a tree, i.e. climbing/mounting, later with extended meanings of ride and load. Some bronze forms have been taken historically as including the component for two feet pointing away from each other (modern 舛), and this has then been incorporated in later forms such as the traditional above; Katō, however, sees this as a misinterpretation, and treats it as simply a pictograph. MS1995:v1:22-3; MR2007:427; KJ1970:555. Take 二 65 ‘two’ and variant of ‘come’ 来 237.
Mnemonic: TWO COME RIDING
337
L3
植
SHOKU, ueru
plant
12 strokes
植物 SHOKUBUTSU flora
田植え taue rice planting
植民地 SHOKUMINCHI colony
A late graph (Shuowen) . Comprises 木 73 ‘tree’ and 直 192 (‘direct, upright’) as semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘upright, stand upright’. Ogawa regards ‘pillar’ as the original meaning. Katō and Yamada treat the meanings related to ‘plant, vegetation’ as a loan usage. KJ1970:557-8; YK1976:283; OT1968:511.
Mnemonic: TREE PLANTED UPRIGHT
338
L3
申
SHIN, mōsu
say, expound
5 strokes
申告 SHINKOKU report
申し込み mōshikomi application
申し訳 mōshiwake apology
OBI ; seal . The OBI form represents forked lightning, while the seal form, which depicts the human backbone and a few ribs, is the basis of the modern graph. That is, there are two distinct graph shapes involved. The meaning ‘say’ is a loan usage. MS1995:v2:872-3; MR2007:521; KJ1970:949-50; YK1976:285. We suggest using 日 66 ‘sun’ and a piercing element 丨 representing lightning.
Mnemonic: THE SUN IS PIERCED BY LIGHTNING! WHAT CAN ONE SAY?
339
L3
身
SHIN, mi
body
7 strokes
身体 SHINTAI body
自身 JISHIN oneself
身分 miBUN status
The OBI and some bronze forms depict a pregnant woman; other bronze forms have this with 千 49 (‘thousand’), regarded as phonetic with associated sense ‘be pregnant’. The modern reference to ‘body’ can be seen as an extended generalised meaning. MS1995:v2:1264-6; KJ1970:563; YK1976:285-6. We suggest taking the graph as a whole as a stylized pictograph.
Mnemonic: PREGNANT WOMAN WALKS WITH SWOLLEN BODY
340
L3
神
SHIN, JIN, kami
a god, spirit, deity
9 strokes
精神 SEISHIN spirit
神父 SHINPU priest
女神 megami goddess
Bronze forms , . First depicts lightning (see 申 338 ‘say’). Second more common, comprising i] lightning component, with ii] 示 723 as semantic (showing table/altar, by extension ‘deity’), to give meanings ‘thunder’ or ‘thunder deity’, then just ‘deity’. i] here is in Tōdō’s word-family ‘extend, stretch’; Mizukami and Katō take as thunder and lightning. MS1995:v2:944-5; KJ1970:575; YK1976:287.
Mnemonic: THUNDER GOD SAYS SOMETHING SPIRITED AT THE ALTAR
341
L4
真
SHIN, ma
truth, essence
10 strokes
真実 SHINJITSU truth
写真 SHASHIN photograph
真っ白 masshiro* pure white
OBI ; bronze ; seal ; traditional 眞. Katō and Yamada feel there are no OBI or bronze forms, so on basis of later seal form they provisionally see it as ‘inverted person’ 匕 258 with inverted 首 155 ‘head, neck’, with meaning ‘heavy fall’/‘upside-down’; with ‘true’ a loan usage. Mizukami, though, lists the much earlier OBI form, and two possible analyses: i] 匕 ‘person fallen upside down’ (distinguish from 七 32 ‘seven’) with , with sense ‘turn upside down’ (original way of writing NJK 顚 ‘summit’, ‘fall over’); ii] 匕 ‘spoon’ with 鼎, 3-legged cauldron’, with sense ‘fill up container’ (original way of writing NJK 塡 ‘obstruct; fill, fall’); Tōdō also includes in word-family meaning ‘be filled right up’. Again, ‘true’ is a loan usage. Gu also seems to support taking top element in OBI as ‘person’. KJ1970:212; YK1976:288; MS1995:v2:918-20, v1:154-5, v2:1516-8; TA1965:745. We suggest taking as 具 284 ‘equipment’ and 十 35 ‘ten’.
Mnemonic: THE TRUTH IS, THE EQUIPMENT IS IN TEN PIECES
342
L3
深
SHIN, fukai/meru
deep, deepen
11 strokes
深遠 SHIN’EN profundity
深海 SHINKAI deep sea
深入り fukairi going deeply
Bronze . ‘Water’ 氵 42, and 穼 or 罙 as phonetic, a river name; loan usage for ‘deep’. MS1995:v2:760-61; KJ1970:565-6; YK1976:289. Take 木 73 ‘tree’ and variant 穴 860 ‘hole’.
Mnemonic: DEEP WATERHOLE NEAR TREE
343
L4
進
SHIN, susumu/meru
advance
11 strokes
前進 ZENSHIN advance
進化 SHINKA evolution
進言 SHINGEN advice, proposal
OBI ; seal . Comprises 辶 85 ‘walk, go’, and 隹 324 (‘bird’) as phonetic with associated
