Mnemonic: PERSON STARTS USING PLOW AS A MEANS TO MOVE CLODS
444
L3
衣
I, koromo
clothing
6 strokes
衣服 IFUKU clothing
衣類 IRUI garments
衣替え koromogae change of clothes
OBI ; seal . This is a stylized pictograph of a garment, or at least the upper part of a garment, showing the collar and two sleeves. The tail-like line in some occurrences represents the garment somewhat lower down. As a left-hand component/determinative, 衣 takes the form 衤 (not to be confused with ‘altar/show’ 礻: see 153 and 723). MR2007:391; YK1976:52; MS1995:v2:1164-5; OT1968:900. Awkward to find a ‘fitting’ mnemonic, but we suggest taking the main central part as variant 大 56 ‘big/large’.
Mnemonic: CLOTHING IS SORT OF TOO BIG – COLLAR AND SLEEVES ETC
445
L3
位
I, kurai
rank, extent
7 strokes
地位 CHII position, rank
学位 GAKUI academic degree
位置 ICHI situation, position
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Mizukami and Yamada say 位 and 立 77 ‘stand (/ up)’ were originally the same graph, but the situation would be better expressed as ‘originally (in Chinese) 立 represented two separate but related words’, one meaning ‘stand, stand up’, the other meaning ‘position or place (in a court or group of persons)’. For this latter meaning, the separate graph with 亻 41 ‘person’ added as left-hand component was devised at the seal stage. Yamada takes as 亻 ‘person’ with 立, the latter functioning as both semantic and phonetic meaning ‘people lined up’, to give an overall meaning of ‘place where people stand’; Katō is in agreement. MS1995:v1:52-3; AS2007:351, 512-3; OT1968:52; YK1976:52-3;
Mnemonic: PERSON STANDS ACCORDING TO RANK
446
L3
囲
I, kakomu
surround
7 strokes
周囲 SHŪI perimeter
範囲 HAN’I range
囲い込む kakoikomu enclose
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 圍. Has 囗 ‘enclosure’ (see 84: Qiu considers this developed from an earlier shape O ‘round, circle’), and 韋 taken either as simply semantic (showing two feet with original meaning of ‘patrol by going round an enclosed area’: see Note below) – an analysis listed by Mizukami – or semantic and phonetic meaning ‘surround’ (Ogawa), or alternatively as phonetic, with associated sense ‘enclose’ (Katō, Yamada). The component graph 韋 was later borrowed to represent a word of similar pronunciation meaning ‘tanned leather’, which appears to have subsequently become the main sense; given the original sense, it seems preferable to take the role of 韋 as either semantic or semantic and phonetic. The ‘enclosure’ element 囗 was likely added to韋 to make clear in writing when the word being represented was ‘surround, enclose’ and not ‘tanned leather’. MS1995:v1:258-9, v2:1436-8; OT1968:204; KJ1970:110; YK1976:53. Note: Some OBI forms of 韋 have two feet on either side of an enclosure, pointing in the same direction, and some forms with one foot facing to the right and the other foot facing to the left. Although in the latter case the feet are in one sense pointing in opposite directions, they indicate motion in the same direction going round an enclosed area. As a mnemonic, we suggest taking the modern form 井, graphically the same as 井 1575, and meaning ‘(water)well’.
Mnemonic: ENCLOSURE SURROUNDS WELL
447
L3
胃
I
stomach
9 strokes
胃液 IEKI gastric juice
胃袋 Ibukuro stomach
胃弱 IJAKU dyspepsia
Bronze ; seal . Has top element which is a regularized version of what was originally a pictograph of the stomach (taken by Mizukami as stomach with food in it, and by Katō as showing the stomach as an internal organ), and lower element 月 209 ‘flesh, meat’. MS1995:1072-3; KJ1970:17; YK1976:54. Suggest taking 田 as 田 63 ‘field’.
Mnemonic: FLESHY STOMACH SEEN IN FIELD
448
L3
印
IN, shirushi
seal, sign, symbol
6 strokes
印刷 INSATSU printing
印判 INBAN seal
目印 mejirushi guiding mark
OBI ; seal . OBI form shows hand pressing down on a kneeling person, to give ‘press someone down from above and make kneel/submit’. Some OBI forms have a right hand, others have a left hand, reinforcing Qiu’s observation that orientation of graphs at the OBI stage was rather inconsistent. The meaning ‘press’ gave rise to extended usages such as ‘(name) seal’ and ‘printing’, the latter reflecting the development of printing using a system of flat blocks or plates (originally wood, later metal). Earliest surviving large-scale example of printing on paper dates back to AD868 in China, though printed designs on silk in that country can be dated back to the Later Han dynasty. Katō and Yamada treat 抑 2060 (‘suppress’) as an alternative form of 印 (抑 has a second ‘hand’ 扌 34 added as a determinative). MS1995:v1:178-9; KJ1970:65-6; YK1976:59; QX2000:67; MT1993:265.
Mnemonic: HAND PRESSES DOWN ON PERSON AS ON SEAL
449
L4
英
EI
superior, england
8 strokes
英才 EISAI talent
英国 EIKOKU England
英語 EIGO English language
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 艹 53 ‘plant’, and 央 254 ‘center’ as phonetic with associated sense ‘blossom’, and by extension ‘beautiful, excellent’. The sense ‘Britain’ reflects the adoption by the Chinese of this graph for its sound value (ying) to represent the Chinese version of ‘England’, i.e. 英 国 Yingguo). The choice of 英 seems to show a positive view of England/Britain at the time. YK1976:65;
