OBI ; bronze . Has 辶 85 ‘go/walk’, and (CO ‘buttocks’) as phonetic, which is generally taken as having associated sense ‘follow/continue from behind’ (Yamada, Katō, Mizukami). In Tōdō’s word-family ‘follow a route’. Analysing the occurrence of this graph in OBI contexts, Qiu gives a similar but more specific meaning to 追, i.e. ‘pursue someone’s troops’. MS1995:v2:1290-91; KJ1970:659-60; YK1976:370; TA1965:682-5; QX2000:213. We suggest taking 匕 as ‘buttocks’ with a funny little tail.
Mnemonic: PURSUE MOVING BUTTOCKS WITH A FUNNY LITTLE TAIL
371
L3
定
TEI, JŌ, sadameru
fix, establish
8 strokes
定期 TEIKI fixed term
不定 FUTEI indefinite
決定 KETTEI decision
Bronze ; seal . Has 宀 30 ‘roof, building’, and 正 43 (‘correct’) as phonetic, generally taken as having associated sense ‘prepare a house’, and by extension the more generalized meanings ‘arrange’, ‘decide’. Mizukami also lists second interpretation, i.e. ‘stay on in a house’. Ma interprets as ‘person entering a house’ by taking lower element in his proposed OBI forms as 足 54 ‘foot/leg’ (q.v.). In the latter cases, ‘decide’ is presumably considered a loan usage. KJ1970:584; YK1976:373; MS1995v1:368-9; MR2007:369.
Mnemonic: FIX ROOF CORRECTLY
372
L3
庭
TEI, niwa
garden, courtyard
9 strokes
家庭 KATEI household
庭園 TEIEN garden
庭師 niwaSHI master gardener
Seal . Has 广 127 ‘house, building’, and 廷 1742 (‘imperial court’), here as phonetic with associated sense ‘extend/spread in a straight line/evenly’ (Mizukami, Tōdō). Originally, the building was typically a palace, and the graph referred to a level open space in a courtyard where people often gathered for formal occasions. Used with a similar meaning historically in Japan, but then also came to denote ‘garden’. MS1995:454-5; TA1965:455-59; OT1968:329.
Mnemonic: PALACE COURTYARD HAS FINE COVERED GARDEN
373
L1
笛
TEKI, fue
flute, whistle
11 strokes
汽笛 KITEKI steam whistle
笛手 TEKISHU flutist
口笛 kuchibue whistle
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 58 ‘bamboo’, and 由 421 (‘reason’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘extract’ (Tōdō, Ogawa) or ‘clear’ (Katō); Tōdō takes it as extracting the material from inside the bamboo joints to make it hollow, while Katō takes as meaning a flute which produces clear sound. TA1965:185-90; OT1968:749; KJ1970:720.
Mnemonic: THERE’S A REASON WHY BAMBOO IS USED AS A FLUTE
374
L3
鉄
TETSU, kurogane
iron, steel
13 strokes
鉄板 TEPPAN iron/steel plate
地下鉄 CHIKATETSU subway
鉄橋 TEKKYŌ iron bridge
Seal ; traditional 鐵 . Generally taken as 金 16 ‘metal’, with (CO ‘big’) (the minor change from 大 56 [‘big’] in top of seal form to 十 35 [‘ten’] in block script is not significant) as phonetic with associated sense range ‘black soil, black, reddish-black’ (Mizukami, Yamada, Ogawa), though Katō regards the right-hand element as having semantic and phonetic role, meaning ‘big’. In favour of interpretation of right-hand element as ‘black, reddish black’ here is the existence of a related word in Chinese of the same or similar pronunciation represented by the graph 驖 meaning ‘reddish-black horse’. The black or reddish-black metal is usually taken as ‘iron’, which takes on a reddish-black colour when rusted. MS1995:v2:1378-9; YK1976:377; OT1968:1040; KJ1970:723; ZY2009:v4:1560. We suggest taking the modern right-side as 失 529 ‘lose’.
‘investigate’. KJ1970:514; YK1976:369; OT1968:935; TA1965:179-83.
