kusuri
medicine, drug
16 strokes
薬局 YAKKYOKU pharmacy
火薬 KAYAKU gunpowder
薬指 ring finger kusuriyubi
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 藥. Has 艹 53 plant/grass and 樂 98 (qv, originally ‘oak tree’ or type of musical instrument, later loaned for ‘music; pleasure’), here serving as phonetic with associated sense ‘heal, cure’. The bronze form lacks the element 白 69 ‘white’, which may represent an acorn (see 98). MS1995:v2:1136-7; KJ1970:874; YK1976:475-6.
Mnemonic: MEDICINAL PLANT GIVES PLEASURE
421
L4
由
YU, YŪ, yoshi
reason, means, way, from
5 strokes
由来 YURAI derivation
理由 RIYŪ reason
自由 JIYŪ freedom
Seal . Etymology disputed. Katō and Yamada treat as originally same graph as 西 169 (later divergence in shape), showing basket/bag for pressing out liquid in wine-making. Shirakawa sees early forms of 由 as the same as for 卣 (‘small-necked wine jar’), which he takes as initially showing a fleshy gourd that produced a form of oil (see 油 422 ‘oil’). Ogawa also treats 卣 and 由 as having same early forms. Differences in analysis of early forms of 由 reflect difficulties often found in deciding which old forms correspond to which modern graphs. The abstract meanings for 由 such as ‘from’ may be taken as loan usages. KJ1970:24; YK1976:476; SS1984:829; OT1968:669,144. Take as 田 63 ‘field’ and l as a drill.
Mnemonic: THERE’S A REASON FOR THE DRILL IN THE FIELD (see 422 below)
422
L3
油
YU, abura
oil
8 strokes
油田 YUDEN oil field
灯油 TŌYU kerosene
油絵 aburaE oil painting
OBI ; seal . Etymology disputed. Yamada and also Matsushima list OBI forms; Yamada takes as 氵 42 water/liquid, with 由 421 (‘reason’) as phonetic with associated sense unknown because originally it stood for a proper noun (river name). On the basis of the seal form, Katō agrees, regarding the meaning ‘oil’ as a loan usage. Shirakawa, though, treats as 氵‘water/liquid’ with 由 as semantic and phonetic meaning ‘oil’, regarding (early form of) 由 as the original way of writing 油. Ogawa gives another alternative, treating 油 as 氵, with 由 as phonetic with associated sense ‘extract’. Tōdō also includes in word-family meaning ‘extract’, but regards ‘oil’ as loan use of 油 . YK1976:476-7; KJ1970:886; SS1984:829; OT1968:570,669; TA1965:185-9.
Mnemonic: THE REASON IS THAT THE LIQUID IN THE FIELD IS OIL (see 421 above)
423
L4
有
YŪ, U, aru
have, exist
6 strokes
所有者 SHOYŪSHA owner
有無 UMU existence
有り難う arigatō thank you
OBI forms , ; bronze . Mizukami, Katō and Yamada all analyze the bronze form as 肉 209 ‘meat, flesh’ (later modified in shape through regularization to 月) with 又 2003 ‘(right) hand’; they also attribute the sense ‘offer’ to the latter, while Tōdō takes it instead as ‘enclose, keep’. The overall meaning of 有 thus becomes ‘offer meat held in the hand’, or ‘keep in the hand’. The above does not account for the OBI forms, however. The simpler OBI form above for 有 is the same as that for 又, and Ma notes the latter is borrowed sometimes for 有 (both were very close in pronunciation in early Chinese), but regards the other OBI form above for 有 as obscure. Qiu observes that for a time in antiquity 又 ‘hand’ was used for 有 in the sense ‘have’, and also 有 was sometimes used for 又 ‘hand’, thereby confusing later commentators on the Chinese classics. Such interchangeability of graphs well illustrates the complexity of historical Chinese character use. MS1995:v1:636-7; KJ1970:22-3; YK1976:478; TA1965:139-43; MR2007:358,267; QX2000:346,349,401; AS2007:580-81.
Mnemonic: EXISTENCE IS DEPENDENT ON HAVING MEAT IN HAND
424
L3
遊
YŪ, YU, asobu
play, relax
12 strokes
遊覧 YŪRAN sightseeing
遊山 YUSAN excursion
遊び場 asobiba playground
A post-Shuowen graph, found in Yupian (6th century AD). It consists of 辶 85 ‘walk, go, move’, with the CO 斿. The latter represents a ‘fluttering flag/streamer’: see also 族 353, and note that here flag/streamer has 子 27 ‘child’ (as opposed to ‘arrow’ 矢 145) possibly added to indicate smallness – in this case small ripples in the flag. 斿 has a role as phonetic, having an associated meaning of ‘waves, advance’ (Katō, Yamada) – such motion often giving an unhurried impression – or ‘shake, sway’ (Ogawa, Tōdō). The resultant overall meaning for 遊 is ‘walk unhurriedly, wander around’. ‘Relax’ and ‘play’ are extended meanings. YK1976:479; KJ1970:464; OT1968:1009; TA1965:195-6. We suggest taking 方 223 as ‘side’, 41 ‘person’, and 子 27 ‘child’.
Mnemonic: CHILD PLAYS ALONGSIDE MOVING PERSON
425
L3
予
YO, kanete
already, prior, me
4 strokes
予約 YOYAKU booking
予想 YOSŌ expectation
予定 YOTEI schedule
OBI ; seal ; traditional 豫. In modern times in Japan, 予 has been – and continues to be – popularly regarded as an abbreviated version of the traditional form 豫 , but the latter is in fact a separate character from 予 both historically and in modern Chinese. 予 itself depicts a weaving shuttle to move thread back and forth horizontally, and by extension to represent actions done with the shuttle, e.g. ‘push’. The meanings ‘I/me’, ‘beforehand’, and ‘already’
