OBI forms , ; seal forms , . Interpretations diverge radically. The first OBI form here is taken in one view as consisting of 人 41 ‘person’, combining with a second element as semantic and phonetic meaning‘plow’, to give overall meaning ‘person with plow, farmer’ (Yamada; Katō is in broad agreement). Mizukami takes the second OBI form as instead corresponding to later 厶 NJK the ancestral form of 厶 (NJK ‘I/me’) meaning ‘enclose and make one’s own’ (later 私 887). Gu, in contrast, working on the basis of the second OBI form above, interprets it as a fetus about to be born, and takes the more complex graph with 人 – which he recognizes as having been added only at the bronze form – as being for emphasis. The above interpretations can only be regarded as very tentative, as views on the etymology of 以 vary so much. The first OBI is listed by Matsumaru as corresponding – in the view of various scholars – to one of a range of later graphs, among them 以, 勹 ‘enclose’ (determinative no. 20) and 氐 (CO, possible original meaning [disputed]: ‘base of small hill’ or ‘spoon touching bottom of plate’, giving ‘down low’ or ‘scrape’). According to Schuessler, 以 was used in OBI texts with the meaning ‘to take’ (e.g. prisoners), and in bronze texts for ‘use, employ, in order to’. YK1976:51-2; MS1995:188-90; KJ1970:18,13-4; TA1965:74-7. SY2008:123; MM1993:342-3; GY2008:123; AS2007:567. We suggest as a mnemonic that the sharp angular left-hand element be taken as a stylized pictograph of a plow/plowshare, being pushed by a ‘person’ 人 41, and with the dot (not to be overlooked) taken as a clod of earth.
Mnemonic: PERSON STARTS USING PLOW AS A MEANS TO MOVE CLODS
444
L3
衣
I, koromo
clothing
6 strokes
衣服 IFUKU clothing
衣類 IRUI garments
衣替え koromogae change of clothes
OBI ; seal . This is a stylized pictograph of a garment, or at least the upper part of a garment, showing the collar and two sleeves. The tail-like line in some occurrences represents the garment somewhat lower down. As a left-hand component/determinative, 衣 takes the form 衤 (not to be confused with ‘altar/show’ 礻: see 153 and 723). MR2007:391; YK1976:52; MS1995:v2:1164-5; OT1968:900. Awkward to find a ‘fitting’ mnemonic, but we suggest taking the main central part as variant 大 56 ‘big/large’.
Mnemonic: CLOTHING IS SORT OF TOO BIG – COLLAR AND SLEEVES ETC
445
L3
位
I, kurai
rank, extent
7 strokes
地位 CHII position, rank
学位 GAKUI academic degree
位置 ICHI situation, position
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Mizukami and Yamada say 位 and 立 77 ‘stand (/ up)’ were originally the same graph, but the situation would be better expressed as ‘originally (in Chinese) 立 represented two separate but related words’, one meaning ‘stand, stand up’, the other meaning ‘position or place (in a court or group of persons)’. For this latter meaning, the separate graph with 亻 41 ‘person’ added as left-hand component was devised at the seal stage. Yamada takes as 亻 ‘person’ with 立, the latter functioning as both semantic and phonetic meaning ‘people lined up’, to give an overall meaning of ‘place where people stand’; Katō is in agreement. MS1995:v1:52-3; AS2007:351, 512-3; OT1968:52; YK1976:52-3;
Mnemonic: PERSON STANDS ACCORDING TO RANK
446
L3
囲
I, kakomu
surround
7 strokes
周囲 SHŪI perimeter
範囲 HAN’I range
囲い込む kakoikomu enclose
Bronze ; seal ; traditional 圍. Has 囗 ‘enclosure’ (see 84: Qiu considers this developed from an earlier shape O ‘round, circle’), and 韋 taken either as simply semantic (showing two feet with original meaning of ‘patrol by going round an enclosed area’: see Note below) – an analysis listed by Mizukami – or semantic and phonetic meaning ‘surround’ (Ogawa), or alternatively as phonetic, with associated sense ‘enclose’ (Katō, Yamada). The component graph 韋 was later borrowed to represent a word of similar pronunciation meaning ‘tanned leather’, which appears to have subsequently become the main sense; given the original sense, it seems preferable to take the role of 韋 as either semantic or semantic and phonetic. The ‘enclosure’ element 囗 was likely added to韋 to make clear in writing when the word being represented was ‘surround, enclose’ and not ‘tanned leather’. MS1995:v1:258-9, v2:1436-8; OT1968:204; KJ1970:110; YK1976:53. Note: Some OBI forms of 韋 have two feet on either side of an enclosure, pointing in the same direction, and some forms with one foot facing to the right and the other foot facing to the left. Although in the latter case the feet are in one sense pointing in opposite directions, they indicate motion in the same direction going round an enclosed area. As a mnemonic, we suggest taking the modern form 井, graphically the same as 井 1575, and meaning ‘(water)well’.
