Please see my 3 questions inscribed in the screenshot from Wiktionary:
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other users also fail to see "head turned to look back" (in the earliest version) which is not in Chinese, nor French version: 颈有鬃,尾有长毛,有蹄,四肢强健。性温驯。 Image d'un cheval, dont on voit la tête (réduite à un œil), la crinière, quatre pattes et la queue.– user6065Nov 26, 2017 at 23:14
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Could you please copy the actual questions in the text part of your question? This would make the question more accessible to people with visual impairments.– TsundokuNov 28, 2017 at 8:55
2 Answers
the character 馬 existed in oracle bone script, there're numerous versions of it. then, the info quoted has some errors.
let's start:
first, rotate left 90°
now, you've a side view of a horse: head at the left, tail pointing right, 3 strokes upward represent the mane, the circles are horseshoe, the line (leg) connected it to the body.
it emphasised the big eye of a horse, the mane on its' back, and the "hairy" of a horsetail.
considering it's created several thousand years ago, with the "writing tech" of bones & stone knife, forgive the abstractness :)
have fun :)
If Picasso had painted it that way, it would be worth $50 million dollars! One must allow for artistic license, not demand 100% depictual accuracy, especially when scratching in tortoise shells! Also Wiktionary may err from time to often.
Have a look here.