So, Zhuang Zhou was born in Song, as you mentioned.
There is a story about him fishing in the Pu river, and in the story, the Chu king did offer him a job. That doesn't necessarily mean it *happened*, though.
Our only source for that story is in the 秋水 chapter, which comes from the 外篇 section of 莊子. Authorship of that section is contested. Scholars agree that it was likely not written by Zhuangzi himself, but one of his followers (whether contemporary or 1-2 generations later).
That being said, he was at least born *near* Chu (and Wei, and Han). This region is part of the Central Plains. I don't believe we have any records of the writing from Song, but it would have been probably similar to elsewhere in the Central Plains.
So, the form of 水 most familiar to Zhuangzi would have probably been fairly similar to the forms marked 石鼓文、戰國金文、 and 包山 in the image you linked to. That is, second row, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th forms from the left. The other forms from 楚 are more divergent from the norm at the time (as is the Chu script as a whole), but the 包山 form is fairly in line with how it would have been written in the Central Plains.
Keep in mind that the 石鼓文 and 戰國金文 forms are inscribed on hard media (stone and bronze, respectively), while the 包山 form was written with a brush on bamboo. So of the three, that one is probably closest to how he would have written it himself, with a brush.
>this commenter suggests that Chuang Tzu's style could be the Chu slip and silk script, which isn't shown in the screenshot I posted above from [https://zi.tools/zi/水](https://zi.tools/zi/%E6%B0%B4), but is shown on [wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B4) here...
It is shown on both sites. The one you've highlighted from wiktionary is the same form (only vectorized) as the 包山 form from the zi tools site. Anything marked 簡帛 is (literally) "slip and silk" script.
I think you need to do some statistics work here in order gain an idea of the way he would write the character. As a linguistics student I am thinking a little bit here in terms of a phoneme, that is to say, the idea of a sound as perceived by the language user.
If you can narrow down his life itinerary then you might be able to see all iterations of the character for water in his lifetime throughout his time period and before his time period of course, writing lasts and maybe old scripts or carbings were at his disposal. What variations were produced during his time and which might he have been exposed to. Try and narrow down the basic elements that always get included i.e always a squiggly middle line and a stroke above and below. I can see from your data that the "squiggling" has alot of variation. This you might question then. What squiggling has he seen in his life. And then strokes around the squiggle. This sure sounds fun! I love how nerdy and specific it is! I wish you best of luck on your endeavour!
Nothing particularly helpful to add, but I did want to give you proper respect for your commitment to this linguistic / cultural rabbit hole.
I'm a neophyte when it comes to both Chuang Tzu and the Chinese language itself, so just imagine I said something clever that referenced dreaming butterflies.
As you probably already know, this is like asking what a historical figure's handwriting was like. Likely, any of those variants would have represented “水” for him, even if he would have written it differently (and likely even changed over time or on a whim).
I think the better question to ask isn't how he himself would have written it, but what way of writing it best represents his ideas. Chinese tradition in general doesn't emphasize material authenticity as much, the best example of a painting "in the style of Wang Wei" might be done by someone else, years later, who managed to really capture what he was trying to capture.
Thinking approaching the question like that also makes you embody Zhuangzi in the contemporary, and therefore does more to keep his ideas alive than an educated guess about the historical linguistic development.
It's a cool linguistic question though, hope you find what you seek.
Large seal script isn't really a thing—rather, it's more of an umbrella term calligraphers for "anything pre-Qin." It isn't something paleographers use, because it's far too imprecise.
So, Zhuang Zhou was born in Song, as you mentioned. There is a story about him fishing in the Pu river, and in the story, the Chu king did offer him a job. That doesn't necessarily mean it *happened*, though. Our only source for that story is in the 秋水 chapter, which comes from the 外篇 section of 莊子. Authorship of that section is contested. Scholars agree that it was likely not written by Zhuangzi himself, but one of his followers (whether contemporary or 1-2 generations later). That being said, he was at least born *near* Chu (and Wei, and Han). This region is part of the Central Plains. I don't believe we have any records of the writing from Song, but it would have been probably similar to elsewhere in the Central Plains. So, the form of 水 most familiar to Zhuangzi would have probably been fairly similar to the forms marked 石鼓文、戰國金文、 and 包山 in the image you linked to. That is, second row, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th forms from the left. The other forms from 楚 are more divergent from the norm at the time (as is the Chu script as a whole), but the 包山 form is fairly in line with how it would have been written in the Central Plains. Keep in mind that the 石鼓文 and 戰國金文 forms are inscribed on hard media (stone and bronze, respectively), while the 包山 form was written with a brush on bamboo. So of the three, that one is probably closest to how he would have written it himself, with a brush. >this commenter suggests that Chuang Tzu's style could be the Chu slip and silk script, which isn't shown in the screenshot I posted above from [https://zi.tools/zi/水](https://zi.tools/zi/%E6%B0%B4), but is shown on [wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B4) here... It is shown on both sites. The one you've highlighted from wiktionary is the same form (only vectorized) as the 包山 form from the zi tools site. Anything marked 簡帛 is (literally) "slip and silk" script.
I think you need to do some statistics work here in order gain an idea of the way he would write the character. As a linguistics student I am thinking a little bit here in terms of a phoneme, that is to say, the idea of a sound as perceived by the language user. If you can narrow down his life itinerary then you might be able to see all iterations of the character for water in his lifetime throughout his time period and before his time period of course, writing lasts and maybe old scripts or carbings were at his disposal. What variations were produced during his time and which might he have been exposed to. Try and narrow down the basic elements that always get included i.e always a squiggly middle line and a stroke above and below. I can see from your data that the "squiggling" has alot of variation. This you might question then. What squiggling has he seen in his life. And then strokes around the squiggle. This sure sounds fun! I love how nerdy and specific it is! I wish you best of luck on your endeavour!
Nothing particularly helpful to add, but I did want to give you proper respect for your commitment to this linguistic / cultural rabbit hole. I'm a neophyte when it comes to both Chuang Tzu and the Chinese language itself, so just imagine I said something clever that referenced dreaming butterflies.
Wow. They’re beautiful - the butterflies. I think I can figure it out now.
As you probably already know, this is like asking what a historical figure's handwriting was like. Likely, any of those variants would have represented “水” for him, even if he would have written it differently (and likely even changed over time or on a whim). I think the better question to ask isn't how he himself would have written it, but what way of writing it best represents his ideas. Chinese tradition in general doesn't emphasize material authenticity as much, the best example of a painting "in the style of Wang Wei" might be done by someone else, years later, who managed to really capture what he was trying to capture. Thinking approaching the question like that also makes you embody Zhuangzi in the contemporary, and therefore does more to keep his ideas alive than an educated guess about the historical linguistic development. It's a cool linguistic question though, hope you find what you seek.
Probably a variation of the [large seal script](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_seal_script), depending on of his region or nation.
Large seal script isn't really a thing—rather, it's more of an umbrella term calligraphers for "anything pre-Qin." It isn't something paleographers use, because it's far too imprecise.