480531170

359
第
DAI
grade, order
L3
11 strokes
DAINIKA Lesson Two
SHIDAI ni gradually
KYŪDAI making grade
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 58
‘bamboo’, and a slightly abbreviated form of
194 (‘younger brother’; qv) as phonetic
with associated sense ‘order, sequence’, to give
original meaning ‘put letters or records in order’.
It subsequently acquired more general meaning
of ‘order, sequence’, probably with a connotation
of relative status, given other related words in
Chinese noted by Schuessler such as those for
‘younger brother’ and possibly also ‘ladder’. Note:
In Han times, strips of bamboo were commonly
joined together – clearly reflected in the shape
of the graph 884 ‘bundle of bamboo tablets’
– to give a surface for writing. MS1995:v2:986-7;
YK1976:348; OT1968:749; AS2007:210.
Mnemonic: BAMBOO TOPS YOUNGER
BROTHER IN TERMS OF ORDER
360
L4
題
DAI
subject, title
18 strokes
MONDAI problem, issue
DAIMEI title
WADAI topic
Seal . Has 103 ‘head’, and 1574 (now
‘proper’, ‘this’) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘shave the head’; shaving the head gives
impression of bigger forehead, hence the
original meaning ‘forehead’. In ancient China,
slaves’ foreheads were marked (tattooed) with
a sign to show ownership, and from that there
evolved the extended sense ‘title, heading’.
KJ1970:712-3; YK1976:348; MS1995:v2:1450-51.
Mnemonic: PROPER HEADER NEEDED FOR
TITLE OF THIS SUBJECT
361
L4
炭
TAN, sumi
charcoal, coal
9 strokes
TANSEKI coal
TANSO carbon
sumibi charcoal fire
Seal . Generally taken as 8 ‘fire’ and 屵 as
phonetic element with associated sense ‘return,
go back’. Charcoal is wood that has been
burned once (under controlled conditions)
362
短
TAN, mijikai
short
L3
12 strokes
TANSHO shortcoming
TANKI short tempered
temijika ni in brief
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Katō and
Yamada choose to take 145 ‘arrow’ as an
abbreviation of the NJK ‘carpenter’s square’,
but can be burned again as fuel, hence the
two graphic elements together meaning ‘fire
returns’. As well as this interpretation, Mizukami
sets out an alternative, taking 屵 semantically
as ‘cliff, bluff’, to give ‘combustible material
coming from a cliff or similar’, i.e. coal (as extended
sense; also in modern Chinese [certain
non-Mandarin dialects], can mean ‘coal’).
MS1995:v2:796-7; KJ1970:678; YK1976:351.
Mnemonic: FIERY MATERIAL FROM MOUN-
TAIN CLIFF IS COAL
with 379 (‘upright vessel’, now ‘bean’) as
phonetic with associated sense ‘small’, to give
overall meaning such as ‘small in measure, short
in stature’. Ogawa, though, takes literally
as ‘arrow’, and as phonetic with associated
sense ‘small’, to give ‘short arrow’. Either way,
the resultant meaning evolved as just ‘short’.
KJ1970:683; YK1976:351-2; OT1968:706.
Mnemonic: ARROW FALLS SHORT OF VESSEL
The 200 Third Grade Characters 133