study
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Katō and Yamada take as 力 78 ‘strength, power’, with 免 2018 q.v. (originally a woman striving to give birth; now meaning ‘avoid, escape’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘be born’. Along the same lines, Tōdō notes 免 as the original way of writing NJK 娩 ‘childbirth’, and includes it in the word-family ‘take out/produce with great effort’. The graph 勉 thus has the meaning ‘make an effort, strive’. KJ1970:854; YK1976:449; TA1965:739-41.
Mnemonic: STRIVE STRONGLY TO ESCAPE
414
L3
放
HŌ, hanasu/tsu
release, emit
8 strokes
開放 KAIHŌ liberation
放射 HŌSHA radiation
手放す tebanasu let go
Bronze . Has 攵 (usual right-hand form of 攴 112 ‘hit with a stick’), and left-hand element with disputed function and meaning. Based on bronze forms, Mizukami interprets the left-hand element as 方 223 (‘direction, person’), serving as phonetic with associated sense ‘release, spread, extend’. Shirakawa, alternatively, takes 方 as showing an exposed corpse, and the whole graph as showing the corpse being beaten in a ritual to drive out evil spirits. Ogawa regards what others take as 方 as in error for 人 41 ‘person’. Whichever analysis is followed, in broad terms the overall sense is still ‘beat with a stick and chase away’, leading to other related meanings such as ‘emit’ and ‘release’. MS1995:v1:570-71; SS1984:785; OT1968:435; YK1976:453.
Mnemonic: BEATING A PERSON IS A FORM OF RELEASE FOR SOME
415
L4
味
MI, aji, ajiwau
taste, relish
8 strokes
意味 IMI meaning
興味 KYŌMI interest
味見 ajimi tasting
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 口 22 ‘mouth’, and 未 617 (originally a tree with luxuriant foliage, but borrowed to mean ‘not yet’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘delicious’ (Ogawa says ‘good’), to give ‘taste, flavor’. Also used by extension to denote an attribute or quality. KJ1970:869; YK1976:464; OT1968:179; AS2007:512.
Mnemonic: TASTE NOT YET IN THE MOUTH
416
L3
命
MEI, MYŌ, inochi
life, order
8 strokes
命令 MEIREI order
生命 SEIMEI life
命取り inochitori fatal
Bronze ; seal . Has 卩 (see 41) ‘person kneeling’, and as phonetic with associated sense ‘shout loudly’ together with 口 22 ‘mouth, speak’ for emphasis, to give the overall meaning ‘order, command’ (to kneeling person) (Yamada). Ogawa, though, takes this graph as 口 ‘mouth’ with 令 633 ‘order’ as semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘use others’. Those who give orders control others, and so meanings such as ‘fate’ and ‘life’ represent extended usage. In Shang times the simpler graph 令 was used to write two words of similar pronunciation and probably related (both have the meaning ‘order, command’, but the word later written 命 also had the lesser sense ‘give a name’); the later appearance of 命 in bronze texts signals that each of the two words could be represented unambiguously from that point on. MS1995:v1:224; YK1976:467-8; KJ1970:177-8; OT1968:178; AS2007:387, 361.
Mnemonic: LIFE CAN HINGE ON A SPOKEN ORDER
417
L3
面
MEN, omo(te), tsura
face, aspect, mask
9 strokes
外面 GAIMEN exterior
面白い omoshiroi interesting
鼻面 hanazura muzzle
OBI ; bronze ; seal . Interpretation varies. Taken to represent either the face with a line or lines in front of it (Qiu, Ma, Ogawa – Qiu sees the long outside line in the bronze form as showing the front surface of the face), or a mask (Katō, Yamada). The long line is more suggestive of something around a face, i.e. mask, yet the Shuowen takes it as meaning ‘face’. ‘Face’ led to extended senses such as ‘aspect’. QX2000:184; MR2007:401; OT1968:1093; KJ1970:870-71; YK1976:470. Suggest using 目 76 ‘eye’.
Mnemonic: FACE-MASK WITH BIG EYE IN THE MIDDLE AND A FLAT TOP
418
L4
問
MON, tou
ask
11 strokes
質問 SHITSUMON question
学問 GAKUMON scholarship
問屋 toiya/tonya* dealer
OBI ; seal . Has 口 22 ‘mouth’ (here as ‘speak/call’), and 門 231 ‘gate/door’ serving here as phonetic with associated sense ‘question aggressively’; later acquired generalized meaning ‘ask’. MS1995:v1:234-5; KJ1970:834-5; YK1976:473.
Mnemonic: ASK WHO’S CALLING AT THE DOOR
419
L3
役
YAKU, EKI
role, service, duty
7 strokes
役人 YAKUNIN functionary
役者 YAKUSHA actor
兵役 HEIEKI military service
OBI ; bronze ; seal . Typically analyzed as 彳 131 ‘go/walk’, with 殳 170 ‘hand holding big stick’, to give overall sense ‘travel round with stick’. Shirakawa treats the stick as ritualistic, and Ogawa sees it as a symbol of authority to give warnings. This is appropriate for the seal form, but not older forms. The OBI and bronze equivalents of this graph have not 彳 but either two persons, or one person who – in some cases – is kneeling: in combination with 殳 , this gives the overall meaning ‘forced work/labor’ (Mizukami, Katō, Schuessler). Often the work appears to have been
