Thus the core meaning is ‘breath(e)’. ‘Rest’ is an extended meaning. From Han times, the graph also had the sense of ‘increase and decrease’, and then just ‘increase’ (hence interest on money). Gu takes ‘child’ as based on semantic extension from ‘breath’ (as vital life sign) firstly to ‘grow’, and then ‘child’. MS1995:v1:508-9; KJ1970:644-5; YK1976:334-5; GY2008:1082-3.
Mnemonic: HEART NEEDS NOSE TO BREATHE
352
L3
速
SOKU, hayai/meru, sumiyaka
speed, fast
10 strokes
速記 SOKKI shorthand
時速 JISOKU speed per hour
速やかに sumiyaka ni rapidly
Bronze ; seal . Has 辶 85 ‘go, walk’, and 束 561 (now meaning ‘bundle’ and ‘manage’ qv) as phonetic with associated sense range ‘busy, restless, hurry’. MS1995:v2:1292-3; KJ1970:649; YK1976:335.
Mnemonic: MOVES VERY FAST TO MAKE A BUNDLE
353
L4
族
ZOKU
clan, family
11 strokes
家族 KAZOKU family
民族 MINZOKU race
種族 SHUZOKU tribe
OBI ; bronze . Generally taken as 矢 145 ‘arrow’, with element for flagpole and streamer (modern form /: see also CO 斿 at 424) as phonetic with associated sense ‘sharp, pointed’. Originally meant ‘arrowhead’. ‘Family’ is a loan usage, and when this meaning became dominant, the metal determinative 金 16 was added to create a new graph 鏃 for ‘arrowhead’. MS1995:v1:604-5; KJ1970:649-50; YK1976:336. We suggest taking 方 as 223 ‘side’, and as 41 ‘person’.
Mnemonic: PERSON WITH ARROW AT HIS SIDE SIDE BELONGS TO OUR FAMILY
354
L3
他
TA, hoka
other
5 strokes
他人 TANIN stranger
他国 TAKOKU foreign land
他所 yoso* elsewhere
Bronze (它) ; seal (佗) ; 他 is post-Shuowen. At first, early Chinese word for ‘other, other person’ was written 它, originally pictograph of snake with large head (CO graph). This bronze form for ‘snake’ later diverged into two separate graphs, viz. 它 and 也 (see Note below). Later, the graph 佗 ‘carry on the back’ evolved (亻 41 ‘person’, and 它 as phonetic with associated sense ‘add’, giving ‘carry’), and was sometimes borrowed for ‘other (person)’ (a near-homo-phone). To reduce ambiguity in texts, 他 was devised (Six Dynasties [222-589] or later) for ‘other’, leaving 佗 for ‘load; carry’. Note: 也, also originally pictograph of a snake [NJK], was itself borrowed for other words meaning ‘be, also’, etc. MS1995:v1:56-7; YK1976:341. Take 也 as both ‘snake’ and ‘to be’.
Mnemonic: THAT OTHER PERSON IS A SNAKE
355
L3
打
DA, utsu
hit, strike
5 strokes
打者 DASHA batter
打撃 DAGEKI blow
打ち返す uchikaesu hit back
Seal . A late graph (Shuowen); Has 扌 34 ‘hand’ and 丁 367 (‘block’, originally ‘nail’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘strike’. KJ1970:714; YK1976:342; OT1968:400.
Mnemonic: HAND HITS NAIL
356
L3
対
TAI, TSUI
oppose, against, pair
7 strokes
反対 HANTAI opposition
対象 TAISHŌ object
対句 TSUIKU couplet
OBI ; bronze ; traditional 對 . Generally taken as comprising 業 278 ‘deed’, which originally depicted a musical instrument (bells suspended from a supporting framework), with 又 2003 ‘hand’ (part of OBI form; originally meant ‘[right] hand’) or 寸 920 (part of seal form; another hand-related graph originally meaning ‘pulse’ [now ‘measure’]). Two boards or pillars of the instrument’s framework faced each other, and so gives meaning ‘pair, correspond; face each other’ (Katō, Mizukami, Ogawa). Shirakawa treats differently on basis of OBI and bronze forms as made up of component for a digging or engraving tool, with 土 64 ‘earth, soil’, with寸 (but on basis of OBI better taken as 又); in Shirakawa’s interpretation, the later abstract meanings probably represent loan usages. KJ1970:661-2; MS1995:v1:396-8; OT1968:285; SS1984:563-4. We suggest taking the left-hand part as a variant of 文 72 ‘text’.
Thus the core meaning is ‘breath(e)’. ‘Rest’ is an extended meaning. From Han times, the graph also had the sense of ‘increase and decrease’, and then just ‘increase’ (hence interest on money). Gu takes ‘child’ as based on semantic extension from ‘breath’ (as vital life sign) firstly to ‘grow’, and then ‘child’. MS1995:v1:508-9; KJ1970:644-5; YK1976:334-5; GY2008:1082-3.
