The modern Chinese copula, 是 shì, had not yet appeared in the oracle bone period. It began to emerge in Zuozhuan (左傳 ), and appeared only when expressing the judgment of complex topics. Based on the observation as such, this paper looks into the demonstrative of 是 shì, and examines its evolution before it becomes a copula. The task takes three steps: first, usages of 是 shì are investigated throughout various time periods; second, characteristics of sentences containing 是 shì are explained according to how it is used; and last, a comparison is made of sentences containing 是 shì in excavated Chu manuscripts in order to determine their properties. What can be, in fact, explained through the analysis of Chu bamboo literature in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) are the characteristics of the transitional sentence before the development of 是 shì into the copula. First, in the bamboo slips “Sande” from the fifth volumes of “Chu bamboo slips collected in Shanghai Museum”, the object prepositional phrase appears, indicating the transitional phase in which the 是 shì phrase in the first stage advances toward the second one. “Sande” is the literature of the late Warring States Period, and has a V writing section in which the object has been transposed and no '也' has appeared at the same time. Second, apart from the situation in which the first stage is used as a subject, the situation in which the explanation part leads to NP/N fixation can be considered through the object transposition leading to the NP/N fixation of the topic part. Last, given that “邾公華鍾 (哉(載)公眉壽 ，邾邦是保 : Tsp, NP是 V)” is an article of the Spring and Autumn Period, it is estimated that 是 shì had been initially regarded as the object, and the phrase “TNP, NP＋是＋VP/V” was gradually used as a fixture through the process of the analogy and re-analysis. However, it is critical that this view be examined more closely, and therefore, further research is also needed.

This study was designed to show how ancient Chinese understood the concept of truth through characters listed in Shuowen Jiezi, the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters (A.D.100). In my previous research, I examined the interconnectedness of „zhen‟ (貞) and „zhen‟ (眞) as cognate words, to show how ancient Chinese developed a concept of „truth‟ early on. In this paper, I would like to clarify how ancient Chinese thought about truth/falsehood, right/wrong, and assent/dissent through interpreting the meaning of characters with shi 是 („true‟) or fei 非 („false‟) as a components in Shuowen. I analyze shi 是 („true‟), 25 characters having 是 as a component (2 characters having 是 as a semantic part, 23 characters having 是 as a sound part), fei 非 (false), and 35 characters having 非 as a component (5 characters having 非 as a semantic part, 30 characters having 非 as a sound part). I further analyze fú 弗, signifying „not‟, and 17 characters having 弗 as a component (17 characters having 弗 as a sound part and 0 character having 弗 as a semantic part), because 非 and 弗 are similar in meaning and usages. Taking into consideration all the different meanings represented by these characters, I divide them into three categories: (1) characters for depiction of the object in question with distinctive features, (2) characters for regulation, and (3) characters representing value. The first category include 14 characters having 是 as a component (56%), 3 characters having 非 as a component (16%), 1 character having 非 as a component (6%). As the second, 4 characters having 是 as a component (16%), 23 characters having 非 as a component (66%), 4 character having 非 as a component (24%) are included. 5 characters having 是 as a component (20%), 3 characters having 非 as a component (9%), 12 character having 非 as a component (71%) are classified as the third. I hope this paper is to stimulate related research by providing the origins, historical development and detailed interpretation of truth-related characters, and so be able to advance toward more insightful writings on truth.