A more ancient graph than 売 (賣) 211 (‘sell’). Exists from OBI stage . Ogawa takes as 貝 10 ‘shell currency’, with 罒 570 ‘net’ as semantic and phonetic meaning ‘take, acquire’, giving ‘buy for money’. Katō, alternatively, takes as semantic 貝, with 罒 as phonetic with associated sense ‘exchange’, giving ‘exchange for (shell) currency’. MR2007:349; SS1984:686; KJ1970:760; OT1968:956.
Mnemonic: A NETFUL OF SHELLS CAN BE USED TO BUY
213
L3
麦
BAKU, mugi
barley, wheat
7 strokes
麦芽 BAKUGA malt
麦茶 mugiCHA barley tea
小麦 komugi wheat
OBI . Traditional form: 麥. Views diverge. Taken by Karlgren and Ma as based on a picto-graph of a wheat or barley plant. Ma sees the lowest part as the root; Ogawa and Tōdō interpret lowest part as 夂 ‘descending foot’ (see Appendix), to give ‘wheat/barley given down from Heaven’. This graph is a member of Tōdō’s word-family meaning ‘descend’, and he notes that for the ancient Chinese this grain was believed to be given by the deities. Shirakawa takes it to refer to a ceremonial dance for the grain. Schuessler gives the thought-provoking view of Pulleyblank, who suggests 來 (see 237) is the original graph for the cereal, and that the separate graph 麥, meaning ‘wheat’ (with夂 ‘foot’) was originally intended for ‘come’. Katō sees 夂 as phonetic, but this seems less likely. BK1957:245-6; MR2007:330; TA1965:169-71; SS1984:692; AS2007:374, 342-3; KJ1970:287-8.
Bronze ; traditional 半. The upper part is 八 70 ‘divide’ (both a semantic and phonetic indicator), and the lower part is a stylized representation of an ox head showing horns and ears. The original sense of ‘butcher an ox carcass into two halves’ took on the broader meaning of ‘half’. MS1995:v1:166-7; KJ1970:784; YK1976:416.
Mnemonic: SPLIT OX HEAD DOWN THE MIDDLE INTO HALVES
215
L3
番
BAN
number, guard, turn (in sequence)
12 strokes
順番 JUNBAN order, turn
番人 BANNIN watchman
一番 ICHIBAN number one
Bronze ; generally taken as 田 63 ‘field’, with 釆 as both phonetic and semantic element, meaning ‘hand holding/scattering seed’. Tōdō, while noting the Shuowen analysis (favored by Shirakawa), which – based on the seal form – interprets 釆 as ‘claws of a beast’ and 田 as ‘paw underpad’, includes the underlying word for this graph in a word-family meaning ‘spread out’, with particular sense ‘scatter seed’. The meanings ‘turn; number; guard’ represent loan usage. MS1995:v2:882-3; KJ1970:780; YK1976:420; TA1965:654-6; SS1984:706. We suggest taking the upper element as ‘rice plant’ 米 220 with an extra leaf.
Mnemonic: GUARD NUMBERS OF EXTRA-LEAVED RICE-PLANTS IN FIELD
216
L5
父
FU, chichi
father
4 strokes
父母 FUBO parents
お父様 otōsama* Father
父親 chichioya father
OBI . Commentators agree this depicts a hand holding a stone ax. Use in the sense ‘father/male relative of father’s generation’ represents a loan usage. MS1995:v2:820-22; KJ1970:824-5; YK1976:431-2; MR2007:267; AS2007:243.
Mnemonic: FATHER IS CROSS ABOUT TWO LITTLE THINGS
217
L5
風
FŪ, FU, kaze
wind, style
9 strokes
風船 FŪSEN balloon
神風 kamikaze divine wind
和風 WAFŪ Japanese-style
Some variation in OBI forms (e.g. , ), but generally taken to show a phoenix or other large bird (modern 鳳), often with a phonetic element corresponding to modern 凡 1993. Fierce winds, including typhoons, were perceived in ancient times as a harmful bird bringing danger, so already at the OBI stage this ‘bird graph’ was adopted as a loan for strong winds, and winds in general. In seal script, ‘bird’ was replaced by ‘insect, reptile’ 虫 60, another harmful entity, as in the modern graph. The phonetic element may be onomatopoeic for the sound of a typhoon (Mizukami), or have an associated meaning ‘big’ (Yamada), or ‘shake’ (Tōdō). MS1995:v2:1452-3,1496-7; YK1976:435-6; TA1965:825-9.
Mnemonic: STYLISH INSECT GETS BLOWN BY THE WIND
218
L5
分
BUN, FUN, BU, wakaru/keru/katsu
divide, minute, understand
4 strokes
分子 BUNSHI molecule
一分 IPPUN one minute
分かり wakari understanding
Has 刀 198 ‘knife/cut’, and 八 70 ‘divide’, the latter as both semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘cut in two’; a member of Tōdō’s word-family ‘cut in two’. MS1995:v1:124-5; KJ1970:256; TA1965:726-9.
Mnemonic: UNDERSTAND THAT ONE CAN DIVIDE BY CUTTING IN TWO
