‘fish’, to give ‘fish in water’, and by extension ‘catch fish’. Some of the OBI occurrences have up to four fish; the bronze form has two hands added. As proposed by Ogawa and Yamada, the SJ reading RYŌ – less to be expected than the more regular reading GYO, and difficult to explain in terms of the early Chinese pronunciation – probably arose through confused association with 猟 SJ RYŌ ‘hunt’ 2090. MS1995:v2:794-5; OT1968:606; YK1976:130; KJ1970:269.
Mnemonic: FISHING MEANS CATCHING FISH IN WATER
484
L3
共
KYŌ, tomo
together
6 strokes
共通 KYŌTSŪ commonality
共食い tomogui cannibalism
共同 KYŌDŌ joint-
OBI ; bronze ; seal . The OBI through to seal forms all have two hands offering up an object which appears to be typically interpreted as a jade disc with a center hole (Mizukami, Katō, Yamada); Ogawa is more cautious, and takes it in more general terms as some type of object. ‘Provide’ is an extended sense; the meaning ‘all together’ is found from pre-Han times (Schuessler). MS1995:v1:102-3; KJ1970:234-5; YK1976:130; OT1968:97; AS2007:256-7. Suggest taking the upper part as 艹 53 ‘plant’ and the lower part as a table.
Mnemonic: PLANT AND TABLE GO TOGETHER
485
L3
協
KYŌ
cooperate
8 strokes
協定 KYŌTEI agreement
協力 KYŌRYOKU cooperation
協会 KYŌKAI association
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). The underlying word seems to have been represented in writing already in Shang times, as there is an OBI form comprising 力 78 ‘strength’ tripled listed by Mizukami, meaning ‘collect strength and put together’. The graph 十 35 ‘ten, many’ was added at seal stage to reinforce the meaning, with a phonetic role with associated meaning ‘collect’ (Katō). MS1995:v1:168-9,138-9; KJ1970:360; YK1976:132.
Mnemonic: TEN TRIPLE-STRONG ARMS COOPERATING
486
L1
鏡
KYŌ, kagami
mirror
19 strokes
望遠鏡 BŌENKYŌ telescope
鏡台 KYŌDAI dressing table
手鏡 tekagami hand mirror
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 金 16 ‘metal’, and NJK 竟 (‘end’, originally of a piece of music) as phonetic with associated sense ‘appearance, shape’. In early China, mirrors were typically thin discs made of bronze, with the back decorated – often ornately – with patterns and motifs of great significance (mythological, etc.), and often featured inscriptions also. Bronze was a material used extensively for ritual artefacts such as mirrors, affordable only to the wealthy. KJ1970:350-51; OT1968:1049; YK1976:135. Suggest taking 竟 as its components 音 6 ‘sound’ and 儿 41 ‘bent legs’, for a Zen-like mnemonic.
Mnemonic: THE SOUND OF BENT LEGS IN A METAL MIRROR!?
487
L3
競
KYŌ, KEI, kisou, seru
compete, bid
20 strokes
競争 KYŌSŌ competition
競馬 KEIBA horse race
競り売り seriuri auction
Bronze ; seal . Has 从 ‘two people; follow’, and 誩 ‘quarrel’ (言 118 ‘word’ duplicated), to give original sense ‘two people quarrel’, then ‘quarrel’ generally; ‘vie, compete’ may be seen as an extended meaning. The seal form still preserves the etymologically important component 言 in this graph, but subsequently it became distorted and lost in the block script. MS1995:v2:984-5; OT1968:90; YK1976:136; KJ1970:272. Suggest taking modern graph as doubling of 兄 114 ‘elder brother’ with 立 77 ‘stand’.
Mnemonic: TWO ELDER BROTHERS COMPETE IN STAND-OFF
488
L3
極
KYOKU, GOKU, kiwameru
extreme, pole
12 strokes
北極 HOKKYOKU North Pole
至極 SHIGOKU extremely
消極 SHŌKYOKU cathode
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 木 73 ‘tree/wood’ and CO 亟 (‘urge on, hurry’) as phonetic, typically taken as having associated sense ‘in the highest place’, thus timber in the highest place in a building, i.e. ‘ridgebeam’; by extension, ‘extremity, limit’ (Katō, Ogawa, Yamada). Shirakawa, by contrast, believes the initial meaning of 極 was a form of capital punishment (later written 殛), and that ridgebeam is a later meaning. KJ1970:284-5; YK1976:138; OT1968:515; SS1984:206; MS1995:v1:32-3. Awkward mnemonically but we suggest as two lines/bars 二, with 口 22 ‘mouth/opening’, and hook, and 2003 ‘hand’.
Mnemonic: EXTREMELY HOOKED HAND IN OPENING BETWEEN TWO WOODEN BARS
‘fish’, to give ‘fish in water’, and by extension ‘catch fish’. Some of the OBI occurrences have up to four fish; the bronze form has two hands added. As proposed by Ogawa and Yamada, the SJ reading RYŌ – less to be expected than the more regular reading GYO, and difficult to explain in terms of the early Chinese pronunciation – probably arose through confused association with 猟 SJ RYŌ ‘hunt’ 2090. MS1995:v2:794-5; OT1968:606; YK1976:130; KJ1970:269.
