OBI , ; bronze . OBI forms clearly depict the head of an animal, some with horns (Karlgren). Some scholars (e.g. Mizukami, Shirakawa, Qiu) tend to see some bronze forms as showing hair attached to a person’s head or eye. ‘Chief’ is an extended meaning. MS1995:v2:1462-4; SS1984:401; QX2000:178; MR2007:401; BK1957:283-4. We suggest taking modern form as 自 150 ‘self/nose’ with brow and horns.
Mnemonic: A NOSE, BROW AND HORNS SIGNIFY A HEAD
156
L4
秋
SHŪ, aki
autumn
9 strokes
晩秋 BANSHŪ late autumn
秋分 SHŪBUN autumn equinox
秋空 akizora autumn sky
Much variation in elements of OBI forms such as , , and also varied interpretations. Complex OBI forms seem to show fire under some sort of creature, which Qiu interprets as a hornless dragon, but Ma takes as a cricket: quite possibly this element served as a phonetic. Shirakawa and Ogawa list a complex graph made up of 禾 87 ‘grain plant’ on the left and 龜 ‘turtle’ over 灬 8 ‘fire’ on the right, taking the right-hand part as a phonetic for ‘burn’ or ‘gather’, though Qiu considers this to be a corrupt variant. Mizukami and Katō also list several simpler OBI forms that appear to depict a bundle of grain plants , and this can be more readily seen as referring to harvesting cereals, and by extension the season, autumn. MS1995:v2:962-4; QX2000:234; MR2007:424; SS1984:407; OT1968:730-1.
Mnemonic: RICE PLANTS (OR INSECTS!) CAN GET BURNED IN AUTUMN
157
L5
週
SHŪ
week
11 strokes
週間 SHŪKAN week
先週 SENSHŪ last week
二週目 NISHŪme second week
A late graph (post-Shuowen). Has 辶 85 ‘walk, go’, and 周 532 ‘around’ as phonetic with associated sense ‘go round’. The extended usage for ‘week’ based on going round one cycle, in this case a seven-day period, evolved through Western influence, as traditionally in China and Japan a ten-day cycle had been the norm (see 旬 1472). KJ1970:1514-5; YK1976:253; SS1984:409; DJ2009:v3:1069.
Mnemonic: ANOTHER WEEK GOES ROUND
158
L4
春
SHUN, haru
spring(-time)
9 strokes
青春 SEISHUN youth
売春 BAISHUN prostitution
春着 harugi spring clothes
OBI forms such as have ‘(a type of) tree’ and 日 66 ‘sun, day’, often with a third element 屯 1806 (modern meaning ‘camp’). Some scholars (Mizukami, Katō) take the tree to be specifically a mulberry, though Ma points to OBI forms supporting his view of a more general sense of ‘forest’. 屯 seems to serve as phonetic, but Schuessler sees a semantic role too: he notes the original meaning as ‘begin to grow’ (of plants in spring). As for the modern form of 158, Qiu sees top part (top five strokes) of 春 as a fused version of the ‘plant’ determinative 艸 53 with 屯. MS1995:v1:616-7; KJ1970:118; MR2007:224; AS2007:197; QX2000:20. Suggest taking modern form as 三 25 ‘three’, 人 41 ‘person’ and 日 66 ‘sun’.
Mnemonic: THREE PEOPLE OUT IN THE SUN – MUST BE SPRING
159
L5
書
SHO, kaku
write, text
10 strokes
書記 SHOKI secretary
教科書 KYŌKASHO text book
葉書 hagaki postcard
Bronze . The graph seems to occur very rarely in OBI, the graphs of which were typically carved directly into the bone or shell surface with a knife, though it should be noted that at least a small number of OBI texts were written first with a brush and then incised. The bronze forms such as above depict a hand holding a writing brush (聿; see 400) over 者 314 (‘person’) as phonetic – the latter later reduced to 日– with associated sense such as ‘imitate’ or ‘write’, giving ‘copy text, write’. MS1995:v1:632-3; KJ1970:491; OT1968:813.
Mnemonic: BRUSH IN HAND WRITES TEXT IN LINES
160
L5
少
SHŌ, sukunai, sukoshi
few, a little
4 strokes
少年 SHŌNEN a youth
少数 SHŌSŪ minority
多少 TASHŌ more or less
OBI forms for this graph comprise four short vertical strokes , apparently contrasting with three for 小 38 ‘small’. There are varying views on the significance of the fourth stroke. Ma, for instance, takes it as simply a means to visually distinguish the underlying word from the near-homophone written 小, while Ogawa takes it as representing ‘one’, i.e. still a small number or ‘few’. Qiu, by contrast, feels the word for ‘small’ was represented by both the three-dash and four-dash versions, and that the 小:少 distinction
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