dynasty lasted from B.C. 1122- B.C. 255.] 

202. 最長久

Tsui4  ch'ang2 chiu3 

Very long lasting 

the longest dynasty of all. 

Tsui is composed of 冃 mao an old word for a hat, as radical, over 取 ch'u to take. It originally meant to seize, to collect; and from the idea of collecting many came its modern sense as a superlative. [Ch'u to take is composed of 耳 erh ear and 又 yu hand (line 18), and refers to the old custom of cutting off the left ears of prisoners in war for transmission to the victorious chieftain or prince.] 

Ch'ang see line 39. 

Chiu was an old radical, and was explained as a picture of cauterisation from behind, to cauterise being expressed later on by the addition of 火 huo fire as radical, thus 炙. How it came to signify length of time is not clear. It is now classed under radical 丿p'ieh. ["Being peerless in length of duration 11 is Eitel's strange rendering of this line.]