sakaeru, haeru
flourish, glory, shine
9 strokes
光栄 KŌEI glory, honor
栄養 EIYŌ nutrition
繁栄 HAN’EI prosperity
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 榮. Original meaning of 榮 is ‘Chinese parasol tree’ (Latin names: Firmiana platanifolia, or Firmiana simplex). Has 木 73 ‘tree’ with as phonetic with associated sense ‘light [in weight]’ (Katō, Yamada) or ‘surround’ (Ogawa, Tōdō). The ‘light [in weight]’ proposal is based on association with the wood of this tree being light; the ‘surround’ view is based on the blossoms being perceived as encircling the whole tree. Both these interpretations of the phonetic are listed by Mizukami, who also notes another proposal – that is an abbreviation of CO 熒 ‘light [of a lamp/fire]’. Katō dismisses the latter theory (first noted in Shuowen) as erroneous, but a contrasting assessment is offered by Schuessler, who includes the early Chinese linguistic forms for both 榮 and 熒 in the same word-family meaning ‘bright, dazzle’. If accepted that the graph originally referred to a type of tree, meanings such as ‘shine’ and ‘flourish’ represent loan usages, whichever of the above analyses is followed. KJ1970:81-2; YK1976:66; OT1968:497; TA1965:509-12; MS1995:v1:682-3; ZY2009:v2:528,675; AS2007:575.
Mnemonic: GLORIOUS TREE FLOURISHES UNDER ORNATE COVER
451
L3
塩
EN, shio
salt
13 strokes
食塩 SHOKUEN table salt
塩水 shiomizu saltwater
製塩所 SEIENSHO saltworks
Seal ; traditional 鹽. Traditional form has 鹵, based on pictograph of salt or salty soil contained in a basket-like container, and 監 1159 (‘watch’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘bitter’ (Katō, Yamada); Schuessler, though, considers the proposed associated sense ‘bitter’ as unlikely here, on linguistic grounds. Ogawa, by contrast, takes the sense of the phonetic as ‘soak in water’, namely seawater. This is noted tentatively as a possibility by Mizukami also, who gives a bronze equivalent that includes 氵 42 ‘water’ as an additional component, though the ‘water’ component here could alternatively reflect part of a process for obtaining salt (‘rock salt’) from salty soil. Salt was an important trading commodity in ancient China, as in other ancient civilisations, due in part to its preserving qualities. The modern (block script) form has 土 64 ‘earth, ground’, reflecting that one salt production method was from the ground. The right-hand side is a simplified modification in shape to the upper right and lower elements of the traditional form (examples of the simplified right-hand side can be found in Han time clerical script). KJ1970:105; YK1976:71; OT1968:1158; MS1995:v2:1502-3; AS2007:554; WM1974:121. Suggest taking four components: 土 64 ‘ground’, 41 ‘person’, 口 22 ‘mouth’, and 皿 300 ‘dish ‘.
Mnemonic: PERSON SPITS SALTY DISH FROM MOUTH TO GROUND
452
L3
億
OKU
100,000,000; lots
15 strokes
二億 NIOKU 200 million
十億 JŪOKU billion
億兆 OKUCHŌ ‘the masses’
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 亻 41 ‘person’ and 意 246 (‘thought’) as semantic and phonetic with associated meaning ‘heart is full, content’ (Ogawa), giving overall meaning ‘satisfied person’. The meaning ‘one hundred million/extremely large number’ (originally ‘one hundred thousand’) is loan usage. Based on the seal form Yamada feels that the standard script form of 億 should properly be (‘satisfied’), but Kangxi zidian quotes the 11th century Jiyun dictionary, which says that this latter graph and 億 are the same. OT1968:81; KJ1970:300-01; YK1976:74-5; ZY2009:v1:48.
Mnemonic: PERSON WITH A HUNDRED MILLION THOUGHTS
453
L3
加
KA, kuwaeru/waru
add, join
5 strokes
増加 ZŌKA increase
参加 SANKA participation
加え算 kuwaeZAN adding
Bronze ; seal . Has 口 22 ‘mouth/speech’ and 力 78 ‘strength’. Typically considered to have the word-family association ‘numerous’. Yamada gives basic overall meaning as ‘speak forcefully at length’. Ogawa, however, treats 力 as phonetic with associated sense ‘pile up, accumulate’, to give ‘accumulate words and overcome another’, but a phonetic role for 力 here is debatable on linguistic grounds. Shirakawa sees 力 as originally showing a plow (a minority view), and the whole graph as originally referring to a ritual to increase productivity. Tōdō has different view on 加, and includes instead in word-family ‘add on top’ together with 荷 259 ‘load, burden’. YK1976:78; OT1968:124; SS1984:70-71; MS1995:v1:138-9. TA1965:583-6.
Mnemonic: SPEECH HAS ADDED STRENGTH
454
L3
果
KA, hatasu, hate
fruit, result, carry out
8 strokes
成果 SEIKA result
果物 kudamono* fruit
果たして hatashite as expected
OBI ; seal . OBI form depicts fruit on 木 73 ‘tree’. Seal script has what seems to be 田 63 ‘field’, but this is generally taken as fruit (Yamada says fruit with streaks), to give overall meaning ‘small fruit on a tree’. ‘Carry out’ and ‘result’ are extended meanings. MS1995:v1:652-3; YK1976:80; KJ1970:306-7; OT1968:492; TA1965:611-17.
Mnemonic: HAVING TREE IN FIELD RESULTS IN FRUIT
455
L3
貨
KA
goods, money
11 strokes
貨物船 KAMOTSUSEN freighter
硬貨 KŌKA hard currency
雑貨 ZAKKA sundry goods
Seal ;
