Semanticus F. Alpaerts suggests in De Denkbeeldige Ruimte (1980) that the I Ching or Book of Changes, originating from mythical antiquity, is the first semantic lexicon of mankind. In this Chinese classic, unquestionably one of the most influential books in the world’s literature, 64 chapters are coded with a double triplet line code called hexagrams.

Alpaerts used the Wilhelm (1971) translation to show a possible connection between the code lines from the I Ching and the codon encoding in the Semantic Colour Space. The open (- -) and closed (—) lines from the I Ching correspond with respectively the 0’s and 1’s from his semantic coding system. This way he could associate the concepts described in the 64 chapters of the I Ching, with the eight primary colours and their combinations (8×8) from his classification. Later, his hypothesis was confirmed by a comparative research he conducted on the similarities between his keyword-colour classifications, in which the concepts from the I Ching form an important part, and the empirical data from sociologist Eva Heller’s word-to-colour association study (Alpaerts, 1993).

The following list includes I Ching chapter titles with links to pages in the DSD (between brackets: if the title is not in the DSD, a synonym), chapter numbers, digital coding (hexagram), and colour combinations.

The sheep is generally regarded as a silly and innocent animal, which is a willing prey for the wolf. The sheep, one of mankind’s oldest domestic animals, had to be herded by shepherds and became a symbol of naivety and helplessness in the face of any enemy. The lamb also often figures as a striking symbol of innocence, which ultimately triumphs over the devil.

Biederman, H. (1992)

Because of its touching innocence, the young sheep is a symbol of purity and innocence. The image of the divine shepherd leading his people like a flock, along with that of the servant of God being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb (Isaiah 53:7), yielded the New Testament image of the Good Shepherd Jesus in search of lost lambs. In John (1:29), John the Baptist calls Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” In the Apocalypse (14:1) there is mention of the victorious lamb. In the west, the triumphant paschal lamb with the banner of victory over death is a beloved symbol of the resurrection. The sacrificial lamb is also a symbol of martyrdom, for example as a lamb in the midst of wolves. (Biederman, 1992)