480531170

332
消
SHŌ, kieru, kesu
Late graph (Shuowen) ; traditional form .
extinguish, vanish, Has 42 ‘water’, and (modern 1490,
L3
consume
now meaning ‘look alike’) as phonetic with
10 strokes
associated sense ‘few, scant, small’. ‘Water
becomes scarce’ was original meaning, but
SHŌHI consumption
became more general in relation to using up.
keshiGOMU eraser
KJ1970:606; SS1984:440; YK1976:271-2. We
SHŌKAKI fire extinguisher suggest taking the right hand element as
38 ‘little’ and 18 ‘moon’.
Mnemonic: WATER HAS VANISHED FROM
OUR LITTLE MOON
333
商
SHŌ, akinau
trade, deal, sell
L3
11 strokes
SHŌGYŌ commerce
SHŌNIN merchant
akinai trade, business
OBI ; bronze . Interpretations vary. Some
scholars take these early forms to show
firewood on a platform/stand, with ritual
significance (Shirakawa, Ma). More convincing
is the view that the lower part represents
the hindquarters of an animal such as a cow,
or the buttocks/thighs of a woman, with the
‘opening’ element 22 being the vagina;
the upper part, which seems to show a large
tattooing needle with a handle, is then taken
as phonetic with associated sense such as ‘go
out, emerge’, giving overall meaning of ‘vagina’
(from which children emerge) (Mizukami, Katō,
Yamada). Another associated sense is ‘pierce’,
and so vaginal penetration could be another
interpretation. ‘Trade, sell’ is a loan usage, and
possibly may be felt to suggest prostitution
(supposedly the earliest profession). Some
scholars suggest may be a shortened form
of a complex graph for a word of similar pronunciation
in early Chinese meaning ‘peddle’,
which at the bronze stage usually – but not
always – has the element 10 ‘shell, currency’
added beneath . MS1995:v1:234-5, v2:1246-
7; SS1984:441-2; MR2007:254; KJ1970:429-30;
YK1976:273.
Mnemonic: USE YOUR IMAGINATION!!
334
章
SHŌ
badge, chapter
L3
11 strokes
KISHŌ medal, badge
BUNSHŌ writing, prose
SHŌKU chapter, passage
Bronze ; seal . Depicts a needle for tattooing
criminals and slaves, to identify them
clearly. Significance of the swollen roundish
part is debated: Shirakawa suggests it might
represent accumulation of ink, while Mizukami
suggests it is either eye of the needle or a part
made wider to hold more easily. Tattooing
needle came to signify ‘mark (made by tattooing),
sign’, and originally the two-character
compound meant ‘elaborate tattoo’ (Shirakawa);
by extension such meanings as ‘writing;
sections in a piece of writing’ evolved for
. MS1995:v2:982-3; OT1968:745; SS1984:443;
YK1976:274. We suggest taking the modern
graph as ‘stand’ 77 and ‘early’ 52.
Mnemonic: EARLY CHAPTER ON BADGES
STANDS OUT
126 The 200 Third Grade Characters