OBI ; seal . Etymology disputed. Yamada and also Matsushima list OBI forms; Yamada takes as 氵 42 water/liquid, with 由 421 (‘reason’) as phonetic with associated sense unknown because originally it stood for a proper noun (river name). On the basis of the seal form, Katō agrees, regarding the meaning ‘oil’ as a loan usage. Shirakawa, though, treats as 氵‘water/liquid’ with 由 as semantic and phonetic meaning ‘oil’, regarding (early form of) 由 as the original way of writing 油. Ogawa gives another alternative, treating 油 as 氵, with 由 as phonetic with associated sense ‘extract’. Tōdō also includes in word-family meaning ‘extract’, but regards ‘oil’ as loan use of 油 . YK1976:476-7; KJ1970:886; SS1984:829; OT1968:570,669; TA1965:185-9.
Mnemonic: THE REASON IS THAT THE LIQUID IN THE FIELD IS OIL (see 421 above)
423
L4
有
YŪ, U, aru
have, exist
6 strokes
所有者 SHOYŪSHA owner
有無 UMU existence
有り難う arigatō thank you
OBI forms , ; bronze . Mizukami, Katō and Yamada all analyze the bronze form as 肉 209 ‘meat, flesh’ (later modified in shape through regularization to 月) with 又 2003 ‘(right) hand’; they also attribute the sense ‘offer’ to the latter, while Tōdō takes it instead as ‘enclose, keep’. The overall meaning of 有 thus becomes ‘offer meat held in the hand’, or ‘keep in the hand’. The above does not account for the OBI forms, however. The simpler OBI form above for 有 is the same as that for 又, and Ma notes the latter is borrowed sometimes for 有 (both were very close in pronunciation in early Chinese), but regards the other OBI form above for 有 as obscure. Qiu observes that for a time in antiquity 又 ‘hand’ was used for 有 in the sense ‘have’, and also 有 was sometimes used for 又 ‘hand’, thereby confusing later commentators on the Chinese classics. Such interchangeability of graphs well illustrates the complexity of historical Chinese character use. MS1995:v1:636-7; KJ1970:22-3; YK1976:478; TA1965:139-43; MR2007:358,267; QX2000:346,349,401; AS2007:580-81.
Mnemonic: EXISTENCE IS DEPENDENT ON HAVING MEAT IN HAND
424
L3
遊
YŪ, YU, asobu
play, relax
12 strokes
遊覧 YŪRAN sightseeing
遊山 YUSAN excursion
遊び場 asobiba playground
A post-Shuowen graph, found in Yupian (6th century AD). It consists of 辶 85 ‘walk, go, move’, with the CO 斿. The latter represents a ‘fluttering flag/streamer’: see also 族 353, and note that here flag/streamer has 子 27 ‘child’ (as opposed to ‘arrow’ 矢 145) possibly added to indicate smallness – in this case small ripples in the flag. 斿 has a role as phonetic, having an associated meaning of ‘waves, advance’ (Katō, Yamada) – such motion often giving an unhurried impression – or ‘shake, sway’ (Ogawa, Tōdō). The resultant overall meaning for 遊 is ‘walk unhurriedly, wander around’. ‘Relax’ and ‘play’ are extended meanings. YK1976:479; KJ1970:464; OT1968:1009; TA1965:195-6. We suggest taking 方 223 as ‘side’, 41 ‘person’, and 子 27 ‘child’.
Mnemonic: CHILD PLAYS ALONGSIDE MOVING PERSON
425
L3
予
YO, kanete
already, prior, me
4 strokes
予約 YOYAKU booking
予想 YOSŌ expectation
予定 YOTEI schedule
OBI ; seal ; traditional 豫. In modern times in Japan, 予 has been – and continues to be – popularly regarded as an abbreviated version of the traditional form 豫 , but the latter is in fact a separate character from 予 both historically and in modern Chinese. 予 itself depicts a weaving shuttle to move thread back and forth horizontally, and by extension to represent actions done with the shuttle, e.g. ‘push’. The meanings ‘I/me’, ‘beforehand’, and ‘already’ are generally regarded as loan usages. Mizukami, Yamada, and Ogawa follow Shuowen and take 豫 as consisting of 象 540 ‘elephant’, with 予 as phonetic with associated sense ‘big and calm’, to give original meaning ‘big elephant’, and Karlgren is in broad agreement. This analysis is questioned by Schuessler and Shirakawa, who maintain there are no examples of early usage in this sense; Shirakawa does note the early use of 豫 in the sense ‘beforehand’. MS1995:v2:1226-7, v1:26-7; YK1976:480; OT1968:29; BK1957:41; AS2007:592; SS1984:841-2. We suggest taking the upper part マ as a ‘bent figure’ and thus ‘bent over’, and the lower part as a variant of 丁 367 in its original meaning of ‘nail’.
