coins brought over from China dating back to the early 1st century AD which in seal script read 貨泉 ‘coinage’ (泉 926 ‘spring’, here serves as loan for 銭 757 ‘copper coin, money’). OT1968:953; MS1995:v2:1232-3; KJ1970:306; CS2000:9.
Mnemonic: CHANGE SHELLS FOR GOODS OR MONEY
456
L3
課
KA
section, lesson, levy
15 strokes
課税 KAZEI taxation
課長 KACHŌ section head
第二課 DAINIKA Lesson Two
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 言 118 ‘words/speech’, and 果 454 (‘fruit/result’) as phonetic with associated sense i] ‘consider, test’ (Katō, Yamada), to give ‘consider one’s words’; or ii] ‘divide’ (Ogawa), to give ‘divide up work and test what is done’. If Ogawa’s interpretation is followed, the division of work, which would involve allocation, and often a degree of sequencing, may be seen as having given rise to extended meanings such as ‘levy’, ‘section’, ‘lesson’. KJ1970:307; YK1976:84; OT1968:933.
Mnemonic: A LESSON IN FRUITFUL WORDS
457
L1
芽
GA, me
bud, sprout, shoot
8 strokes
発芽 HATSUGA sprouting
新芽 SHINme bud, sprout
芽生える mebaeru to bud, sprout
OBI ; seal . Has 艹 53 ‘plant’ and 牙 1090 (‘fang, tusk’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘interlocking, intertwined’, to give overall meaning ‘bud, shoot, sprout’. Ogawa takes associated sense of 牙 as ‘stick out, project’. (Note Mizukami and Katō see ‘fang’ 牙 as an extended sense and that it originally showed an interlocking wooden joint on a carriage wheel.) MS1995:v2:1106-8, 826-8; KJ1970:124; OT1968:847.
Mnemonic: PLANT SPROUTS FANG-LIKE BUDS
458
L3
改
KAI, aratameru/maru
reform
7 strokes
改革 KAIKAKU reform
改正 KAISEI amendment
改めて aratamete once again
OBI ; seal . Has 攴/攵 112 ‘strike with stick/whip’, and a left-hand component which in OBI and bronze is equivalent to the NJK 巳, originally a pictograph of a snake or fetus, but later changed to 已 (NJK; ‘stop; already’), and then to 己 866 (‘twisted thread; self’); the authoritative Kangxi zidian (Peking Palace printed edition) has what seems the etymologically incorrect form with 己 (改). Japanese scholars typically interpret the graph as 攴 112, ‘hand holding stick’, with 巳 as a phonetic with an associated sense ‘demon’, to give ‘drive out demons’, a ritual practiced in ancient China around the end of one season to usher in the next season. Thus meanings such as ‘change’ in general, and ‘reform’ are extended usages. However, several Chinese scholars, as noted by Ma, analyze it instead as a person chastising a child (in OBI script, some occurrences of 巳 and 子 27 ‘child’ are extremely similar in shape). In either case ‘change, reform’ is still seen as extended usage. Note: the graph 巳 is still used in the context of Chinese and Japanese culture in its original meaning of ‘snake’ as the sixth of the ‘Twelve Branches’, to indicate hours of the day etc.. KJ170:151-2; KZ2001:998/3671; YK1976:88-9; OT1968:435; SS1984:87-8; MR2007:280-81; QX2000:326. We give two suggested mnemonics below, one based on 己 as snake, the other taking the same form 己 as ‘self’ (in the latter case taking 攵 in one of its extended meanings, ‘force/coerce’).
Mnemonic: BEAT A SNAKE TO MAKE IT REFORM Or: FORCE ONESELF TO REFORM
459
L3
械
KAI
device
11 strokes
器械 KIKAI apparatus
機械 KIKAI machine
機械化 KIKAIKA mechanization
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 木 73 ‘tree, wood’, and 戒 1095 (‘warn, admonish’ qv) functioning here either semantically to mean ‘admonish’, to give an overall meaning of ‘wooden item used to admonish’, i.e. handcuffs or shackles, or phonetically with an associated sense of ‘device, tool’, to give ‘wooden device/tool’. The latter sense may be regarded as a generalised meaning based on the former. KJ1970:147; YK1976:90; OT1968:506. Again we suggest two mnemonics, one using 戒 as it stands, with its meaning of ‘admonish,’ and one breaking it down to its component parts: 戈 545 ‘halberd’ with indicating two hands.
Mnemonic: WOODEN DEVICE FOR ADMONISHING Or: A TWO-HANDED WOODEN HALBERD IS A USEFUL DEVICE
460
L3
害
GAI
harm, damage
10 strokes
損害 SONGAI damage, loss
殺害 SATSUGAI murder
妨害 BŌGAI obstruction
Bronze ; seal . Bronze form is taken in one view as an inverted basket, with 古 121 (original meaning ‘skull’) as phonetic. Mizukami lists two interpretations for the associated sense of 古 : firstly, ‘something to put on from on top’, or ‘stop, prevent’, to give overall meaning ‘put something over’, or ‘cover and prevent’. Alternatively, Katō and Yamada take 古 in a semantic function as ‘helmet/cap/head’ (‘head’ is an extended sense from ‘skull’), to give resultant meaning ‘cover the head’. ‘Harm, damage’ is treated as a loan usage. MS1995:v1:372-4; YK1976:93; KJ1970:154-5. We suggest taking 宀 30 as ‘cover’, 口 22 ‘mouth, and as variant of 生 44 ‘life’.
Mnemonic: COVERING LIVE MOUTH CAN CAUSE HARM
461
L1
街
GAI, KAI, machi
road, town, area
12 strokes
市街 SHIGAI town, city
街道 KAIDŌ highway
街頭 GAITŌ street
Seal
