Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 亻 41 ‘person’ and 意 246 (‘thought’) as semantic and phonetic with associated meaning ‘heart is full, content’ (Ogawa), giving overall meaning ‘satisfied person’. The meaning ‘one hundred million/extremely large number’ (originally ‘one hundred thousand’) is loan usage. Based on the seal form Yamada feels that the standard script form of 億 should properly be (‘satisfied’), but Kangxi zidian quotes the 11th century Jiyun dictionary, which says that this latter graph and 億 are the same. OT1968:81; KJ1970:300-01; YK1976:74-5; ZY2009:v1:48.
Mnemonic: PERSON WITH A HUNDRED MILLION THOUGHTS
453
L3
加
KA, kuwaeru/waru
add, join
5 strokes
増加 ZŌKA increase
参加 SANKA participation
加え算 kuwaeZAN adding
Bronze ; seal . Has 口 22 ‘mouth/speech’ and 力 78 ‘strength’. Typically considered to have the word-family association ‘numerous’. Yamada gives basic overall meaning as ‘speak forcefully at length’. Ogawa, however, treats 力 as phonetic with associated sense ‘pile up, accumulate’, to give ‘accumulate words and overcome another’, but a phonetic role for 力 here is debatable on linguistic grounds. Shirakawa sees 力 as originally showing a plow (a minority view), and the whole graph as originally referring to a ritual to increase productivity. Tōdō has different view on 加, and includes instead in word-family ‘add on top’ together with 荷 259 ‘load, burden’. YK1976:78; OT1968:124; SS1984:70-71; MS1995:v1:138-9. TA1965:583-6.
Mnemonic: SPEECH HAS ADDED STRENGTH
454
L3
果
KA, hatasu, hate
fruit, result, carry out
8 strokes
成果 SEIKA result
果物 kudamono* fruit
果たして hatashite as expected
OBI ; seal . OBI form depicts fruit on 木 73 ‘tree’. Seal script has what seems to be 田 63 ‘field’, but this is generally taken as fruit (Yamada says fruit with streaks), to give overall meaning ‘small fruit on a tree’. ‘Carry out’ and ‘result’ are extended meanings. MS1995:v1:652-3; YK1976:80; KJ1970:306-7; OT1968:492; TA1965:611-17.
Mnemonic: HAVING TREE IN FIELD RESULTS IN FRUIT
455
L3
貨
KA
goods, money
11 strokes
貨物船 KAMOTSUSEN freighter
硬貨 KŌKA hard currency
雑貨 ZAKKA sundry goods
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 貝 10 ‘shell/currency’, and 化 258 (‘change’) as semantic and phonetic meaning ‘change’, to give overall sense ‘currency changes into something different’ or ‘something exchanged with money’; and by extension, ‘treasure, wealth, assets’. This graph is seen on one category of very early inscribed items found in Japan (sites in Nagasaki Prefecture) – coins brought over from China dating back to the early 1st century AD which in seal script read 貨泉 ‘coinage’ (泉 926 ‘spring’, here serves as loan for 銭 757 ‘copper coin, money’). OT1968:953; MS1995:v2:1232-3; KJ1970:306; CS2000:9.
Mnemonic: CHANGE SHELLS FOR GOODS OR MONEY
456
L3
課
KA
section, lesson, levy
15 strokes
課税 KAZEI taxation
課長 KACHŌ section head
第二課 DAINIKA Lesson Two
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 言 118 ‘words/speech’, and 果 454 (‘fruit/result’) as phonetic with associated sense i] ‘consider, test’ (Katō, Yamada), to give ‘consider one’s words’; or ii] ‘divide’ (Ogawa), to give ‘divide up work and test what is done’. If Ogawa’s interpretation is followed, the division of work, which would involve allocation, and often a degree of sequencing, may be seen as having given rise to extended meanings such as ‘levy’, ‘section’, ‘lesson’. KJ1970:307; YK1976:84; OT1968:933.
Mnemonic: A LESSON IN FRUITFUL WORDS
457
L1
芽
GA, me
bud, sprout, shoot
8 strokes
発芽 HATSUGA sprouting
新芽 SHINme bud, sprout
芽生える mebaeru to bud, sprout
OBI ; seal . Has 艹 53 ‘plant’ and 牙 1090 (‘fang, tusk’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘interlocking, intertwined’, to give overall meaning ‘bud, shoot, sprout’. Ogawa takes associated sense of 牙 as ‘stick out, project’. (Note Mizukami and Katō see ‘fang’ 牙 as an extended sense and that it originally showed an interlocking wooden joint on a carriage wheel.) MS1995:v2:1106-8, 826-8; KJ1970:124; OT1968:847.
NIOKU 200 million
